Fresh Strawberry Pound Cake

For the Cake:

1 pint fresh strawberries (this is for glaze below as well)

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups granulated sugar

5 large eggs, room temperature

3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp strawberry extract, optional

½ tsp red food coloring. Optional

For the Glaze:

2 Tbsp strawberry puree, reserved from cake

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp pure lemon juice, or lime juice

For the Cake:

1. Remove the stems and wash strawberries thoroughly. Next add strawberries to food processor or heavy duty blender and puree until sooth. Remove 2 Tbsp of puree and set aside for glaze later on.
2. Then add strawberry puree to a small pot over medium heat and reduce the puree for 15-20 minutes or until you have ½ cup left. It should be pretty thick. Cool puree down to room temperature and set aside.
3. Next preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a 12 cup Bundt pan with nonstick method of your choosing
4. In your mixer bowl, add butter and beat for 2 minute on high speed. Slowly add in sugar and beat on high speed for an additional 4 minutes until very pale yellow and fluffy, might be a bit crumbly.
5. Next, add eggs, one at a time, combining well after each addition and scraping down the sides of your bowl as needed.
6. Turn your mixer down to its lowest speed, and slowly add flour in two increments, then add salt and baking soda. Be careful not to overbeat.
7. Lastly, add buttermilk, the cooled strawberry puree, vanilla and strawberry extracts (and red food coloring if desired) and mix until just combined then stop.
8. Pour cake batter into the Bundt pan and bake for 70 to 80 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes then invert cake on serving plate.

For the Glaze:

1. Once cake has cooled to room temperature, whisk together 2 Tbsp of the strawberry puree, powdered sugar, vanilla and lemon or lime juice until smooth and thick, but pourable.
2. Use your spoon to test this by seeing how it runs down the side of the spoon. If too thin, adjust with powdered sugar and if too thick, add a bit more juice until consistency is perfect. Glaze top of cooled cake and let set for 10 minutes then serve.

Notes:

Make sure to slow down your mixer when adding in your dry ingredients to not overactivate gluten in the cake.