I enjoy occasionally making fancy desserts like mille feuilles, but most of the time what I bake is more along the lines of a loaf or muffins. Maybe the occasional bundt cake. I like things that are simple yet delicious.

What could be more simple and delicious than a pound cake filled with strawberry rhubarb compote?

There are a lot of pound cake recipes out there, all tend to have basically the same ingredients, but vary in technique. I’ve tried a few of them out. The Cook Illustrated recipe is delicious, but involves a thermometer, which just seems silly. Its pound cake, grandmothers around the world have been making it forever with their eyes closed!

The thing about pound cake is that you can’t rush it, otherwise you’ll end up with a very dense heavy cake. So make sure you’re ingredients are at room temp, and cream the butter and sugar together for at least five minutes, till they really are light and fluffy looking (no shortcuts!)

My favourite recipe is pretty simple, and can easily be adapted to make it new and exciting. You can add some spices, make it chocolaty, or even a classic lemon. This time I decided to add a swirl of strawberry rhubarb compote to this one, to give it a spring time feel.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

• 2 cups of rhubarb, sliced
• 1 pint of strawberries
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• Juice of half a lemon

1. In a large saucepot, bring all the ingredients to boil for 5 minutes, then simmer for 15. Stir frequently.
2. Let cool till ready to use.

Strawberry Rhubarb Swirl Pound Cake

• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 eggs, separated
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup strawberry rhubarb compote.

1. Cream butter till shiny, about 3 minutes. Add half the sugar, cream until well combined, then add the rest of the sugar. Cream until light a fluffy.
2. Add egg yolk one at a time, making sure well combined after each addition. Add vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks, set aside.
4. In another bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg yolk mixture by hand. Don’t over mix.
6. Fold in the egg whites. Make sure they are well combined.
7. Place 1/3 of the batter in a greased loaf pan, then spread half the strawberry rhubarb compote. Place another 1/3 of the batter in the pan and cover with the second half of the compote. Top with remaining batter. Using a butter knife, cut a ziz zag pattern through the dough to create a swirl.
8. Bake at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes.

The cake will keep for a few days wrapped in parchment. If it starts to dry out, its great toasted with some jam.