This strawberry cream cheese pound cake recipe is made from scratch. Cream cheese gives this moist pound cake a rich flavor. The strawberry lover in you will appreciate the way the strawberry swirl jazzes things up a bit in this easy dessert recipe.
A Short History of Pound Cake
Food historians trace the first pound cake recipes to Northern Europe, where they emerged in the 18th century. The recipes for these heavy cakes contained, as their names explain, equal parts (roughly one pound each) of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs.
We associate pound cakes with the American south perhaps because one of the first Black cookbook authors, Abby Fisher, included not one, but two pound cake recipes in her 1881 cookbook “What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking.” Abby Fisher’s recipes each had a different leavening method – one with yeast, and the other with egg whites. Modern pound cake recipes typically use a chemical leavener, like baking powder, rather than relying on eggs or yeast to make the cake rise. In addition, many recipes call for replacing some of the butter with alternate dairy products, like sour cream or, in this case, cream cheese, to give the cake a more tender crumb.
A Short History of Cream Cheese
We think of cream cheese as a ubiquitous, somewhat boring, food, but it has many secrets. For one thing, Philadelphia cream cheese is…drumroll…not from Philadelphia. Cream cheese has its roots in Neufchatel, one of the oldest cheeses in the world, whose recipe was first recorded in 1543 in Neufchatel, France.
In 1872, William Lawrence, a dairy farmer from Chester, New York, was trying to reproduce Neufchatel cheese. His version was much creamier than Neufchatel, which typically contains 24% milkfat to cream cheese’s 33%. Because Philadelphia was associated with high quality dairy at that time, when Alvah L. Reynolds began distributing Lawrence’s cheese in 1880, he branded it “Philadelphia Cream Cheese.” The name, and product, were so popular that Lawrence couldn’t keep up with Reynolds’ orders. Reynolds formed the Phenix Cheese Company and began producing his own, marketing it heavily to develop a taste for the product. His company later merged with the Kraft Cheese Company in 1928.
Pound Cakes Abound!
Pound cakes are magically comforting food, easy to make and share. Here are a few of our favorites.
Strawberry Season
Although strawberries are best in June, we can’t resist eating them year round. Here are a few of our favorite strawberry recipes.
Useful Tools for Making this Strawberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe From Scratch
Equipment
- 1 8 x 4 inch loaf pan
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 1/2 cups of sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Homemade strawberry sauce
- 1/4 pound fresh strawberries or frozen strawberries hulled and roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tbps cornstarch
Instructions
- Make homemade strawberry sauce.
- Combine the strawberries, sugar, and corn starch in a thick-bottomed pot and cook over medium-low heat until all of the strawberries have broken down and a thick jam forms. Jam can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for up to a week, covered tightly with plastic wrap.
- Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and line an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until well combined.
- Add sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a medium bowl.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and add half the flour mixture, followed by the heavy cream, followed by the remaining dry ingredients. Beat on low speed until just combined.
- Spoon one third of the pound cake batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a rubber spatula. Spread 1/4 cup of the strawberry jam over the batter. Add another third of the batter, followed by the strawberry jam. Top with remaining batter. Tap pan on counter to release any air bubbles.
- Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, roughly an hour and ten minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Remove from pan to a wire rack and let cake cool. Remove to serving platter and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar before serving. Leftover strawberry jam can be served on the side, along with whipped cream and a few sliced strawberries.