Strawberry Poundcake

If I had to choose one food in the world that was my favorite it would have to be strawberries. But not just any strawberries, they HAVE to be Oregon strawberries. They are sweet, soft, juicy and when eaten right off the vine, still warm from the sun it's just heaven. I am lucky enough to live in an area where I'm about 15 minutes to downtown, and just 3 minutes to farms, produce stands and strawberry patches. I get the best of both worlds! And yesterday after I picked the boys up from school we had to take a quick trip to Costco. I drove on the back road, which happens to go by the strawberry patch and what did I see? The tractor in the field getting it all ready for nutty strawberry lovers like myself to start picking in just a few short weeks! I'm a little excited:) In anticipation of my fresh Oregon strawberries I grabbed a carton from Costco to try out this strawberry poundcake that my older boy found on pinterest. It's a passion that we share, food (and strawberries!)

Wash some strawberries and chop roughly. Part of these will go into the poundcake, part will go toward the glaze.

Next separate the egg yolks from the whites. On my first try the yolk broke, need to start over :-(

ok, this is better, but I do see a little spot of yellow in there, hoping that doesn't affect things too much? moving on anyway...

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl til light and fluffy

Add the yolks, one at a time, to the butter, continue creaming.

Add in the flour and vanilla, mix and set aside. Remember to scrape the bowl as you go, this is quite thick.

Add the salt to the egg whites and whisk til stiff peaks form (mine only made it to soft peaks, it's probably because of the yolk that got in there, good enough)

Add the egg whites into the batter and mix, and finally the chopped strawberries, mix.

Spoon the batter into a prepared loaf pan and bake. I really had to spread the batter into each corner to  make it even.

Here it is coming out of the oven, golden brown and beautiful. Set aside to cool.

To make the glaze (this is where my recipe differs from the original) take the remainder of the strawberries, place in a food processor and puree.

Over the top, sift about a cup of powdered sugar (more or less depending on your taste) into the strawberry puree, pulse until well combined and the sugar is dissolved completely.

Spoon over the top of the cake and enjoy. I'll definitely be making this again when my fresh Oregon berries are available. Both my boys LOVED it, yes loved...as in past tense...as in they ate the entire thing in one sitting!

Strawberry Poundcake
original recipe here

Cake:

3/4 c butter
3/4 c sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 1/4 c flour
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
1 c fresh strawberries, chopped

Glaze:

1 c fresh strawberries, chopped
1 c powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8 inch loaf pan, set aside.

Prep the strawberries by washing, cutting off stems and giving a rough chop. Separate 1 c of strawberries for the cake, set the remaining aside for the puree. Next, separate the egg yolks from the whites, placing the whites in a medium bowl, set aside.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add in the egg yolks 1 at a time, incorporating each before adding the next. Add in the flour and the vanilla, mix, scrape down sides of bowl, mix again and set aside.

Add salt into the egg whites and whisk til you have stiff peaks. Pour into the batter and mix well. Last add in the strawberries and combine. This batter is pretty thick so keep scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure it's well incorporated.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, til toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan.

For the glaze place the remaining strawberries into a food processor or blender and puree til smooth. Sift in the powdered sugar and blend until fully combined and sugar is dissolved.  Spoon over the cake and enjoy!