By Elizabeth Stark
While you can buy what are technically strawberries year-round now, they don’t really start to taste like strawberries until late spring. Peak strawberry season has already started in Florida and Southern California and it’s slowly inching its way north, so now is the time to dust off those strawberry recipes, starting with this strawberry pound cake recipe.
With strawberries throughout, and a sweetness and rustic texture derived from the corn meal, this strawberry pound cake is a wonderful spring treat. It’s rich and buttery and has a surprisingly small amount of sugar. We served it plain, but it would also be a good base for a strawberry short cake.
Read More Recipe: Strawberry Browned Butter Muffins
Strawberry Cornmeal Pound Cake (adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison)
makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose or whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Liberally grease a standard loaf pan and dust with flour.
- In a small bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
- Using either a paddle attachment for a stand mixer, or a regular beater, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and mix just until incorporated. Add the vanilla, and then the yogurt. Mix in the flour mixture. Fold in the strawberries, and spoon batter into prepared baking pan. Add a row of strawberry slices to the top.
- Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool for 15 minutes and move pound cake to a rack to cool. Serve with strawberry puree and a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream, or a pat of butter. Cake will keep wrapped in the refrigerator for 2 days.
