A quick and easy recipe for a Strawberry Loaf Cake topped with a fresh strawberry glaze. This delicious cake is soft, moist and packed full of summery strawberry flavour.
Best of all, it only takes 10 minutes to prepare. So, what are you waiting for? You could be eating this in just over an hour!
It's strawberry season and what better way to make use of an abundance of fruit than a loaf cake?
I love making loaf cakes because they are so quick and easy to make and are always crowd-pleasers.
The recipe I'm sharing is pretty similar to my ever-popular Lemon Drizzle Cake, although I've changed the proportions slightly and left out the lemon.
Because...HELLO, gorgeously sweet, plump and tasty strawberries!
You might be tempted to describe this as a Strawberry Bread or 'Quick Bread', and while it is similar in texture to a moist Banana Bread the sweetness from the fresh strawberries and wonderfully light, soft crumb definitely mean this is a cake.
Don't let that stop you from having it for breakfast though!
Strawberry Cake is really easy to make in one bowl, taking only 10 minutes to prepare. The baking time is just over an hour and the smell coming from your kitchen is going to be heavenly.
The fresh, juicy strawberries make this loaf cake incredibly moist and practically impossible to resist.
I decided to top it with a very simple glaze made from smashed strawberries and icing sugar. You could indeed go down the buttercream route but I personally love it when the glaze hardens and you get a strawberry flavoured crunch of icing with every mouthful.
How can I stop the strawberries from sinking?
Adding fresh fruit to cakes is always going to be a bit hit or miss and you'll never know if it's all sunk to the bottom until you cut it open.
I'm not going to promise that you won't end up with a layer of sunken strawberries because you probably will!
Toss the strawberries in a little flour before adding them to the cake mixture and keep your fingers crossed. But really, whatever you add to cake batter will likely sink unless it's a good degree lighter than the batter.
In order to completely suspend fruit throughout you'd need a very thick and heavy batter and that means more flour.
The more flour you add the tighter and more compact the crumb will become (like bread) so in order to not sacrifice the beautiful lightness of this cake you'll need to accept the fruit is not likely to be evenly dispersed throughout.
However, this does not affect the overall taste and this cake has a wonderful natural strawberry flavour, and that's all that matters if you ask me!
Strawberry glaze
Making the topping is very easy and you won't need any special equipment.
- Cut the stalks off the strawberries and chop them into small pieces.
- Put the strawberries into a bowl and use the back of a fork to crush them.
- To extract the strawberry juice, pass the crushed strawberries through a sieve.
- For a pretty pink glaze, add icing sugar to the strawberry juice and mix together.
- When the Strawberry Loaf Cake has cooled, pour the strawberry glaze over the top.
Amy's tip: when it's time to glaze your strawberry loaf cake, put it on a wire rack with a piece of baking paper underneath to catch all the drips!
Top tips
- Measure the ingredients using a digital kitchen scale.
- Use a 2lb loaf tin lined with baking parchment.
- For a 1lb loaf tin, use half the ingredients and reduce the baking time to 45-50 minutes.
- Use strawberries that are ripe but firm. Strawberries that are overripe and squishy will not work well for this recipe.
- Frozen strawberries will not work for this recipe because they would be too wet.
- You can replace the milk in the recipe with a plant-based alternative such as almond milk or coconut milk.
- If the strawberry glaze is too thick add a drop of water, if it's too thin add extra icing sugar a tablespoon at a time.
- Allow the cake to cool before adding the glaze.
- Storage: Wrap in clingfilm and store in the fridge where it will stay fresh for at least 4 days.
- Freezing Instructions: can be frozen (without the glaze) for up to 3 months. I suggest cutting into slices and individually wrapping each slice before freezing. Allow the cake to thaw in the fridge then bring to room temperature before eating.
I hope you love this recipe for Strawberry Loaf Cake as much as I do. If you make it, please leave me a star rating and review or comment. I appreciate every single one!
More quick and easy loaf cake recipes
- Nutella Loaf Cake
- Vanilla Loaf Cake
- Chocolate Loaf Cake
- Malteser Loaf Cake
- Biscoff Loaf Cake
- Orange Drizzle Loaf Cake
- Red Velvet Loaf Cake
- Carrot Loaf Cake
- Courgette Loaf Cake
Strawberry Loaf Cake with a Strawberry Glaze
Ingredients
For the loaf cake
- 250g (1.5 cups) self raising flour
- 125g 0.5 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 225g (1 cup) caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 100ml (0.25 cup) milk
- 200g (2 cups whole) strawberries, chopped and tossed in 2 tbsp of flour
For the glaze
- 100g (1 cup whole) strawberries, chopped
- 250g (2 cups) icing sugar
- strawberries to decorate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC Fan/350ºF/Gas 4 Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper.
- Put the butter and caster sugar into a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time beating well in-between each addition.
- Add the vanilla extract and beat well to combine.
- Add the self-raising flour and use a spatula or wooden spoon to gently fold it into the mixture.
- Pour in the milk and mix by hand until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the strawberries and mix to integrate them to the cake batter as evenly as possible.
- Transfer the cake batter into the prepared 2lb loaf tin. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- To make the glaze: put the chopped strawberries into a bowl and use the back of a fork to crush them. Push the crushed strawberries through a sieve with a bowl underneath to catch the juice. Add the icing sugar and mix until a pourable glaze has formed.
- When the strawberry loaf cake has completely cooled, pour over the glaze.
Notes
- Measure the ingredients using a digital kitchen scale.
- Use a 2lb loaf tin lined with baking parchment.
- For a 1lb loaf tin, half the ingredients and reduce the baking time to 45-50 minutes.
- Use strawberries that are ripe but firm. Strawberries that are overripe and squishy will not work well for this recipe.
- Frozen strawberries will not work for this recipe because they would be too wet.
- You can replace the milk in the recipe with a plant-based alternative such as almond milk or coconut milk.
- Allow the cake to cool before adding the glaze.
- Storage: Wrap in clingfilm and store in the fridge where it will stay fresh for at least 4 days.
- Freezing Instructions: Strawberry Loaf Cake can be frozen (without the glaze) for up to 3 months. I suggest cutting into slices and individually wrapping each slice before freezing. Allow the cake to thaw in the fridge then bring to room temperature before eating.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 79Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 15mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 3g
Nutrition is an estimate only.
Bee
We had a strawberry glut and so I tried out your strawberry loaf cake recipe. It smelt delicious, looked lovely and was a huge hit with both my son and husband. I used your tip to toss the strawberries in a little flour to reduce their sinking whilst the cake was being baked in the oven and they barely sunk at all. Thanks for this. I shall be making it again.