This Cream Cheese Pound Cake is rich, tender, buttery, and it has a slight tang from the cream cheese. This cake is delicious on its own or utterly amazing served with Fresh Strawberry Topping!
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I have been making this Cream Cheese Pound Cake from Cook’s Country for years now! While I have thoroughly enjoyed eating this cream cheese cake recipe plain, I recently made a fresh strawberry topping to go with it for a dinner party. The results were life-changing—I immediately knew I needed to share this recipe with all of you!
If you’re a strawberry lover like I am, you will LOVE this Fresh Strawberry topping! In this recipe, 1 pint of strawberries cooks and reduced to about ¾ cup of topping. During the reduction, the strawberry flavor becomes more concentrated and it ends up packing a serious flavor punch (plus it fills your house with the most heavenly strawberry aroma). We like serving this Fresh Strawberry Topping over cakes, ice cream, and even pancakes and waffles!
The easy pound cake recipe is rich, tender, buttery, and dense like every good pound cake should be. Except that this cake isn’t too dense, which is just the way I like it. The crumb is a bit finer than most pound cakes because of the use of cake flour. If you don’t have any in your panty, then you can make our own with my easy Cake Flour Substitute recipe here!
FOR THE POUND CAKE LOVERS:
If you love bundt cakes like I do, then you need to try my Chocolate Ribbon Vanilla Pound Cake with Almonds, Dark Chocolate Pound Cake, My mom’s Chocolate Chip Cake with Chocolate Glaze, and my Coconut Chocolate Chip Pound Cake!
FUN FACT:
Interestingly enough, cream cheese made its way into baked goods during WWII. During this time butter was rationed, but cream cheese wasn’t. Since cream cheese has a similar fat content as butter, home bakers started using cream cheese in their baked goods. Hence the popularity of Philadelphia Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipes!
Cook’s Note – Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberry Topping:
- Pound cake will keep, covered in plastic wrap or in cake dome for up to 3 days at room temperature.
- Pound cake will keep, wrapped in plastic and foil, for up to 3 months in the freezer.
- Strawberry topping will keep, in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week.
- 1 recipe of the strawberry topping below will make about 3/4 cup. This is definitely enough for serving with this cake, because a little bit of this sauce goes a long way!
- There is no chemical leavening agent (baking powder, baking soda, etc.) in this cake, so the rise of this cake comes from the whipping of the butter, cream cheese, and sugar together. It MUST be light and fluffy like my picture below.
- NOTE:: If you’re using a handheld mixer, then you will definitely need to beat for longer than the 2-3 minutes as the recipe indicated below. I included a picture below so you can see what the fluffy mixture should look like (sorry about the picture quality, it was taken at 10PM with my iPhone.).
Cook’s Tools – Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberry Topping:
ONE YEAR AGO: Kielbasa Kapusta
TWO YEARS AGO: How to Make Strawberries Last Longer
THREE YEARS AGO: Edamame Stir Fry
Irresistible Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberry Topping
Ingredients
FOR CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE:
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks at room temperature
- ¼ cup milk at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 sticks 24 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 6 ounces cream cheese softened
- 3 cups granulated sugar
FOR STRAWBERRY TOPPING:
- 1 pint fresh strawberries rinsed and patted dry
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- FOR SERVING:
- Powdered sugar for sifting over finished cake optional
- Freshly whipped cream for serving optional
Instructions
- MAKE CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE: Move oven rack to middle position and preheat to 300 degrees F. Spray 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan with baking spray, and set aside.
- In medium bowl whisk together flour and salt; set aside. In large measuring cup whisk together eggs, egg yolks, milk, and vanilla, and set aside.
- In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to lowest setting, and slowly pour in egg mixture until combined. Add flour mixture and pulse mixer until combined, scrapping bowl sides of bowl as needed. Remove bowl from mixer stand and give it a few mixes to make sure no flour pockets remain.
- Next, pour batter into prepared Bundt pan, and smooth with rubber spatula to even out batter and smooth the top. Gently tap pan on counter 7 times to release air bubbles. Finally, bake 80-90 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Once cake is done, move it to wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, and then turn cake out to wire rack to cool completely, about 2 hours.
- MAKE STRAWBERRY TOPPING: While cake cools, make strawberry topping by removing strawberry stems, and cut large strawberries length-wise into quarters, and medium to small strawberries in half length-wise.
- Stir together berries, sugar, and vanilla in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often. The berries will begin to release juice as they cook; smash a few berries with a wooden spoon to release more juice. Cook, stirring often, until sauce thickens, about 15-20 minutes.
- Turn off heat, and transfer strawberry topping to serving bowl to cool to room temperature. Once at room temperature, cover and chill until ready to use.
- SERVE: Dust pound cake with powdered sugar, and then slice and serve with fresh strawberry topping and whipped cream (optional).
Nutrition
Jessica Formicola says
I love a good pound cake, and this one looks incredible! That strawberry sauce really send it over the top!
Kate says
Oh what a gorgeous looking cake – it looks really moist, probably the cream cheese. And the strawberry topping really finishes it off. Have bookmarked the recipe to try soon, thanks so much!
Jen says
This was a huge hit! The strawberry topping was the perfect addition. So delicious!
Beth Sachs says
I love the simplicity of pound cakes. The strawberry topping was delicious and sweet.
Sue says
That pound cake looks perfect! I don’t have strawberries but I have gorgeous blackberries, can’t wait to whip this up 🙂