Weekend Baking Challenge: Loaf Cakes
Chocolate and ginger loaf cake.
A loaf cake is the best recipe for beginner bakers to have up their sleeve. You don't need to worry about being too gentle when stirring up these cakes; they need to be sliceable with a crumb that can withstand being handled.
Loaf cakes are the workhorse of the cake world. They may not look fancy and they may not be festooned with all kinds of icing (although, feel free!), but they are almost always utterly delicious.
Use room temperature butter and eggs for a successful and reliable cake, every time and when you consider changing recipe combinations always stick to the same weight when substituting.
Once made, cooled and stored in an airtight environment, a good loaf cake should keep for a few days. If you need it to stay fresh longer, then add a drizzle to stop it from drying out. In a pan, heat the same 80g of sugar to 80ml of water and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Drizzle the syrup over the cake while it's still warm. Feel free to flavour your syrup with fruit juice, for example, 80ml lemon juice to 80g sugar, or by adding a vanilla or almond extract to the finished syrup.
- 175g soft butter
- 160g caster sugar
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 140g self-raising flour
- 85g ground almonds
- 1 level tsp baking powder, sieved
- 1 level tsp ground ginger
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder
- 100 ml milk
- 60g crystalised ginger, roughly chopped
Preheat your oven to180°C/gas mark 4
and line a 2lb loaf tin with parchment. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until it starts to become pale.
Add in all of the other ingredients, except the crystalised ginger, and beat until completely combined.
Stir in the crystalised ginger and then scoop the mixture into your prepared tin.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes and then move onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Stir 1 tbsp of instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp of hot water into the mix with the eggs along with 60g of dark chocolate chips instead of the ground and crystalised ginger for a mocha loaf cake.
- 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 220 ml orange juice and the zest of 3 oranges
- 330g self-raising flour, sieved
- 175g golden caster sugar
- 150g blueberries
Method
Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and line a 2lb loaf tin with parchment.
Beat the oil, eggs, juice and zest with a wooden spoon in a large bowl. Add the sieved flour and sugar and mix until completely combined.
Stir in the blueberries and scoop the mixture into your prepared tin.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes and then move onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Substitute blackberries, raspberries or even raisins for the blueberries.
- 165g golden caster sugar
- 175g soft butter
- Zest of 5 lemons
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 tbsp poppy seeds
- 125g natural yoghurt
- 200g self-raising flour, sieved
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 200g icing sugar
Method
Preheat your oven to180°C/gas mark 4 and line a 2lb loaf tin with parchment.
Whisk the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs. If the mixture begins to split add a tablespoon of the flour.
Stir in the zest and yoghurt and then add the sieved flour. Stir in the poppyseeds and make sure the mixture is combined.
Scoop into the prepared tin and bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin.
Mix the lemon juice and sugar until it forms a smooth icing. Spoon this over the cooled cake and decorate with some lemon zest.
Forget the poppy seeds and the yoghurt and the lemons and go for a mix of zest and juice of 1 grapefruit, two limes and one large orange instead.
- 110g sultanas
- 110g raisins
- 110g currants
- 50g natural glacé cherries, halved or quartered
- 300ml hot tea
- 1 egg, whisked
- 175g soft brown sugar 225g self-raising flour
- 1 level tsp mixed spice
- 50g candied peel
Put the dried fruit and cherries into a bowl. Cover with hot tea and leave to plump up overnight.
Next day, line a 450g loaf tin with silicone paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
Add the whisked egg, soft brown sugar, flour and mixed spice to the fruit and tea mixture. Stir well.
Put the mixture into the lined loaf tin. Cook in for about 1½ hours or until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a wire rack. Slice and butter to serve.
Keeps very well in an airtight tin.
Add a wee dram of whatever festive booze you enjoy to the soaking liquid along with the zest of an orange.
