When I set out to create a new recipe for y’all, I want it to be the absolute best. Sometimes I’m lucky and my first stab at it turns out amazing. Other times, not so much.
Take this Strawberry Jam Pound Cake for example. I’ve made somewhere around 6 different versions of this pound cake over the last few weeks. And I’ve made this final version 3 times. Why all the cake? Well…
I wanted this cake to have a strong flavor of strawberry but still have the classic pound cake features like the dense cake and crunchy exterior. And the thing is, fresh strawberries, while delicious, don’t really add bunches of strawberry flavor when added to things.
Many strawberry cake recipes, like this one, call for adding a box strawberry gelatin to get that extra flavor. That works great for sheet cakes and layer cakes, but the resulting texture just isn’t very “pound cake-y” in my opinion.
I went on to add some strawberry extract. That helped, but just didn’t give it that pop of strawberry flavor I wanted.
Another option was making the fresh strawberry puree and then reducing it down to intensify the flavor… but who has time for that?
So I was talking to my buddy Christy Jordan when she mentioned drizzling some strawberry jam over the warm cake to add some extra flavor – almost in “poke cake” fashion. Taking that a step farther, I thought “What if we add melted strawberry jam to the cake batter?” I imagined it would add some great strawberry flavor and a little color.
Fortunately, that’s exactly what it did! And it added some great moisture to the cake as well.
Y’all this is the BEST strawberry pound cake I’ve ever had.
I’ve got strawberry flavor coming at you in a number of different ways! Pureed fresh strawberries, strawberry extract, and melted strawberry jam give this cake some seriously amazing flavor! And then there’s the glaze, too!
Don’t have fresh strawberries? Frozen berries work, too! Just use unsweetened strawberries that have been thawed and drained.
A few things to keep in mind…
- This cake starts in a cold oven. Don’t preheat the oven. It’s just works. Trust me.
- You’re going to need to cream the butter and sugar together for 5 minutes. That’s not a typo. Five. Whole. Minutes. A stand mixer is super helpful here, but a hand mixer works too.
- I MUCH prefer pound cake after it has sat for a day or so. So if you have the luxury of time, make the cake a day in advance and allow it to “age” a bit for maximum flavor and best texture.
Recipe Card
Strawberry Jam Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh strawberries
- 1/2 cup strawberry jam (I use seedless)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 2 1/2 cup sugar
- 5 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons strawberry extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- red food coloring (optional)
For the glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon strawberry extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons strawberry puree (from above instructions)
Instructions
- Wash and hull the strawberries. Use a food processor or blender to puree them until smooth. Measure out 1 cup of the puree for the cake, then set the rest aside for use in the glaze.
- Use a microwave to melt the strawberry jam until it is liquid. Start with about 30 seconds and add additional time to get it melted. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Do NOT preheat the oven. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. (You can also use nonstick baking spray with flour if you have a pan you trust.) Set aside.
- Use a mixer to cream the butter, shortening, and sugar together for 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.
- Measure the flour by spooning the flour into a dry-measure measuring cup and leveling off.
- Add 1 cup of the flour and mix well. Add 1/2 of the strawberry pureee and mix well. Add another cup of the flour and mix well. Add the other 1/2 of the strawberry puree and mix well. Finally add the last cup of flour and mix well.
- Add the vanilla, strawberry, and lemon extracts to the melted strawberry jam and stir to combine. Add the mixture to the cake batter and mix well. Add the salt and mix well. If desired, add some red food coloring to turn the batter pink.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Place into a cold oven and turn the oven to 325°F. Bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake just starts to pull away from the edges of the pan. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before placing a plate or serving platter over the cake and inverting it onto the platter. Allow the cake to cool completely before adding the glaze.
- Make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar, strawberry extract, vanilla extract, and strawberry puree in a small bowl. It might seem like it won't combine, but keep stirring! Once combined, drizzle over the cooled cake.
Please note:
If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
I made this cake and followed the instructions exactly but it didn’t turn out right. I cooked the cake starting in cold oven for the time stated in the recipe and the toothpick came out clean when I checked it but the cake didn’t rise and the texture was gummy. I threw it in the garbage can. Shouldn’t the recipe have called for baking powder or baking soda? I was so disappointed. I bake cakes all the time and my oven temperature is accurate.
No, it’s quite common for pound cake recipe to not include leavening. Many pound cake, like this one, rely on air and eggs to give it lift. I’m sorry to know that yours didn’t turn out as expected. I’ve made this cake dozens of times and not had that issue. If the cake was gummy, the most common reasons are over-mixing once adding the flour or underbaking.
I wrote in before about this recipe being the best strawberry pound cake I have made . I have a question though, if I do not have the fresh strawberries to purée can I increase the jam and if so would I need to decrease the sugar called for? Thank you!
Hey, Donna! I honestly can’t say for sure. I’ve only ever made this recipe as written. I think it would certainly still work, but can’t say about the strawberry flavor or if you’d need to reduce the sugar amount.
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday. He loved it! He said the strawberry taste was perfect. It was the combination of strawberry purée, strawberry flavoring and the strawberry jam. Thank you!
So glad to hear he enjoyed it! Tell him we all said Happy Birthday!
Yummy. This is why southerners are happy. Good food !
You and Erick Erickson ever get together on recipes, look out.
No doubt! 🙂
Would sugar free strawberry jam work?
I don’t see why not. Enjoy!
This is the best ever Strawberry Pound Cake. !! I had always made this recipe with strawberry gelatin and didn’t really like the taste. Using the strawberry jam was brilliant and delicious . Thanks so much.
Thank you, Sue! I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed it!
Baked up…beautiful…
Glad it turned out great for you!
BTW I prefer you butter/ shortening combo. The shortening seems to help provide a nice rise and texture!
I am currently on a mission to find the best tasting strawberry pound cake and yours is winning! It is moist and the pound cake texture is wonderful. Since strawberries are not in season right now I found the frozen ones are working well but reduced them a bit since they hold water when frozen . I also used homemade jam. I have tried several different recipes and this one tastes the best . The glaze is really good too!
I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed my version so much!
Hello Stacey, newcomer here and I was wondering if you have any suggestions on what I could use to substitute the shortening (other than lard)? Cream cheese, strained Greek yogurt, another oil? A mixture of two or all three? It’s just that I don’t use shortening and would prefer not to if it can be done but if it can’t then I will use shortening.
Thank you and BTW, I tried your lemon pound cake. Very very good.
Hi Reana! Welcome! In this case, you can swap the shortening for butter. So rather than the 1 cup of butter, you’d use 1 1/2 cups. The texture will be slightly different and perhaps a touch dryer, but it will still work. Hope you’ll enjoy it! So glad to hear the other cake turned out great for you!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Just made this cake for my son’s birthday. He doesn’t eat chocolate or anything too sweet. This was delicious! The fresh strawberries came through nicely! I’ve made strawberry cakes with strawberry gelatin which were okay, but this tasted “healthy.” Thank you for recipes I can trust to turn out and enjoy!
Thank you so much for the trust in our recipes!
Could I use cake flour instead of all purpose flour. It sounds delicious 😋
You can, but be sure to look at the box as it doesn’t measure equally.
Hi Stacey,
I’m making this for Easter in a 10 cup bundt pan. Should I expect to have extra batter left over? Your recipe lists a 12 cup bundt pan.
Can’t wait to share this with my family!
You might, I just would be cautious about filling it too much as it can overflow.
I just cut into mine and I baked it 25 minutes longer than recipe suggested last night and it is raw!! The cake tester came out very clean so I have no idea what happened but I am so frustrated!!! Just threw the whole cake away! ????
I would be frustrated, too! When you say raw, what do you mean? Liquidy? Dense? Are you sure your oven is calibrated to the appropriate temp?
My glaze did not turn out like the picture. Yours is pink- mine was more transparent, clear red
Not sure what I did wrong. Thoughts?
It’s hard to say – maybe nothing. A little extra powdered sugar may have made it a bit more opaque. How’d it taste?
Does the jam go in the strawberry purée?
No, check out Step 7. It goes in the cake batter after being mixed with the extracts.
“2 tablespoons strawberry puree (from above instructions)“ where am I overlooking the instruction for this? Can’t seem to get my eye on it?
It’s in Instruction #1 where you puree the strawberries.
Im confused please help. You say puree 1 lb of strawberries-which js a lot. Then you say set aside 1 cup for cake. Then 2 TBSP for glaze. Where does the rest go?
Strawberries are typically sold in most grocery stores in 1 pound packages, so that’s the way we start. You only need the 1 cup of puree for the cake and the 2 tablespoons for the glaze. The rest can be used however you wish. I like to reduce it on the stove a bit and serve it over ice cream or even as a drizzle over a slice of the cake.
I’m not one to waste food especially in these times where your stuck at home and forced come up with crafty ways to make something everyone will eat. I tried this recipe and it was magnificent, everyone loved it!!!!! Thank you for providing it!!
Awesome! I’m so glad it turned out great for you!!
I see you don’t use soda or baking powder why?
For me, pound cake should be dense. The 5 eggs give the cake enough lift but still keep it dense. Many pound cake recipes do not have any additional leavening other than eggs.
I have apricot jam (purchased it specifically to make Malva pudding with-which is absolutely amazing), and I think trying this with apricot instead will be my next adventure! Never would have thought to add jam into a pound cake before reading this. Thanks for the brilliant idea!!
I think that sounds great! Let me know how it turns out!
The flavor of this cake is really really good. My only issue is the cake shrank quite a bit. Any idea why? Or what can prevent cake shrinkage?
Hi Hervin! After the cake shrank, did you find the texture to still be light or did it get dense?
In all honesty, I have now made this cake twice. The first time I made it for a friend and she absolutely loved it! So I didn’t get a chance to taste it since it was a gift. But she said the texture was amazing. So, I made myself one a few days later and the texture was dense like a pound cake should be. And it was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I just didn’t like that it shrank to half the original size. It was so big in the pan one minute and then I turned around a few seconds later and it was half the size it was when it first came out of the oven. LOL I thought about adding baking powder and baking soda to the dry ingredients, but I love the texture of the cake without it.
But this cake will definitely stay in my baking rotation. As it has now become one of my favorite pound cakes. Man, the idea of melting strawberry jam and adding it to the batter was genius! Most strawberry pound cakes tend to have an artificial flavor to them. But this one was like eating fresh strawberry preserves out of the jar. When it was baking my whole house was smelling like strawberries.
I am going to try using strawberry emulsion from Olivenation instead of extract next time for an even more intense strawberry flavor. Thanks for sharing this recipe man.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it! My only guess on it shrinking is that it might have been over-mixed. I think the strawberry emulsion is a great idea!
What about other fruits and their jams and use this for a “base” recipe? Like raspberries and (seedless) raspberry jam? Same with blackberries and (seedless) blackberry jam? How about peaches, apricots, plums and their respective preserves? Any thoughts or modifications? Please see if you can develop a base recipe for this purpose (of alternating fruits/jams) and publish with a telltale name like “Full Fruit Base/Basic Pound Cake” or something to that affect? I’m an avid recipe reader of yours and I’m sure I’ll notice when you publish it on blast. Thanks ever so much!
Other jams should work just fine, but I worry that the preserves might present a problem with it being pieces of fruit rather than the jam that just melts completely.
I am currently waiting for my cake to finish baking. I had trouble finding strawberry extract. Eventually found it at Walmart. Can’t wait to try this cake. Strawberry flavoring is my favorite.
Hope it turned out great for you, Ben! I actually have what I call “The Walmart Rule.” If I can’t find it at Walmart, I generally won’t use it in my recipes. I hate using exotic ingredients that require special grocery trips and I figure nearly everyone is close to a Walmart.
My son and I love strawberry shortcake using a strawberry angel food cake. Could I make cupcakes with this instead of a cake. I don’t know if the consistency would be the same as in a cake. Thanks
I’m not sure it would be the same texture, but I’m sure it would be just as delicious. If you give it a try, please come back and let me know how it turns out!
Strawberry extract I have say I haven’t seen that before. I may have just overlooked it lol. What do you think about using Swerve sweetner? If want work hey I can have a free day and eat a slice.
It’s actually pretty common, but something I don’t see often called for in recipes. I like Swerve is other stuff, but haven’t tried it in this cake.