Fragrant strawberry loaf cake with strawberry and almond-flavored homemade moist cake, sweet creamy pink strawberry glaze, and fresh strawberries as a topping. It is a strawberry delight!
Shaped as bread, this simple loaf cake makes for a great sweet breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee or a gran-and-go snack.
Gina’s Recipe Rundown:
Texture: Strawberry loaf cake has a soft, moist, and tender crumb that melts in your mouth. The fresh strawberries add bursts of juicy sweetness, while any added glaze or topping provides a slight contrast with a smooth or slightly crisp finish.
Taste: The cake is infused with the natural, slightly tangy sweetness of strawberries, often complemented by hints of vanilla or citrus. If topped with a glaze or frosting, it adds an extra layer of sugary richness, making every bite a burst of indulgent flavor.
Ease: Making strawberry loaf cake is simple and beginner-friendly. With basic ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, and fresh strawberries, the process involves minimal prep and straightforward mixing. The batter comes together easily, and the loaf bakes beautifully in the oven with little attention needed. It’s a fuss-free way to create a delicious homemade treat!
Why I love it: Its perfect blend of sweetness and fresh, fruity flavor. The tender crumb and juicy bursts of strawberry in every bite make it irresistible
If you happen to have just too many berries this strawberry season, you can use fresh fruit to make this strawberry bread. I love baked goods, but I also love simple recipes, and that’s one of those!
You may as well double the recipe as I’m yet to see anyone who hasn’t gone for a second slice once they try my strawberry bread.
- Gina’s Recipe Rundown:
- Ingredients Notes
- Kitchen Equipment You’ll Need
- How To Make This Strawberry Loaf Cake Recipe
- How Do I Store Strawberry Loaf Cake?
- Frosting Variations
- Vegan Strawberry Loaf Cake
- Pro Tips For Making The Best Strawberry Loaf Cake
- Popular Questions & Troubleshooting
- Can I Use Frozen Strawberries Instead Of Fresh Strawberries?
- What Is The Difference Between A Loaf Cake And A Cake?
- What Is The Difference Between Quick Bread And Loaf Cake?
- How Do You Keep A Loaf Cake Moist?
- Why Is The Bottom Of My Loaf Cake Soggy?
Ingredients Notes
To make this stunning moist and loaded with strawberries (literally) cake, we only need a few pantry staples.
Strawberry Cake
- Eggs, room temperature, to make sure all the ingredients are well combined.
- Granulated sugar. Can be replaced by caster sugar, honey, or coconut sugar for a vegan cake recipe.
- Vanilla yogurt. Can substitute with plain Greek yogurt, buttermilk, or full-fat sour cream but they have more tang and no vanilla flavor. You can balance it out by adding vanilla extract or vanilla bean separately to the cake batter.
- Vegetable Oil. I love using oil to keep cakes moist, but unsalted butter is an amazing, flavor-packed substitute.
- Strawberry extract to enhance strawberry flavor.
- Almond extract is a very nice extract for baking and adds complexity to the overall cake flavors.
- All-purpose flour or self-raising flour. For healthier cake, use gluten-free flour.
- Baking powder. If using self-raising flour, skip the baking powder. You can also add baking soda, although it is optional, it does help the cake to rise nicely and add some crispiness to the flavor. It seems that baking soda also helps to keep the strawberries from sinking to the bottom of the pan.
- Kosher salt
Even though it can be called bread, it is still a cake and the batter doesn’t need to rise before we bake it. The strawberry loaf cake recipe is closer to what we call quick bread.
For The Strawberry Glaze
- Confectioner’s sugar
- Strawberries, pureed – they not only add flavor but a nice color too!
- Heavy cream
- Strawberry extract
Garnish/Decoration
- Fresh strawberries. I use diced strawberries not sliced. We will use them in the cake batter too! Do not use over-ripe strawberries.
Kitchen Equipment You’ll Need
- Nonstick or greased loaf pan
- Parchment paper sling to make sure the cake doesn’t stick and to remove it easily from the pan.
- Hand mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment. Use both on low speed to not overmix the batter.
How To Make This Strawberry Loaf Cake Recipe
1: Make The Strawberry Cake Batter
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Toss the diced strawberries that you add to the batter in some flour mixture. This keeps them from sinking all the way to the bottom of the pan.
- Combine the wet ingredients: eggs, sugar, yogurt, oil, strawberry extract, and almond extract in a large bowl, whisking together until completely combined and smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients: flour baking powder, and salt into the bowl, mixing until just incorporated, you may see just a few streaks of flour. Make sure not to overmix.
- Gently fold in the diced strawberries to the batter until evenly distributed.
2: Bake The Cake
- Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Tap the pan to let all the air bubbles escape.
- Bake the strawberry loaf cake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted or a cake tester comes out clean or just with a few crumbs.
- Once the cake is baked, move it to the wire rack to cool completely.
3: Make The Glaze
- While the cake is baking, make the glaze.
- Combine the confectioner’s sugar, strawberry puree, heavy cream, and strawberry extract, in a small bowl, whisking together until a thick glaze has formed.
- If the glaze is too thick, thin it out with a splash of heavy cream.
4: Decorate The Cake
- Remove from the loaf pan and pour the glaze over the top of the cake.
- Garnish with extra diced strawberries or red sprinkles.
How Do I Store Strawberry Loaf Cake?
Store leftover strawberry loaf cake in the fridge, tightly wrapped, or in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
You can also freeze it for 2-3 months without the glaze. If you glaze the cake, only store it in the fridge. Thaw overnight in the fridge. If you like it warm, reheat it in the microwave.
To make ahead, make and bake the cake but don’t glaze it. Prepare the glaze the day of.
Frosting Variations
- Cream cheese frosting can be vanilla or strawberry-flavored. You need to combine cream cheese, and butter, and cook down strawberries with some caster sugar. Then mix both and your rich decadent frosting is ready!
- Buttercream frosting uses butter, sugar, heavy cream (or whole milk), and a flavoring extract of your choice.
- Vanilla icing is made by simply mixing confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract.
- The lemon glaze is absolutely delish. It is made with cream cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, powdered sugar, and whole milk combined together.
- Crunchy simple glaze: use the strawberry juice from crushed strawberries and sugar mixture. No milk is needed, the glaze will thicken and set without it.
Vegan Strawberry Loaf Cake
The vegan strawberry loaf cake recipe calls for coconut milk, flour, sugar, no eggs, olive oil, and fresh strawberries, and you can also add some coconut yogurt.
For frosting, you can use coconut cream (or you can make any other vegan-friendly frosting) or just basic sugar icing and sliced fresh strawberries.
Pro Tips For Making The Best Strawberry Loaf Cake
- Place some parchment paper under the cake when you frost it to catch all the drippings.
- You can skip making the batter and use a cake mix.
- Don’t open the oven door too often. The temperature drop can cause the cake top to sink in.
- You can use the same recipe to make strawberry muffins.
- No matter what glazing or frosting option you choose, drizzle it only over the cooled cake.
- While I absolutely agree with the fact that there can not be too many strawberries, the cake can’t handle many. It will be too moist and may become soggy as the fresh strawberries will give out all the juices during baking.
- You can substitute strawberry with any other berries and make a loaf cake.
Popular Questions & Troubleshooting
Can I Use Frozen Strawberries Instead Of Fresh Strawberries?
Yes, you can use frozen strawberries but you will need to thaw the frozen berries and toss them with some lemon juice to keep them bright red and enhance the strawberry flavor.
You need to pat them dry and toss them with some flour to make sure they won’t turn mushy and make the cake soggy.
What Is The Difference Between A Loaf Cake And A Cake?
Loaf cake is baked in a loaf pan, while traditional cake is baked in a round cake pan. The ingredients are all the same, they can have different ratios and exact measurements, as well as different baking times.
What Is The Difference Between Quick Bread And Loaf Cake?
Quick bread and loaf cake are very similar, do not use yeast, and both have amazing flavor. Quick breads can be more coarse and less sweet, while loaf cakes are very sweet, flavorful, and moist.
How Do You Keep A Loaf Cake Moist?
Use full-fat dairy, some vegetable oil, and fresh fruit to keep the loaf cake moist and soft, but don’t add too much of these ingredients and do not overmix the batter, otherwise, you’re risking the cake getting soggy or a very tough to chew cake.
Why Is The Bottom Of My Loaf Cake Soggy?
If you forget to toss the fresh strawberries in the flour before you add them to the loaf cake batter, they will all sink to the bottom and release their juices, which will inevitably make the cake bottom soggy.
If you love this loaf cake recipe, you’re going to love these other quick breads and loaf cakes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!
More Great Strawberry Recipes
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
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Strawberry Loaf Cake
Ingredients
Strawberry Cake
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup vanilla yogurt
- ½ cup oil
- 1 teaspoon strawberry extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup strawberries diced
Strawberry Glaze
- 1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
- 5 strawberries pureed
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon strawberry extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the eggs, sugar, yogurt, oil, strawberry extract, and almond extract in a mixing bowl, whisking together until completely combined and smooth.
- Add the flour baking powder, and salt into the bowl, mixing until just incorporated. Make sure not to overmix.
- Fold in the diced strawberries to the batter until evenly distributed.
- Transfer the batter to a nonstick or greased loaf pan.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick is stuck in and comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, make the glaze.
- Combine the confectioner’s sugar, strawberry puree, heavy cream, and strawberry extract, in a small bowl, whisking together until a thick glaze has formed. If the glaze is too thick, thin it out with a splash of heavy cream.
- Once the cake is baked, let it cool completely.
- Remove from the loaf pan and pour the glaze over the top of the cake.
- Garnish with extra diced strawberries or red sprinkles.
Equipment
- Loaf Pan
- Parchment Paper
Nutrition
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate. Please double-check with your own dietary calculator for the best accuracy. We at Yummi Haus cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Created by Gina Kleinworth
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