Strawberry-Lemon Loaf Cake

By Millie Peartree

Published July 28, 2021

  • Con Poulos for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Jerrie-Joy Redman-Lloyd.
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
1½ hours
Rating
4(1,618)
Comments
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This cake is summer in a loaf pan. When baked, strawberries can become sour and a little gummy. Here, berries are macerated with sugar first to remove some of their liquid and concentrate their flavor. (Don’t use frozen strawberries. Keep those for your smoothie!) The lemon icing adds a nice finish, to balance and bolster the cake’s tart-sweetness. Have it as dessert or a snack, but it’s especially good at breakfast with hot coffee or tea. 

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Ingredients

Yield:One 9-inch loaf

FOR THE CAKE

  • Nonstick cooking spray

  • 1 cup/150 grams diced strawberries 

  • 1 cup/200 grams plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

  • 1 ½ cups/192 grams all-purpose flour

  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)

  • 1 cup/227 grams sour cream, at room temperature

  • ½ cup/110 grams vegetable oil

  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature

  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

FOR THE LEMON GLAZE

  • 1 cup/123 grams confectioners’ sugar

  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. 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.

  2. Step 2

    In a small bowl, toss the strawberries with 1 tablespoon sugar to macerate while you prepare the cake batter.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
1,618 user ratings
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Comments

Marsha

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.

Gary T

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.

Sumi

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.

MM

I had a lemon that needed to be used, so was otherwise working with what I had. So: I first mixed the zest and sugar, then threw all of the juice from the lemon into the batter. Halved the sugar, which was plenty. Didn't have sour cream so swapped in greek yogurt. Only had two eggs-oh well. Threw in chopped frozen strawberries. Didn't make a drizzle bc who needs extra sugar? ...It was fabulous -- lots of rise and moist and fluffy. Will make (as modified) again :)

Becca

I love this cake! I used full fat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream and coconut oil in place of the vegetable oil. I also used blueberries instead of strawberries! So good! My kids are obsessed.

P.S

This was really good.

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