Strawberry season is here and moist, fluffy loaf cake made with loads of fresh berries with a hint of cinnamon is an easy treat you can make any day of the week.
There used to be a cozy, country style restaurant where I live that would bring you a slice of strawberry loaf instead of regular bread. It was simple, yet so delicious with lots of sweet berries with just the right amount of cinnamon! I started baking my own when the restaurant closed down and this cake is pretty darn close to that wonderful strawberry loaf cake I remember from many years ago.
Easy to Make Strawberry Loaf Cake
This is an easy and simple treat to make especially on a weekend!
What you need for this delicious loaf cake:
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar lightly packed
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Milk or half and half
- Fresh strawberries
In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon flour with strawberries. This will prevent berries from sinking to the bottom while baking.
Then grease the standard 9″ x 5″ loaf pan and whisk together 2 cups all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and set it aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, and mix in vanilla extract and milk or half and half.
Next, gradually stir in dry ingredients and mix until well combined but do not over mix the batter! Then gently fold strawberries into the batter using silicone spatula.
Lastly, transfer the batter to the loaf pan and smooth out the top. FYI, This batter is pretty sticky and it took me bit of an effort to to scrape all the batter from the side of my mixing bowl!
Bake the loaf cake in 350° oven for 50-55 minutes or use the standard test by inserting a tooth pick in the middle. If the toothpick comes out clean, then it’s done! Cool the loaf cake in the pan for 20-25 minutes then remove from the pan and let the cake cool completely on a wire rack.
Springtime Tableware
You can elevate this delicious strawberry loaf with beautiful spring time tableware like I did with mine. If you have guests coming over, showcase your cake on a cake stand. I found these tulip vase and cake stand at a Metropolitan Museum of Art store years ago. These pieces were made in Portugal for the Met and tulips are famous watercolor paintings by the 17th century Dutch painter, Jakob Marrel. These vintage pieces are hard to find but sometimes they show up on online marketplace like Ebay and Etsy. Cake plates featured here are my all time favorite Burleigh Pottery pieces which can be purchased from Denby Pottery .
Serving Ideas
This loaf cake is absolutely delicious as is but here are some ideas to dress it up. You can add:
- Lemon Glaze . Drizzle tangy lemon flavored glaze on top of your cake!
- Greek Yogurt
- Whipped Cream
- Ice Cream
- Fresh strawberries
Try Other Delicious Springtime Recipes!
Strawberry Loaf Cake
Equipment
- 9" X 5" standard loaf pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour plus 1 tbsp
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup light brown sugar lightly packed
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk or half and half at room temperature
- 1½ cups strawberries thoroughly washed, hulled and chopped
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine strawberries with 1 tbsp flour and set it aside.
- Preheat oven to 350° and grease standard loaf pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon in a bowl and set it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in one egg at a time and mix in vanilla extract and milk or half and half until well combined.
- Gradually add flour mixture until well combined but do not overmix. Gently fold in strawberries to the batter using silicone spatula.
- Transfer cake batter into loaf pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the loaf pan for 20-25 minutes, then remove from loaf pan and place on a wire rack. Let cool completely.