![Strawberry Cream Cheese Tart](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/05/24/multimedia/24apperex2-galette-lfwz/24apperex2-galette-lfwz-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Strawberry-Lemon Loaf Cake
![Strawberry-Lemon Loaf Cake](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/07/28/dining/mp-strawberry-lemon/mp-strawberry-lemon-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1cup/150 grams diced strawberries
- 1cup/200 grams plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1½cups/192 grams all-purpose flour
- 1tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- ½teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
- 1cup/227 grams sour cream, at room temperature
- ½cup/110 grams vegetable oil
- 3large eggs, at room temperature
- 1tablespoon lemon juice
- 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1cup/123 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 1tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
- 2tablespoons lemon juice
For the Cake
For the Lemon Glaze
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Step 2
In a small bowl, toss the strawberries with 1 tablespoon sugar to macerate while you prepare the cake batter.
- Step 3
In a large bowl, combine the flour, lemon zest, baking powder, salt and remaining 1 cup sugar. Whisk to combine. In a second large bowl, combine the sour cream, oil, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.
- Step 4
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir gently to mix. Lift the macerated berries out of their liquid and add them to the batter. Gently fold in the berries until evenly incorporated.
- Step 5
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. If it looks to be browning on top too much, tent with aluminum foil. Cool it in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes, then unmold the cake carefully and transfer to the rack to cool completely.
- Step 6
Make the glaze: In a small bowl, combine the confectioners’ sugar with the lemon zest and juice and stir until smooth. Pour the glaze over the cooled cake. Let stand until set.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
This looks like the glorious lemon drizzle cake I’ve made twice this summer, although mine was vegan. As with all good lemon drizzle cakes, you make lots of small holes in the top of the cake just after you take it out of the oven. Then you drizzle a lemon simple syrup over the cake, concentrating on those holes. When it’s cool, you it glaze it just as with this recipe. I decorated the cake with lemon zest and sliced strawberries. Everyone loved it.
Careful with the advice to throw in extra strawberries as they add more water and can screw up the texture of the cake. I had a bunch of strawberries and so I added roughly 2 c of strawberries without thinking that fully through. No surprise, my cake was overly moist/spongy.
For those wanting more strawberry flavor without the added liquid, freeze dried strawberries.
Soaking a cake with syrup works for certain cakes, in certain recipes, but not this one. The topping in this recipe is a glaze, not a simple syrup. I advise not wasting time pricking the surface.
I didn't read all the notes from others so someone else could have suggested this, but I used some of the liquid from the macerated strawberries along with a reduced portion of the lemon juice in the glaze. Why throw away all that flavor? It also makes for a nice pinkish glaze.
Try rolling the strawberries in flour so they don't sink to the bottom. Tip from Great British Baking Show technical challenge S1E1 Mary Berry's Cherry Cake.
So delicious! I had everything on hand to make this besides running out to get fresh strawberries, I love a recipe like that. I ended up using the liquid from macerating the strawberries in the glaze - highly recommend!!
I always do in every cake recipe that calls for sour cream and have splendid results.
Made this for a family gathering subbing fresh blueberries fir the strawberry, since that is what is in season at the farmers markets now. Just dusted the berries in flour before folding into batter so they stay suspended. Also cut sugar back since I like lemon bakes to be tart. Big hit! Very lemony and the blueberries were a perfect blend!
Made it with blueberries instead of strawberries, and greek yogurt in place of sour cream (just substitutions based on what I had in the fridge), and it turned out great. I made the glaze thinner with more lemon juice because I wanted to do the lemon drizzle cake approach and let it seep into the cake (pricked with a fork).
For anyone with celiac, I made this using Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free baking flour and it was excellent. I did not have a full cup of sour cream so I used half sour cream and half Greek yogurt. The cake was super moist and our guests asked for a to-go piece when they left.
Stevia is a leafy herb, so while it's great for sweetening coffee or other applications where sugar doesn't add structure, you can't substitute "pure stevia" (the leaf) for sugar in baked goods. Sugar, or a sugar substitute specifically designed for baking, is essential in cakes because sugar contributes in multiple ways to texture.
Does anyone have a good non-dairy substitute for the sour cream? I'd love to try this recipe but am lactose intolerant!
Flavor and texture were great. Personally I would double the fruit. If you use a fan assisted oven, bake for ten minutes less.
Can you tell me where to find pure stevia please? And what was your conversion amount? Thanks!
Did this with fresh/frozen blueberries instead. Moist and excellent.
I had high-hopes for this recipe and followed it but, was disappointed and found this loaf cake mediocre. I used fresh everything (eggs, flour, baking soda, sugar, lemon, strawberries, sour cream, oil, vanilla). I will not make it again.
I prepared it a day in advance and kept it at room temperature. It turned out as juicy as it gets with a very intense taste of strawberries and lemon - delicious, with tiny colored marshmallows on top.
Made as written on the 1st cake: Need to have really good, ripe strawberries, otherwise it was a lemon cake with red things. 2nd bake, replaced veg oil with 1 stick melted butter (cooled) and upped the vanilla to 1.5t. Added a 1/2 t Grand Marnier to the macerating strawberries and kept the juice to blend into the glaze. Cake will work beautifully in a 6C bundt pan as it’s the same volume as a 9x5 loaf. Cook time - was done in 55 min. .
Delicious and very easy to make! I did as another reader suggested and kept the strawberry juice that was left from the maceration and added it to the glaze. Very yummy and it made a pretty pink topping.
As I am cutting down on my sugar intake, I made this with 3/4 cup sugar and left it unglazed. It was still nicely sweet for my taste. I might even use more lemon zest next time. I used Diamond Crystal’s kosher baking salt - finer grind for baked goods.
We love this cake. As mentioned in many comments, absolutely use the juice from the macerated strawberries in the glaze. Just gorgeous color and amazing flavor. We are dairy-free. Have made the cake with vegan sour cream and also vegan vanilka yogurt. Both work equally well. Has become a family favorite.
Delicious as written with sub of whole milk yogurt for sour cream. Do not recommend adding strawberry juice to the glaze - better without. Even better day 2.
Made exactly as written a few weeks ago and it was delicious! My 10 yr old granddaughter said she wants it for her birthday cake. Didn’t think she was serious but she mentioned it again today!
I made this in a muffin tin. Baked for just under 30 minutes. Worked out to exactly 12 perfect sized muffins!
I made this exactly as written and there was zero strawberry flavor.
Absolutely excellent. I substituted whole Greek yogurt for the sour cream because that's what I had on hand and it turned out perfectly. Lemon and strawberries are such a winning combo! I also, foolishly, didn't thoroughly read the part about combining sugar with the strawberries and put the entire 200g plus 1 Tbsp of sugar to macerate with the berries, realizing too late. So I mixed everything in together as normal and hoped for the best - the cake was still delicious and not overly sweet. Yum!
This is our favorite of all. Discovery of my life. So easy and always tasty.My kids force me to make it weekly. This is a glorious recipe!! I make it with raspberries (first favorite), strawberries (second favorite) and blueberries. I don't care if it gets moist and not super fluffy, I add a lot of fruit. And the flavor is just everything.
This is one of my favorites! I make them into mini loaves without the glaze and freeze. For the glaze I use some of the strawberries juices to tint it pink. Just delicious!
Wildly delicious. Best cake I’ve ever made
Advertisement