Sixteen items and just under two hours, in a 10-cup Bundt pan.
Cream cheese is in this twice — eight ounces beaten into the batter and four more into the glaze. They are separate entries on the list for a reason.
Why This Recipe Works
- Cream cheese in a pound batter gives a tighter, moister crumb than butter alone.
- Beating the eggs in one at a time keeps a heavy batter from splitting.
- Folding the flour and milk in only until smooth avoids toughening the crumb.
- Cooling fifteen minutes before inverting lets a Bundt release without tearing.
- Simmering the chopped berries to a syrup gives the glossy heap the ridge carries.
Ingredient Notes
- Cream cheese, twice
- Eight ounces into the batter and four more into the glaze. The second lot is what makes the glaze ivory rather than plain white.
- Sliced strawberries and chopped strawberries
- A cup of each, and two different jobs. Sliced go into the batter; chopped are simmered into the syrup for the top.
- Milk, twice
- Half a cup into the batter and two to three tablespoons into the glaze. The glaze quantity is a range because it is the thickness control.
- Fresh mint
- For garnish, at the back. The title names no herb, but the finished cake carries a sprig.
How to Make It
Oven to 325°F, a 10-cup Bundt pan greased and floured
Heat oven to 325°F; grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan.
Butter, cream cheese and sugar fluffy, eggs one at a time
Beat butter, 8 oz cream cheese, and sugar until fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time and vanilla.
Flour, baking powder, salt and milk folded, then sliced strawberries
Fold in flour, baking powder, salt, and milk just until smooth; fold in 1 cup sliced strawberries.
Baked to moist crumbs, cooled fifteen minutes, then inverted
Bake 55 to 65 minutes until a tester comes out with moist crumbs; cool 15 minutes, then invert and cool completely.
Chopped strawberries simmered with sugar to a glossy syrup
Simmer chopped strawberries with 1 tbsp sugar for 5 to 7 minutes until glossy and syrupy; cool.
Ivory glaze poured over, syrup along the ridge, mint at the back
Beat 4 oz cream cheese with powdered sugar and enough milk for a thick ivory glaze; pour over the Bundt cake, then spoon the strawberry syrup mixture along the top ridge and garnish with mint.
A Ring, Not a Loaf - and Cream Cheese in Two Places
The name says pound cake and the photograph shows a Bundt ring, which looks like a contradiction until you separate the two things the name is doing. Pound cake describes the crumb - dense, buttery, tight - and the pan is a separate decision. Below is how that crumb is built, and where the cream cheese goes both times.
Stage 1 of 5
The pan - a 10-CUP BUNDT, greased AND floured
Steps 1–1 of 6
Both treatments, not one. A Bundt's decorative ridges are exactly where a cake grips, and butter alone slides off vertical detail; flour over the butter gives the crumb something to release from. 10-cup is the stated capacity and it matters - this is a heavy batter and a smaller pan overflows.
- Oven to 325°F, a 10-cup Bundt pan greased and flouredHeat oven to 325°F; grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan.
Stage 2 of 5
The batter - CREAM CHEESE the first time, eggs ONE AT A TIME
Steps 2–2 of 6
1 cup BUTTER, 8 oz CREAM CHEESE and 2 cups SUGAR beaten UNTIL FLUFFY, then 4 EGGS ONE AT A TIME and 2 tsp VANILLA. The cream cheese here is structural: its acidity and its extra fat give a pound cake a tighter, moister crumb than butter alone manages. Four eggs is a lot of liquid to push into a fat base, which is why they go in singly - all four at once and the emulsion breaks into a curdled mess that bakes greasy.
- Butter, cream cheese and sugar fluffy, eggs one at a timeBeat butter, 8 oz cream cheese, and sugar until fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time and vanilla.
Stage 3 of 5
FOLDED, and the FIRST cup of strawberries
Steps 3–3 of 6
2 1/2 cups FLOUR, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 cup MILK folded JUST UNTIL SMOOTH, then 1 cup of SLICED STRAWBERRIES folded in. Just until smooth is the limit - a pound cake has plenty of flour and beating it develops gluten into something rubbery. The sliced berries go IN the cake; the other cup is being kept for something else entirely.
- Flour, baking powder, salt and milk folded, then sliced strawberriesFold in flour, baking powder, salt, and milk just until smooth; fold in 1 cup sliced strawberries.
Stage 4 of 5
55 to 65 minutes, then 15 minutes BEFORE inverting
Steps 4–4 of 6
Baked UNTIL A TESTER COMES OUT WITH MOIST CRUMBS - moist crumbs, not clean, because clean means overbaked in a cake this dense. Then COOL 15 MINUTES, THEN INVERT. That window is narrow in both directions: inverted immediately, a hot Bundt tears under its own weight; left too long, the sugars set and weld it to the ridges.
- Baked to moist crumbs, cooled fifteen minutes, then invertedBake 55 to 65 minutes until a tester comes out with moist crumbs; cool 15 minutes, then invert and cool completely.
Stage 5 of 5
The SECOND strawberries, the SECOND cream cheese, then mint
Steps 5–6 of 6
1 cup of CHOPPED strawberries SIMMERED with 1 tbsp sugar 5 TO 7 MINUTES UNTIL GLOSSY AND SYRUPY, then cooled - that gloss is why these are cooked rather than scattered fresh. Then 4 oz of CREAM CHEESE beaten with 1 cup POWDERED SUGAR and 2 TO 3 TBSP MILK into A THICK IVORY GLAZE, POURED over. The milk is a range because it is the control - too thin and it sheets off a Bundt's curved sides instead of dripping. Then the syrup SPOONED ALONG THE TOP RIDGE and a MINT sprig, a garnish the title does not name.
- Chopped strawberries simmered with sugar to a glossy syrupSimmer chopped strawberries with 1 tbsp sugar for 5 to 7 minutes until glossy and syrupy; cool.
- Ivory glaze poured over, syrup along the ridge, mint at the backBeat 4 oz cream cheese with powdered sugar and enough milk for a thick ivory glaze; pour over the Bundt cake, then spoon the strawberry syrup mixture along the top ridge and garnish with mint.
Success Tips
- Grease and flour the Bundt thoroughly; the detail in the ridges is where cakes stick.
- Wait the full fifteen minutes before inverting, and no longer — it sticks either way.
- Add the glaze milk a little at a time; thin glaze runs straight off a Bundt.
Serving Ideas
Twelve slices from a ring-shaped Bundt with a deeply golden crust, flooded with thick ivory glaze dripping down the sides and heaped along the ridge with glossy strawberries in syrup, a mint sprig at the back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this baked as a loaf?
No. It is a 10-cup Bundt ring. Pound cake here describes the dense buttery crumb rather than the shape of the pan.
Why is the glaze ivory rather than white?
Because it contains cream cheese. Four ounces beaten with powdered sugar and a little milk gives both the colour and the tang.
Why two lots of strawberries?
They do different things. A cup of sliced berries goes into the batter, and a cup of chopped ones is simmered with sugar into the glossy syrup heaped along the top.
