Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake is the recipe that Maria makes when she wants to put the most impressive and deeply satisfying summer dessert she knows on the table without making anything complicated or technically demanding. She has been making the cream cheese pound cake at the base of this recipe for years because it is the most rich and tender and buttery pound cake she has ever tasted.
Slicing it in half horizontally and filling the layers with stabilized whipped cream and fresh strawberries and then piling more cream and more strawberries on top produces something that looks completely extraordinary and tastes even better. Every person who has ever seen it on her table has asked to take a slice home.
Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake is the most gloriously indulgent and deeply satisfying version of the classic summer dessert imaginable. A rich cream cheese pound cake made from butter, cream cheese, shortening, sugar, six eggs, and cake flour baked in a bundt pan until golden and completely perfect, sliced in half horizontally, and filled and topped with stabilized whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries for a presentation that is genuinely extraordinary and completely unforgettable. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful summer dessert recipes and spectacular celebration cakes from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake Recipe
This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake recipe is the summer dessert that produces the most dramatic and completely stunning visual impact at the table while being built from a foundational pound cake recipe that is genuinely simple and completely reliable for any home baker who follows the instructions with patience and care. The cream cheese in the pound cake batter is the ingredient that makes this specific pound cake so extraordinary. It adds a slight tanginess, a remarkable tenderness, and an extraordinary moisture to the crumb that keeps it soft and sliceable for days after baking.
The stabilized whipped cream is the technique element that makes this pound cake suitable for a celebration dessert rather than just a casual home treat. Regular whipped cream begins to weep and deflate within an hour of being applied. Stabilized whipped cream made with dissolved gelatin maintains its structure and beautiful peaks for 24 hours or more in the refrigerator, making this a genuinely make-ahead friendly dessert that can be assembled hours before serving without any compromise to the presentation. Our Strawberry Milkshake Pound Cake makes a beautifully vibrant and equally strawberry-forward companion for a complete and spectacular summer dessert celebration spread.
Ingredients Needed for This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake Recipe
For the Cream Cheese Pound Cake:
- 3 sticks (340g) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tbsp Shortening
- 8 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature
- 3 cups Granulated Sugar
- 6 large Eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups Cake Flour, sifted
- 4½ tsp Vanilla Extract
For the Stabilized Whipped Cream:
- 1½ cups Heavy Cream, cold
- 6 tsp Cold Water
- 1½ tsp Unflavored Gelatin
- 1½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- ⅓ cup Confectioner’s Sugar
For Assembly:
- 1½ to 2 pints Fresh Strawberries, stemmed and sliced
How to Make This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake Recipe
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan or tube pan thoroughly, reaching every groove and curve. Set aside.
Add the room-temperature butter, salt, shortening, and cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Beat together until completely smooth and creamy. Gradually add the granulated sugar and cream on medium-high speed for a full 10 minutes until the mixture is very light, fluffy, and pale. This extended creaming time is the most important step in the entire recipe and produces the characteristic lightness and tenderness of a properly made cream cheese pound cake. Do not shorten this step, cara mia.
Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Slow the mixer to the lowest speed setting and add the sifted cake flour one cup at a time, mixing only until just incorporated after each cup. Do not overmix at this stage. Add the vanilla extract and mix just until combined. Pour the smooth batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 1 hour and 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out completely clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. The cake must be completely cool to the touch, at least 1 hour of cooling at room temperature, before slicing and assembling or it will melt the whipped cream on contact.
For the stabilized whipped cream, combine the cold water and unflavored gelatin in a small saucepan and allow to sit for 2 to 3 minutes until the gelatin has absorbed the water and thickened. Heat over low temperature, stirring constantly, until the gelatin dissolves completely into a clear liquid. Remove from the heat and allow to cool until just slightly above room temperature without allowing it to set.
In a large bowl, combine the cold heavy cream, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until the cream has thickened slightly. Pour the dissolved gelatin mixture in slowly while continuing to beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase to high speed and continue beating until the cream holds firm peaks. The stabilized whipped cream should look thick, glossy, and hold its shape when the beater is lifted.
To assemble, place the completely cooled pound cake on a flat surface and using a serrated knife inserted gently at the equator of the cake, slice horizontally in half to produce two equal rings. A decorating turntable makes this step significantly easier and more precise. Remove the top ring and set aside. Spread two thirds of the stabilized whipped cream over the top surface of the bottom cake ring, covering it generously.
Arrange two thirds of the sliced strawberries over the cream. Carefully lower the top ring of pound cake back into position over the strawberries and cream, pressing very gently. Spread the remaining whipped cream over the top of the reassembled cake and decorate with the remaining strawberry slices in a beautiful arrangement.
How to Serve This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake Recipe
Serve this spectacular cake on a beautiful cake stand or large platter at the center of the table where it can be admired before slicing. Each slice should be cut through the filled center so every serving reveals the most beautiful cross-section of golden pound cake, cream, and strawberries.
This pound cake makes a genuinely spectacular centerpiece dessert for summer gatherings, spring holidays, and any celebration that deserves something that looks completely extraordinary. Our Orange Velvet Cake makes a beautifully vibrant and equally celebration-worthy companion alongside this strawberry pound cake for a complete and stunning summer dessert spread.
How to Store This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake Recipe
Wrap the assembled cake tightly in plastic wrap or keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 to 3 days. Because the cake is filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream it must stay refrigerated at all times. The stabilized whipped cream maintains its structure beautifully in the refrigerator for the full 2 to 3 days which makes this a genuinely practical make-ahead celebration cake.
The unfilled baked pound cake can be stored tightly wrapped at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. Fill and assemble on the day of or the day before serving for the freshest strawberries and most vibrant presentation.
Tips to Make This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake Recipe
The 10-minute creaming time for the butter, shortening, cream cheese, and sugar is the most important and most commonly abbreviated step in this recipe. Ten minutes on medium-high speed is required to fully develop the air in the fat that produces the characteristic lightness of this pound cake. A properly creamed mixture will look significantly increased in volume, pale almost white, and completely smooth with no visible grain from the sugar. Stopping at 3 or 4 minutes produces a noticeably denser finished cake.
All wet ingredients including the butter, cream cheese, shortening, and eggs must be genuinely at room temperature before beginning. Cold ingredients added to a creamed fat mixture cause the emulsion to break and curdle and the resulting batter produces a denser and less tender pound cake. Remove all refrigerated ingredients at least 1 hour before beginning.
Helpful Notes for This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake Recipe
Cake flour produces a significantly more tender and delicate crumb than all-purpose flour in pound cake applications because it has a lower protein content that produces less gluten when mixed. If cake flour is not available, make a substitute by replacing 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour per cup with cornstarch. For this recipe, use 2 cups plus 10 tablespoons of all-purpose flour combined with 6 tablespoons of cornstarch as a substitute for the 3 cups of cake flour.
The gelatin in the stabilized whipped cream must be cooled to just above room temperature before being added to the cream. Hot gelatin added to the cold cream will melt the cream and prevent it from whipping. Completely cold and set gelatin that has already solidified also will not distribute evenly through the cream. The correct temperature is when it is fluid but no longer warm to the touch.
Variation of This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake Recipe
Maria made a version adding a tablespoon of fresh lemon zest to the pound cake batter alongside the vanilla extract and the gentle lemon note woven through the buttery and rich cake against the fresh strawberries and cream was a completely beautiful and bright combination. Teresa tried slicing the pound cake into three layers instead of two for a more dramatic presentation with two complete layers of cream and strawberries visible in every slice.
For a patriotic summer celebration, add fresh blueberries alongside the strawberry slices in the filling layer and on the top of the cake for the most beautiful red white and blue summer dessert presentation imaginable. Our Raspberry White Chocolate Brownies make a beautifully bite-sized and equally indulgent companion for a complete and stunning summer dessert spread alongside this spectacular pound cake.
FAQs About This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake Recipe
How do I slice the pound cake evenly in half without it falling apart?
A long serrated bread knife and slow deliberate sawing strokes produce the cleanest and most even horizontal cut. Mark the equator of the cake first by inserting toothpicks all the way around the circumference at the midpoint to act as a cutting guide. Place the cake on a decorating turntable if available and rotate it slowly while sawing through the midpoint guided by the toothpicks. Work slowly and without pressure and allow the serrated blade to do all the cutting work.
Can I make this recipe without a bundt pan?
Yes. A standard 12-cup tube pan produces an identical result to a bundt pan and is equally suitable for this recipe. A 9 by 13 inch baking pan can also be used, in which case the baking time will be reduced to approximately 45 to 55 minutes and the cake can be cut horizontally through the middle of the sheet cake rather than a ring shape. The presentation will be different but equally delicious.
Why do I need shortening in addition to butter?
The shortening contributes a slightly different fat structure to the pound cake batter that works alongside the butter to produce a particularly tender and fine crumb. Shortening has a higher melting point than butter and no water content which means it produces a slightly more stable crumb that holds together better when sliced. Butter contributes flavor and richness. The combination of the two produces the best possible texture and flavor in this specific pound cake recipe.
Conclusion
This Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake is the summer dessert that earns a permanent and beloved place in every celebration repertoire because it is so genuinely spectacular to look at, so deeply and completely satisfying to eat, and so completely made for sharing with the people you love most around a summer table. Rich, creamy, strawberry-bright, and completely extraordinary in every single slice. We hope it brings the same gasps of delight and the same deeply happy celebration to your table that it has always brought to ours. Make it, share it, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa
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Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake The Most Rich and Stunning Summer Dessert You Will Make
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes plus cooling
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most rich and stunning Strawberry Shortcake Pound Cake made with a cream cheese pound cake baked in a bundt pan sliced horizontally and filled and topped with stabilized whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries. A spectacular and completely make-ahead summer celebration cake that is extraordinary in every single slice.
Ingredients
3 sticks Unsalted Butter room temperature
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Shortening
8 oz Cream Cheese room temperature
3 cups Granulated Sugar
6 large Eggs room temperature
3 cups Cake Flour sifted
4 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 cups Heavy Cream cold
6 tsp Cold Water
1 1/2 tsp Unflavored Gelatin
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract for whipped cream
1/3 cup Confectioner’s Sugar
1 1/2 to 2 pints Fresh Strawberries stemmed and sliced
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt or tube pan.
2. Beat butter, salt, shortening, and cream cheese until smooth.
3. Add sugar and cream on medium-high speed for 10 full minutes until very light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at a time beating fully after each.
5. Reduce speed to lowest. Add sifted cake flour 1 cup at a time mixing just until incorporated.
6. Add vanilla and mix just until combined.
7. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour 20 to 25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn out and cool completely at least 1 hour.
9. Dissolve gelatin in cold water in a saucepan. Heat until dissolved. Cool until fluid but not warm.
10. Beat cold heavy cream, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla until slightly thickened.
11. Add cooled gelatin slowly while beating. Increase to high and beat to firm peaks.
12. Slice completely cooled pound cake horizontally in half with a serrated knife.
13. Spread 2/3 of whipped cream over bottom layer. Arrange 2/3 of strawberries over cream.
14. Replace top layer gently. Spread remaining cream on top. Decorate with remaining strawberries.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 591
- Sugar: 62g
- Sodium: 204mg
- Fat: 23g
- Saturated Fat: 12g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 89g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 10g
- Cholesterol: 146mg
Keywords: strawberry shortcake pound cake, cream cheese pound cake strawberry, strawberry pound cake recipe, easy summer celebration cake
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