Strawberry Lemonade Loaf

This Strawberry Lemonade Loaf is a spin-off of my delicious Lemon Loaf Cake. You’ll need a batch of my Simple Roasted Strawberries for it, so it is a bit time-consuming, but it’s so worth it! The cake you see pictured? I packaged it up from my husband’s coworkers, and the most repeated comment was, “it tastes just like strawberry lemonade, but in a cake!” which is exactly what I was going for!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Feel free to jump to the full recipe, but here are useful notes about the ingredients you will need to make this Strawberry Lemonade Loaf recipe:

• All-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda: It’s not a cake without flour! Well, I mean… flourless cake is a thing. But you’ll need flour for this Strawberry Lemonade Loaf. Use aluminum-free double-acting baking powder because it’s the best. Double acting means it reacts to moisture and heat, providing extra lift.
• Granulated sugar, powdered sugar: It’s not a cake without sugar! Not a very good one, at least.
• Whole milk, salted butter: Butter for the cake and the finishing glaze. Milk is only for the cake.
• Lemon zest, lemon juice: Use regular ol’ lemons. You might want to reduce the sugar a bit if you use Meyer lemons for this Strawberry Lemonade Loaf, as they tend to be sweeter and less floral.
• Simple Roasted Strawberries: You’ll need both the berries and some of the syrup for this recipe.
• Large eggs: Structure. Stability. Flavor. Color. Eggs are needed in this Strawberry Lemonade Loaf for all of these things.
• Vanilla bean paste: Extract is a fine substitute. If you want to omit the vanilla that would be fine too, but I appreciate the warmth it adds; it really rounds out the sharpness of the lemon and the sweetness of the sugar.

How to Make Strawberry Lemonade Loaf

Full instructions are included in the recipe below, but here is a basic overview of what you’ll need to do, along with some important tidbits to help you make the most of this Strawberry Lemonade Loaf recipe:

• Prepare for Strawberry Lemonade Loaf! Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare an 8×4″ loaf pan with baking spray or pan grease. Set it aside. In a small bowl stir together your baking powder, baking soda, and flour, and set that aside as well. In a large mixing bowl – or the bowl of your stand mixer – add the butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Cream the butter and sugar together on low speed for 2 minutes, then increase the speed to medium and continue beating until you’ve got a fluffy, pale-colored mixture.
• Build the cake batter. Add the eggs one at a time and once they’ve been incorporated add the vanilla bean paste. Reduce the speed to low and add half of the flour mixture, followed by half of the whole milk. Beat for a full minute, then add the rest of the flour, followed by the rest of the milk. Increase the speed to medium and beat just until smooth – don’t overmix it! A few lumps are fine, but not too many. Use a spatula to fold the strawberries into the batter, just until distributed.
• Bake the Strawberry Lemonade Loaf. Pour the cake batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth it into an even layer. Bake in the oven for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. While the cake is baking, make the Simple Syrup: mix the lemon juice and sugar. Microwave it for 30 seconds on high, then stir well and microwave another 30 seconds on high and stir again. Repeat this process until the sugar has dissolved and a thin syrup has formed. You can also do this on the stovetop. Set the syrup aside. Now, make the glaze: whisk together the powdered sugar, strawberry syrup, and butter. Whisk until there are no lumps. If the glaze is too thick, loosen it with lemon juice, one tablespoon at a time.
• Drizzle, dress, and enjoy! Once the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen the sides. Pour the simple syrup over the top of the entire cake. Leave the syrup to soak into the cake for about 5 minutes, then flip the cake out onto a wire rack or cake stand covered with parchment paper. Place another piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the cake, and pinch them together while you flip the cake upright. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes (this is optional, I don’t), then pour the glaze all over the top. Use a spoon to catch the glaze that falls to the parchment paper and apply it to the sides and any bare spots on top of the cake. Let the glaze on your Strawberry Lemonade Loaf set for about 3 minutes. Dassit! Let it cool if you want pretty clean slices. Don’t bother if you, too, worship at the altar of fresh, hot cake.

Obligatory Pinterest Graphics – 

Print