Easy Fresh Strawberry Loaf Cake

Easy Fresh Strawberry Loaf Cake is a great snack to have around. This cake comes together in a snap and is full of strawberry goodness. Make this cake as strawberry season begins and enjoy the deliciousness.

Strawberry Loaf Cake

I make loaf cakes fairly often, and I often use fruit when I do so. While a loaf cake is (yep, you guessed it!) essentially just a cake, they don't usually have a frosting or glaze on them and so they feel slightly less treat like and more snack like, somehow. There's a difference! :)

Right now I have a glut of strawberries from the garden, and I've been using them in everything. The kids love strawberries and so I see no good reason not to make the most of this, it's been strawberries almost everyday for weeks. And that's a good thing!

This strawberry loaf cake is moist, not overly sweet and keeps like a dream. Because of the moisture content in fresh fruit, particularly strawberries, the loaf stays moist for longer than it usually would.

I keep this in an airtight container for 4-5 days and it's as good towards the end of it's like as it is in the beginning. In fact, since the flavors develop as time goes on, this might actually be even better after a day or two. You be the judge!

This recipe uses easy to find ingredients that are likely readily available in your local supermarket. I've used maple syrup to sweeten it up, although it's not overly sweet and the flavor of the strawberries comes through. I use salted butter in this loaf cake rather than adding salt to the recipe and I find it's enough salt to bring out the strawberry flavors.

I use a standard size loaf tin to bake this in, and I line it with parchment paper (or aluminum foil) firstly to stop it sticking to the pan, to make cleaning up easier and so I can easily lift it out of the pan after it's baked.

Feel free to eat this with a dollop of heavy cream spread on top for added yuminess!

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Using Fresh Strawberries In Baking

I've kept the strawberries whole in this loaf as I love the look of them when you cut into it, big bright strawberries jumping out at you makes this feel Summery and fresh. It's a light loaf, perfect for picnics and lazy afternoon snacks when you need something to keep you going before dinner.

It's worth bearing in mind that when you're using fresh fruit in baking the moisture content is higher than usual and the cooking process means they release their moisture and so you have to account for this.

I combat this by using strawberries that are not so ripe they're squashy, you want to pick out the strawberries that are a good bright red color but firm to the touch, they'll soften as they cook and so try to go for the ones that aren't soft to the touch.

You can either leave the strawberries whole, just take the stalk off them and you can use a strawberry huller to take out the middle, or slice them into two, which ever you prefer.

If you don't have a strawberry huller, do get one! They're the kitchen tool you didn't know you needed. I was convinced I wouldn't use it often, how wrong I was! It's such a neat little gadget and pretty cheap and makes the job 100 times easier. I highly recommend!

How To Stop Your Strawberries Sinking

I can't remember where I learned this from but it works and it's awesome! Fruit so often sinks in cakes: There's an easy way to stop it!

Once you've hulled your strawberries (and sliced them if you're slicing them) dry them off with some kitchen paper and put them in a bowl, add a table spoon of flour and toss them round the bowl so they're covered in a light dusting. This helps them 'stick' to the cake batter and stops them sinking. Couldn't be easier!

More Loaf Cake Recipes

• Fresh cherry loaf cake
• Lemon curd loaf
• Orange loaf with fresh oranges
• Clean eating banana and date loaf cake
• Simple carrot and walnut loaf
• Classic Clean eating banana bread

Storing This Strawberry Loaf

All you need is an airtight container (this one's made especially for loafs) and this loaf is good for 4-5 days. The flavor develops the longer it's stored and because of the moisture in the fresh fruit it doesn't dry out as quickly as usual cakes do.

I don't slice this up when I'm storing it, I simply cut a slice as and when I want it! I don't recommend freezing this loaf cake. The freezing process add even more moisture to the strawberries and they become mushy. I've tried to do this and it just didn't work!

How To Make Strawberry Loaf Cake

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Strawberries Whole, washed, dried and hulled
• 1½ Cups all purpose flour I used Buckwheat flour
• 1 extra tbsp Flour For dusting the strawberries
• 3 Medium Eggs
• ½ Cup Butter Salted, Room temperature
• ¼ Cup Maple syrup 100% Pure
• 1 tsp Vanilla paste Or vanilla extract
• 1 tsp Baking powder

Instructions

• Heat your oven to 190c or 350f and line a standard loaf 8 inch loaf tin with parchment paper
• Slice the stalks off your strawberries and hull them, then wash them well and dry them with kitchen paper so remove all the moisture and pop them in a large bowl
• Sprinkle the table spoon of flour over the strawberries and make sure they all have a light dusting of flour on them, this helps to stop them sinking when the loaf cake is being baked
• In a mixing bowl whisk the vanilla paste, butter and maple syrup together until you have a fluffy mixture
• Add the eggs and whisk again until fully combined. I use electric beaters on a medium speed to do this part, use your mixer if you have one
• Sieve the dry ingredients, flour and baking powder into the wet ingredients bowl and use a wooden spoon to combine, making sure not to over-mix the cake mixture
• Pour the mixture into your lined load tin
• Place your strawberries into the batter gently pressing them down, it's fine to leave some strawberry showing on the top!
• Bake for 18-20 minutes until the loaf is golden on top, then remove from the oven and check it's cooked through by inserting a toothpick or sharp knife and making sure it comes out clean. If it's not clean, bake for another few minutes
• Allow the loaf to cool down in it's tin for 30 minutes and then remove from the tin and finish cooling on a wire rack. And then serve!

Strawberry Loaf Cake Recipe