I owe this recipe to my mother, Grace Bell. When I was a child, she taught me how to make her caramel pound cake, and throughout the years I’ve adapted it numerous times to make it my own. This version is bright, sweet, and a little floral thanks to lots of lemon, elderflower liqueur, and roasted strawberries—a more delicious preparation of the out-of-season berries that are a Valentine’s Day staple. —Danielle Bell, recipe developer and cofounder of de Porres Dinner Series
All products featured on Bon Appétit are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through the retail links below, we earn an affiliate commission.
What you’ll need
Stand Mixer
$330 $240 At Amazon
Electric Mixer
$40 At Amazon
Loaf Pan
$19 At Amazon
8x8" Baking Dish
$18 At Amazon
Ateco Bowl Scraper
$4 At Amazon
Small Saucepan
$155 At Amazon
Wire Cooling Rack
$18 At Amazon
Recipe information
Yield
6 servings
Ingredients
Strawberries
1
2
1
Cake
¾
1½
½
½
3
1¼
3
2
2
½
Glaze and assembly
4
6
⅓
2
½
Preparation
Strawberries
Step 1
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 250°. Place strawberries in an 8x8" baking dish and toss with sugar and St-Germain. Roast, stirring every hour or so, until juicy and tender, 2½–3 hours. Let cool.
Do Ahead: Strawberries can be roasted 1 week ahead. Transfer to an airtight container; cover and chill. Reheat in a small saucepan if desired.
Cake
Step 2
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 325°. Butter and flour a 6-cup Bundt pan or 9x5" loaf pan. Whisk baking powder, salt, and 1½ cups flour in a medium bowl.
Step 3
Using an electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar, St-Germain, lemon zest, vanilla, and ¾ cup butter in a large bowl on medium-low speed until smooth and combined (use the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), about 2 minutes (the mixture will look broken and that’s okay). Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in dry ingredients, ¼ cup at a time, scraping down the sides of bowl as needed, until combined. Increase speed to medium and beat in cream until incorporated.
Step 4
Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth surface. Bake until golden brown and a tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs, 40–45 minutes if using Bundt pan or 50–60 if using loaf pan. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 20 minutes.
Glaze and Assembly
Step 5
While the cake cools, cook butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, swirling often, until butter foams, then browns (do not burn) and smells nutty, 6–8 minutes. Add sugar and cook, whisking constantly, until dissolved, about 1 minute. Whisk in lemon juice and salt; cook, swirling occasionally, until mixture is reduced slightly, about 5 minutes. Add St-Germain and vanilla and cook, swirling often, until glaze is syrupy, about 2 minutes.
Step 6
Turn out cake onto a plate (flip cake upright if using a loaf pan). Poke holes all over cake with tester; spoon glaze over warm cake. Cut cake into slices and serve topped with roasted strawberries and their juices.
Leave a Review
Reviews (15)
Back to TopHi Bon Appetit, first of all thank you so much for making all these great recipes available to us all. I use many of them happily and with great success. However, this one is not one of them! - you forgot to let us know when to add the cream. I added it to the wet ingredients but the explanation seems to indicate to add it after everything else is combined. Not sure it made a difference though. - I think it is brilliant to use St Germain but you can't really taste it. - It needs a lot more lemon zest than what is called for. The cake is faintly lemony but not enough. I would increase the zest to a tablespoon - or perhaps increase both zest and St Germain by 1/3? - it takes a lot longer for 6 tbl of sugar to melt than 1 minute. In fact, the glaze took a very long time to make for what it was. I would not bother with butter and all that, just use lemon juice, maybe St Germain and sugar (and less of it) All in all, it is a pleasant cake but there are recipes that are quicker, less fattening and gives more lemon bang for one's baking buck. -
Susanne in Toronto
Toronto ON Canada
1/9/2022
The cream goes in at step 3.
Anonymous
1/20/2022
Will this batter rise when baked? I'm using a smaller loaf pan. It fits 6 cups of water but I'm thinking I might put some of the batter into cupcake pans just in case.
Nicole D
Brooklyn NY
1/24/2022
I enjoyed this recipe, but I did make a couple of tweaks because I prepared it for a dinner party. I halved the recipe and cooked the cake batter in ramekins to allow for easier and cuter plating. Per some other reviews, I added some extra lemon zest so that the cake's lemony flavor came through more. I didn't taste much of the elderflower. Regarding the strawberries, they didn't produce that much syrup, so I added the roasted strawberry to the glaze while it was reducing and some extra elderflower liqueur, which really brought the flavors together. Altogether, it was good!
AVBG
LIC, NY
1/30/2022
I'm just starting to mix ingredients and I too have found that the heavy cream is no where to be added??????? This does not inspire me. Especially since the reviews have indicated this. Is no one at Bon Appetit reading reviews?
D M Sahaidachny
Hicksville, NY USA
3/20/2022
For those who missed the cream: Big as life, last sentence at end of step three. Good luck. It's delicious
Anonymous
Los Angeles
4/16/2022
Wonderful cake! The elderflower and lemon is intoxicating. Thank you to the person who pointed out where the heavy cream is added in step 3. I read through the recipe multiple times but kept missing it for some reason...
HVT
MN
5/30/2023