I’m partnering with Red Blossom to bring you today’s recipe! I absolutely love their fresh berries, especially their strawberries. They’re so perfect for both snacking and baking!
The summer I turned ten, my family moved across town to an older yet larger home. With gigantic front and back yards, it sat on nearly a full acre of land, and the previous owner’s wife took advantage of all of the open space.
She planted a wide variety of flowers, bushes, and trees, filling up every corner of the yards with luscious greenery, including yellow roses, pink camellias, and exotic birds of paradise. However, she seemed to love fruit trees the most.
We found three lemon trees, orange and grapefruit trees, a fig tree, an avocado tree, green apple and peach trees, regular plum and wild cherry plum trees… With how much fruit they bore, we could barely keep up with picking all of them that summer!
But one afternoon while checking on the lemons, we discovered that the dainty little green plants covering part of the backyard and the front walkway has sprouted tiny red bits. When we bent down to inspect them up close…
We realized they were strawberries! Over the next few weeks, we watched as they turned a deep crimson color, and eventually, when they looked fully ripe, we picked a few.
They were still teensy, no bigger than my pinky nail, but since they looked completely mature and pure red, we washed them off in the kitchen sink and popped a few in our mouths. We briefly chewed, swallowed, and looked at each other.
They tasted like nothing… Nothing at all! Just watery little spheres with zero sweetness or berry flavor.
That evening, we did a little research on the computer, and we realized that our homegrown strawberries were actually mock strawberries… Which many people originally considered to be ornamental flowers. And just about everyone agreed that they were tasteless and not worth eating.
Since then, I’ve left the “true” strawberry growing to the professionals… And relied on the grocery stores to stock me with exceptionally plump and juicy berries!
And that’s exactly what I did to make this healthy strawberry pound cake! I mixed incredibly (and naturally!) sweet fresh strawberries into the batter, ones grown just a little north of my California home, which resulted in a lovely lightened-up dessert perfect for spring and summer.
This healthy strawberry pound cake is really moist and tender, and the bright berry flavors pair wonderfully with the cake’s rich and buttery vanilla taste. Even better, it’s quite simple to make!
WHAT IS A POUND CAKE?
We’ll start with a really brief history lesson. Traditional pound cakes earned their name because they contained a pound of four ingredients: all-purpose flour, eggs, butter, and sugar. That made for a simple and memorable recipe… But one really dense and highly caloric cake.
So today, we’re healthifying that style of cake! You’ll end up with a strawberry pound cake that’s low calorie, low fat, sugar-free, completely clean eating friendly… And still tastes incredible!
HOW TO MAKE A HEALTHY STRAWBERRY POUND CAKE
Now let’s go over how to make the best healthy strawberry pound cake!
To begin, you’ll need white whole wheat flour. I know that looks like an oxymoron… But contrary to what it sounds like, white whole wheat flour actually exists — and it’s not a combination of white (aka all-purpose) flour and regular whole wheat flour!
Instead, white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of soft white wheat (hence the name!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. They both have the same health benefits (like extra fiber!), but white whole wheat flour has a lighter taste and texture, which lets the tender texture and sweet flavor of your healthy strawberry cake truly shine.
Tip: I’ve included my recommended gluten-free options in the Notes section of the recipe, if you’d like to make this healthy strawberry pound cake gluten-free!
Unlike traditional pound cakes with a full pound of butter (over 2 cups!) and eggs (around 9 of them!), you just need 1 tablespoon of butter and 3 egg whites. Yes, that’s it! That really helps keep your healthy strawberry pound cake low fat and low calorie.
To make sure it turns out just as tender as those traditional recipes, you’ll mix Greek yogurt into the batter. If you’ve browsed through my recipes before, then you know how much I love baking with it! Greek yogurt adds the same moisture to your cake batter as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories. It also gives your healthy strawberry cake a protein boost!
Then to increase the buttery notes in your healthy pound cake, you’ll actually add a little extra vanilla extract. This is another one of my favorite healthy baking tricks! Vanilla enhances butter’s rich flavor, so by adding a little more than in stereotypical recipes, your healthy strawberry pound cake tastes just as buttery and indulgent. Yum!
Instead of a pound of granulated sugar, you’ll sweeten your healthy strawberry pound cake with liquid stevia and erythritol instead. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing refined or artificial (aka it’s clean eating friendly). It’s also really concentrated. You just need 4 ½ teaspoons for this entire cake!
Tip: Many stevia brands and products have different sweetness levels, so they’re not necessarily 1-for-1 substitutes for each other. For the best results, I recommend using the same one that I do. (I buy it online here, and you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine too!)
Erythritol is also a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener, but it typically measures cup-for-cup like granulated sugar. By adding just 2 tablespoons to the cake batter, it really amplifies the sweetness from the stevia. The combination of these two ingredients makes your healthy strawberry pound cake taste exceptionally sweet and indulgent, just like regular pound cakes!
Tip: I also buy my erythritol online here!
Of course, it’s impossible to make a healthy strawberry pound cake without the fruit… So I turned to my favorite fresh strawberries from Red Blossom! They’re exceptionally sweet and juicy, and all of their strawberries are handpicked with love and care. That truly shows — their perfectly ripe strawberries are some of the best I’ve ever tasted!
Tip: You can even trace where your strawberries came from here on their website. The ones I used originated from Santa Maria, just a little north of where I live!
Just remember to dice the strawberries finely, no larger than the size of chocolate chips. This ensures that your healthy strawberry cake bakes evenly and has a bright burst of fruit in every bite!
I know it’s so hard to wait… But you must let your healthy strawberry pound cake cool completely to room temperature before slicing and serving. This isn’t just to prevent you from burning your tongue! Letting the pound cake cool also creates the most moist and tender texture imaginable. (The inside of the cake won’t fully set until it reaches room temperature, so you run the risk of ruining its texture if you cut into it while it’s still warm!)
Then as an optional (but highly recommended!) finishing touch, you can whip up a quick glaze with a little more erythritol and milk… Drizzle that all over the top of your cooled cake…
And cut yourself a slice or two! Then when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy strawberry pound cake!
Healthy Strawberry Pound Cake
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 2 ¾ cups (330g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 ½ tsp liquid stevia
- 2 tbsp (30g) confectioners’ style erythritol
- ¾ cup (180g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup (240mL) nonfat milk, divided
- 1 ½ cups (210g) whole fresh Red Blossom strawberries, diced
FOR THE DRIZZLE
- 3 tbsp (45g) confectioners’ style erythritol
- 2 ½ - 3 tsp nonfat milk (or adjusted to achieve the desired consistency)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and coat a 9x5” loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- To prepare the cake, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla extract, and liquid stevia. Stir in the erythritol. Add in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in ½ cup of milk. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and remaining milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 4 equal parts.) Gently fold in the strawberries.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350°F for 55-65 minutes or until the top feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully transferring the pound cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cake has fully cooled and just before serving it, prepare the drizzle by stirring together the erythritol and milk in a small bowl. Transfer the mixture to a small zip-topped bag, cut off a tiny piece of one corner, and drizzle on top of the cooled cake.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
This recipe was sponsored by Red Blossom. As always, all opinions, text, recipe, and photographs are my own. Remember to check out where your Red Blossom strawberries came from here on their website!
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Strawberry Lemon Cake
♡ Healthy Strawberry Bundt Cake
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Strawberry Shortcakes
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Blueberry Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Banana Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Raspberry Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Blueberry Almond Bundt Cake
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy cake recipes!
I love your recipes but unfortunately am not a stevia lover. I tried it and it always has a noticeably strong, almost chemical, taste for me. I also wanted to note the following questions exist about how healthy it is. I would much prefer honey or maple syrup as a sweetener and appreciate when those substitutions are given. Thanks!
I truly appreciate your interest in my recipe Ilm! I’ve actually provided honey and maple syrup alternatives in the Notes section of this recipe (located directly underneath the Instructions). I know it can be easy to miss! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try this pound cake!
Hi Amy,
The pound cake looks spectacular!
I’d be curious to know why substituting coconut sugar for liquid stevia would call for reducing the liquid content. This sounds counter-intuitive to me, but I’m sure there’s a strong rationale behind it I’m missing.
Thanks,
Razvan
Thanks so much for your kind words Razvan! Yes, I know it does sound counter-intuitive, but there’s definitely a reason for that! Coconut sugar dissolves in liquid (unlike flour, which doesn’t and just turns into a paste!), so when you add coconut sugar to this recipe, it “bulks” up the liquid volume. If you didn’t reduce the milk, there’d be too much overall liquid in the cake batter. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of this pound cake if you decide to try it!
Hi Amy,
As we speak, your strawberry pound cake is in my combi steam oven at 350 degrees and 30% humidity. I believe I must have done something wrong in putting the ingredients together because at the end there seemed to have been too much flour mix and not enough liquid so the texture of the cake mix was too thick. Don’t know where I went wrong but I will see if the cake will taste good! I used regular confectioner’s sugar instead of what was asked in the recipe and used regular stevia packets instead of the liquid one.
Best,
Florence
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Florence! I’d love to help sort out that batter issue. What are the exact stevia packets that you used, and how many did you use? How much confectioners’ sugar did you use? Also, how did you measure the flour: with a kitchen scale or measuring cups? If the latter, can you describe how you used them to measure?
Would you sub almond flour for the same amount?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Amie! I actually don’t recommend substituting almond flour for the white whole wheat flour. This is because almond flour lacks gluten, and gluten is a protein that helps this cake both rise properly and then maintain its shape while cooling. If you substitute pure almond flour, your cake will likely collapse while cooling and turn out denser. However, if you don’t mind that texture difference, the flavor will remain the same! I’d love to hear what you think if you try making this pound cake! 🙂
HI Amy, this was the first time I’ve made one of your recipes. In the past I’ve stuck to my tried and true recipes (and unhealthy) in the fear I’d spend time and ingredients making something I didn’t like. Well, I followed the directions religiously, but I wasn’t happy with the flavor. It baked beautifully, had a nice texture, was fairly moist, looked good, but it had very little flavor. Just totally bland. What could I do differently? What could I have done that was “wrong”? Could it just be I’m so used to sweet things that my taste buds need things very sugary? I think I’ll mash up some strawberries and sugar like a sauce and put it over the pound cake. Hopefully, this will add more flavor. Any thoughts?? Thanks, Teresa
It really means a lot that you tried one of my recipes, Teresa! Especially knowing that you usually stick to your tried-and-true ones instead. 🙂 That doesn’t sound at all like how this cake is supposed to turn out, so I’d love to help figure out why that was!
Did you use the same exact liquid stevia that I did? If not, what’s the exact brand and product name of the one that you used instead?
Since it sounds as if the cake’s texture was spot on, I’m guessing that’s the culprit. Many stevia brands and products have different sweetness levels, so they’re rarely a 1-for-1 substitute. If you used a different brand and product than the one that I did, then my hunch is that it’s one that doesn’t have as concentrated of a sweetness level.
However, I think your idea of making a strawberry “sauce” is a great way to add sweetness to the cake you just baked. I really hope that helps! And if you share the exact stevia brand and product that you used instead, I’d be happy to help figure out how much you’d need to use in order to make this cake taste as sweet as it’s supposed to as well. 🙂
Hi Amy, thanks for your reply. I didn’t use your brand of stevia. I used something called Pure Via liquid stevia. Have you ever heard of it? After looking closely, I did see that it’s first ingredient on the label was water! No wonder it was so bland! Guess I’ll be ordering your brand. Have a great day , Teresa
It’s my pleasure, Teresa! I’m glad we solved the sweetness mystery. 🙂
I’ve heard of Pure Via stevia, but I haven’t worked with it. However, I did a little research on it just now. If you used their liquid stevia, it appears that one squeeze (or around ¼ teaspoon) is the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of sugar. If that’s true, then you’d need 5 tablespoons of the Pure Via liquid sweeter to replace the liquid stevia that I use in this cake recipe. If you do that, then I’d recommend reducing the milk by 3 tablespoons to compensate for the added liquid volume.
Does that make sense?
Yes! Thank you! I’ll be trying more of your recipes.
You’re welcome, Teresa! I’m always happy to help. 🙂 Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions about future recipes that catch your eye too!
I made this last night and had a piece this morning. Given how low sugar/fat it is, the flavor and texture are quite nice. Using fresh picked in-season strawberries helps, too. The only very minor differences in my making it was that I used a granulated eyrithritol-Stevia mix instead of liquid stevia. I reduced the milk amount as you directed, in such a case, and that worked perfectly. I also used regular confectioners sugar in the batter instead of eyrithritol powdered sugar, only because I can’t get the latter and haven’t liked similar products, in the past. The amount was small enough I figured it was insignificant. Also, I skipped the glaze. I don’t see that as crucial, especially since I choose to top the slices with mixed fresh berries and a dollop of plain low fat yogurt.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this pound cake, Elaine! It means a lot that you’d take the time to let me know, and I appreciate you sharing your recipe modifications too. I always love hearing what tweaks work! 🙂
This turned out well! I used gluten free flour instead of regular and xanthem gum instead of baking power (1 to 1 substitution of both) then I followed the note of omitting the milk and sweetening the bread with agave but I only did one cup without the two table spoons.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this cake, Carrie! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and rate the recipe. It truly means a lot! ♡ I really appreciate you sharing your modifications too. I always love hearing what recipe tweaks work out!
VERY LONG ARTICLE AND WHY NOT PROVIDE NUTRITION WITH RECIPE?! BIG PET PEEVE!
I’m so sorry to hear about your frustration, Betty. We certainly don’t want you to feel that way when you are interested in one of our recipes. Many of our readers are very new to baking, so Amy likes to include a lot of information, details, and explanation so they can use her blog posts as resources to help them learn. It sounds like you’re an experienced baker and don’t need a lot of that information! 😉 We are working on adding a “Jump to Recipe” button to all of our recipes. It requires some coding and reconfiguring of all recipes individually, and with 1000+ recipes on Amy’s blog, it’s taking a bit of time to do. However, I promise adding that “Jump to Recipe” button to all recipes as quickly as possible is a top priority! That will help save some of your valuable time when you come to look for just the recipe! 😉 Also, we do include the nutrition information on every recipe. This can always be found directly under the recipe in pink text. I know that can be easy to miss though! If you decide to try any of our recipes, we would love to hear what you think!