Pound Cake with Fresh Strawberries & Strawberry Coulis

Hello! Can you believe that I had never made pound cake before? I can't! When I chose to make this recipe, it seemed odd to me that I hadn't ever made it previously in my baking days...but there's a first time for everything! Do you know how pound cake got its name? No, it's not because you gain a pound after eating it (although it's certainly not a "light" recipe). ;-) Actually, the name pound cake originated because the traditional recipe uses a pound of four ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. You can read more about that here if you'd like!

I looked at many different recipes before deciding on the one I used (I do this all the time - search for ages for just the right recipe!). I am pleased with my choice! I used the "perfection pound cake" recipe from Brown Eyed Baker. Yummm. The pound cake was going to be for a coworker's birthday, so I thought I'd need to dress it up a bit. How did I do that? With fresh, delicious strawberries!! It's almost Memorial Day, and this time of year screams fresh fruit (well, it screams fresh fruit in my head - maybe yours too? :)). 

Here are a few pictures of the batter as I was making it. If you ever make this, definitely follow the instructions closely. For certain steps along the way, you mix the ingredients for quite a while (e.g., the butter and sugar are mixed for 5 minutes). Be patient! At the very end though, it's important not to over mix when you add the flour. You only mix it until it's just incorporated (see the second picture below). Don't get me wrong though...the recipe was really super simple overall! Don't be intimated. ;-)

Here she is, all baked! I like its nice, light golden brown color.

Have you ever heard of a "coulis"? I hadn't until now! In my search for pound cake recipes, I came across one from Smitten Kitchen, a great blog. I did not use her actual cake recipe, but I did steal her strawberry coulis recipe. A coulis is a french sauce that can be sweet or savory, depending on the item with which it's paired. I want to make coulis more often!! This was really easy and yummy. The recipe is here (but remember, I did not use the pound cake recipe you'll see at that link). All you have to do is combine strawberries, water, lemon juice, and sugar in a blender until smooth, strain out the seeds, and then chill the mixture. Piece of cake!!

We enjoyed the pound cake, sliced strawberries (which I sprinkled with a little sugar and let them sit overnight to sweeten them a bit), and the coulis at work for a coworker's birthday, as I mentioned earlier. It was a hit!!

Here are the delicious toppings!

And the cake, half eaten!

Yummmm. I made sure to take a couple bites of the pound cake without any toppings, in order to form an opinion of the cake itself and see if I'd want to make it again. It was actually really tasty on its own! Since there aren't really too many flavorful ingredients in pound cake (other than vanilla extract really), I think it might get a bad rap of being not all that exciting of a cake. I would totally disagree! The cake wasn't too heavy; in fact, it was lighter than I thought it would be. It was also more moist than I anticipated...not dry in the least. So all in all, it was great! And of course, the strawberry toppings and cool whip helped quite a bit too. Any berries would be delicious with this really! :) 

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, friends! See you next time!