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As pastry chef at Little Mama’s, Anika Rucker makes classic desserts like cannoli and tiramisu and a steady rotation of seasonal treats like her Strawberries and Cream Pound Cake. Here’s her recipe for the sweetheart-themed dessert, available at Little Mama’s this Valentine’s Day. 

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

12 ounces softened butter

6 eggs

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

¾ cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2.5 ounces freeze-dried strawberries

Buttermilk icing (see sidebar)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Grease a Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.

3. Cream sugar and butter together until light.

4. Incorporate eggs one at a time, scraping the sides.

5. Sift baking powder, flour, and salt together.

6. Add half of the dry ingredients to butter mixture, mix well, add buttermilk and vanilla, mix well, add remaining dry ingredients, mix well.

7. Fold in strawberries and pour batter into Bundt pan.

8. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour.

9. Let cake cool slightly before flipping onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

10. Once cool, drizzle buttermilk icing on top.

Buttermilk Icing

½ cup buttermilk

Splash of vanilla extract

⅛ cup lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

5 cups powdered sugar

1. Whisk buttermilk, vanilla, and lemon juice together in a bowl.

2. Sift salt and powdered sugar over wet ingredients.

3. Whisk until smooth.