White chocolate raspberry loaf
This is one of those recipes we confusingly call a “bread” or “loaf” but is not actually a proper bread made with yeast. It’s actually just cake baked in the form of a bread loaf, also called “quick bread” in reference to the speed with which they are made (ie no yeast = no rise = fast to make!). I am a fan not only because of ease of making, but also because they are so much more transportable than tall layered cakes, easy to serve, and easy to eat with just a napkin and hands. This White Chocolate Raspberry one is also rustically pretty to look at (as most things with raspberry are!), and I like that it’s not too sweet, with only 3/4 cup of sugar in the batter. But those with a sweet tooth don’t feel deprived thanks to the glaze and little pockets of sweetness you get from the white chocolate chips. It’s a classic combination really, white chocolate and raspberry. It astounds me I don’t have more examples on my website!
Ingredients in White Chocolate Raspberry Loaf
1. RASPBERRIES AND WHITE CHOCOLATE
Raspberries – Fresh is better but frozen is still great. See below for fresh vs frozen difference on this recipe.Other berries – Blackberries would be a suitable substitute, or chopped strawberries though you won’t get nice red pops of colour in the loaf like you might expect. For blueberries, it’s better to use my Blueberry Loaf recipe (the skin holds the moisture in so the batter needs higher hydration than in this raspberry loaf). White chocolate chips – I prefer using white chocolate chips for this loaf only because I feel chopping up the good stuff is a little wasted in a recipe like this. Also, convenience! But don’t let that stop you from using a good quality white chocolate block, if that’s what you prefer. Flour – to coat the raspberries so they don’t sink as it bakes. It really does work (speaking from experience here!)
2. BATTER INGREDIENTS
WET INGREDIENTS:
Unsalted butter – I typically like to use a bit of oil in quick breads like this as it makes the crumb nice and moist as well as extending the shelf life compared to using butter. However, the raspberries add great moisture in to this loaf so I found oil actually made the crumb too damp. So butter it is! Plus, we get the added bonus of lovely butter flavour. 🙂 White sugar – Caster sugar / superfine sugar is better if you’ve got it as the grains are finer so it dissolves effortlessly. But regular white sugar (granulated sugar) is fine too. Brown sugar is not recommended, it will make the crumb too damp, I think. Yogurt – Plain unsweetened yogurt (regular or Greek), a proven bakers’ trick to make cakes with lovely moist crumbs, plus the acidity in yogurt is what activates the baking soda in this loaf. Substitute with sour cream (it too has acidity). You could as a last resort substitute with 3/4 cup of milk but you’d need to also add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar.⚠️ Important to bring it to room temperature (ie take out of fridge around 30 minutes prior) so it’s not fridge-cold when you mix it into the batter. Why? Because this batter has butter in it and fridge-cold yogurt + melted butter = solidified butter bits in the batter = greasy cake that doesn’t rise! Large eggs – Also at room temperature, for the same reason as the yogurt. Use large eggs which are ~55 – 60g / 2 oz each (they come in cartons labelled “large eggs”) at room temperature. See here for what this means, and a quick way to de-chill fridge cold eggs! Vanilla extract – Better flavour than imitation vanilla essence. I personally don’t use vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste in cakes, loafs, muffins etc because I think it’s wasted. Save it for things like Crème Brûlée and Flan Pâtissier! Lemon zest (optional) – Just a tiny touch adds a hint of freshness that I feel compliments the raspberry-vanilla flavour in this loaf. However, it is not essential and I’ve made this plenty of times without!
DRY INGREDIENTS:
Flour – Just plain white / all-purpose flour. Other flours – Self raising flour won’t work very well here as cakes typically don’t rise nearly as well as mixing flour + baking powder fresh. While it should work with wholemeal flour (wholewheat flour), I think the crumb will not be quite as soft. I haven’t tried this with gluten-free flour. Baking powder AND baking soda (aka bicarbonate soda) – Wherever possible, I prefer to only use one or the other (for ease) but sometimes for the best result, I can’t avoid using both. This is because they have different rising qualities in different batters. As a general rule, baking soda is 3x stronger than baking powder, it requires an acidity to activate it and it makes things colour better in the oven.For this loaf, I found that using just baking powder didn’t make it rise quite as well (it’s a thick batter) and the surface was as evenly coloured as pictured. However, I would not hesitate to just using baking powder in this recipe, if that’s all I had. Directions in the recipe notes. Salt – Just a touch, to bring out the other flavours in the cake. Standard baking practice these days!
3. Vanilla glaze
Here’s all you need to make the glaze. Other berries – Blackberries would be a suitable substitute, or chopped strawberries though you won’t get nice red pops of colour in the loaf like you might expect. For blueberries, it’s better to use my Blueberry Loaf recipe (the skin holds the moisture in so the batter needs higher hydration than in this raspberry loaf). ⚠️ Important to bring it to room temperature (ie take out of fridge around 30 minutes prior) so it’s not fridge-cold when you mix it into the batter. Why? Because this batter has butter in it and fridge-cold yogurt + melted butter = solidified butter bits in the batter = greasy cake that doesn’t rise! Other flours – Self raising flour won’t work very well here as cakes typically don’t rise nearly as well as mixing flour + baking powder fresh. While it should work with wholemeal flour (wholewheat flour), I think the crumb will not be quite as soft. I haven’t tried this with gluten-free flour. For this loaf, I found that using just baking powder didn’t make it rise quite as well (it’s a thick batter) and the surface was as evenly coloured as pictured. However, I would not hesitate to just using baking powder in this recipe, if that’s all I had. Directions in the recipe notes.
Icing sugar (powdered sugar) – Be sure to sift it to remove lumps. They can’t be mixed out (you know I’ve tried!). Milk – Any type of milk is fine here – low fat, full fat, cow or non-cow. When you first start mixing, it will seem like there’s not enough. But keep mixing and all of a sudden it will miraculously transform from a lumpy powdery mess into a silky drippy glaze! Vanilla – For flavour.
How to make White Chocolate Raspberry Loaf
This is a very easy baking recipe, but the one tip I have to ensure success is to make sure your yogurt and eggs are at room temperature, not fridge cold. Otherwise it will make the melted butter solidify and you’ll end up with little butter lumps throughout the batter which results in a greasy loaf that doesn’t rise. I learnt this lesson the hard way in my early baking days!! When you first start mixing, it will seem like there’s not enough. But keep mixing and all of a sudden it will miraculously transform from a lumpy powdery mess into a silky drippy glaze!
⚠️ If using frozen raspberries, you want to work fast and minimise stirring because frozen raspberries chills and therefore thickens the batter if you leave it sitting around. This will affect how well the loaf rises in the oven, because it’s starting with a colder batter so it takes longer to start baking and rising properly. ⚠️ If you glaze before it’s fully cool, the glaze will just melt and disappear into the loaf. To serve, cut thick slices and eat with your hands. (Cutlery for this is way above my pay grade.) Don’t try to toast it, the glaze will melt and the raspberries will become hot little red bombs that scorch your tongue. As for shelf life, it’s best to keep it in the fridge and it will stay fresh for 5 days. Though as with most cakes, I highly, highly recommend eating it at room temperature. It’s just not as nice when it’s fridge cold – the crumb is drier and you can’t taste the flavour as well. I have visions of you cutting thick slices and enjoying this loaf with a cup of tea this weekend. Let’s make that come true!! 🙂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Originally I got a little greedy and started out with almost 300g/10 oz of raspberries – I had a vision of LOTS of lovely red raspberries throughout the whole loaf! – and 1 cup of white chocolate. But that was a dismal fail – far too much “stuff” that weighed the loaf down! So I dialled it back to the same sensible quantities I’ve always been using (1 1/2 cups of raspberries and 1/2 cup of white chocolate) which actually, is perfectly sufficient for flavour and looks. Then I found myself tweaking the leavening agent I was using. I originally only used baking powder which actually works just fine if you alway use fresh raspberries. But when using frozen raspberries – and I was determined to make sure this recipe came out really well using frozen – it didn’t work as well. My theory is that frozen raspberries chills the batter more so it takes longer to warm up and start rising in the oven, so it just never rises as well as when using fresh raspberries. Substituting a bit of baking soda for the baking powder (which is 3x stronger) dealt with that problem, giving the loaf a nice kick start with the rise whether using fresh or frozen raspberries. I did find though that it browned a little too fast (because baking soda gives better colour to baked goods than baking powder) so I then tweaked the baking temperature and time to achieve a lovely golden colour in the time it takes for the loaf to cook through, without the outer layer drying out and overcooking (which I find to be a flaw in quick breads). So the hydration in this batter is lower, and because the moisture from the raspberries keeps the crumb moist, it even meant I could switch the oil for butter which is tastier. (Generally as a rule, butter makes things taste better but oil makes cakes that have a more moist crumb and stays fresh for longer). I also added baking soda (rather than just using baking powder) to give the rise a boost as I found that the volume of raspberries + white chocolate was weighing down the batter a bit. Bit more on this in the above section! I made this recipe using US cups, Australian cups and the weights I’ve provided and there was no difference in the end result. So the difference in cup sizes does not matter for this recipe! Note: Some may also notice that the recipe calls for 225g butter which is NOT 1 US stick (which is 115g, well, 113.4g to be exact). However, 1 US stick (which is 8 US tablespoons of butter) is the correct amount for the recipe using US cups to measure the flour, sugar, yogurt etc.
More quick bread loaf recipes
Life of Dozer
We are deep in the throes planning the book tour for my new book TONIGHT when it hits stores next month!! The Powers That Be have deemed it time to upgrade the Dozer cut-out which travels with me to events outside of Sydney*, which we made for the book tour of my first book, DINNER. It’s life size. I insisted. See? In case you are wondering why Dozer doesn’t travel with me outside Sydney, it’s because dogs are not allowed inside the cabin of planes here in Australia, and I can’t bring myself to put Dozer down in the cargo. He’s a valuable company asset, I need eyes on him at all times! 🤣
