Last Sunday night Amelia came down with a yucky (though thankfully short lived) stomach bug. I thought we’d made it through the season sans-sickness, but alas. It made the rounds through our entire house Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday hitting each of us one at a time. I’m not sure what’s worse- the entire family getting sick at once, or one person right after another. It’s a lot of laundry and makeshift meals (chicken broth with soft carrots and noodles). Now that we’ve come out of it on the other side, I’m making up for lost baking time by making this delicious raspberry and white chocolate loaf cake. Interested?
White chocolate isn’t something I use in my kitchen very often. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever used it at all. I have been wanting to do a simple cake with raspberries and… something. I actually thought about this for quite some time. Vanilla? Cardamom? Dark chocolate? I finally settled on the idea of a raspberry and white chocolate loaf cake. If you know me at all, you’ll know that I’m admittedly a food snob and don’t consider white chocolate to be real chocolate. (It’s not, okay?) Of course, that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. There’s a time and a place for it, and this raspberry and white chocolate loaf cake is pretty much it. Maybe even exclusively. (Got a killer white chocolate recipe? Prove me wrong and share it in the comments. Or email it to me.)
Raspberry and White Chocolate Loaf Cake Ingredients
All Purpose Flour– If you want to go gluten free, you can substitute substitute your favorite gluten free flour, or brown rice flour.
Baking Powder– This helps keep the cake light.
Granulated Sugar– Obviously this is to add sweetness to the cake. I don’t add too much sugar in this recipe, because white chocolate chips add quite a bit of sweetness on their own.
Milk– You only need a little and it adds a little bit of moistness to the cake. You could also substitute the same amount of creme fraiche or sour cream.
Eggs– We’ll use three eggs for this recipe.
Vanilla– You know I don’t bake without vanilla! This adds a nice, subtle hint of flavor.
Salt– Necessary, of course, so our cake doesn’t turn out bland.
Raspberries– I like to use frozen, because they are less expensive, and easier to keep on hand. If you are making this seasonally, definitely use fresh!
White chocolate chips– The first time I made this raspberry and white chocolate loaf cake, I actually used Ghiradelli white chocolate wafers, which I don’t recommend. White chocolate melts very easily and the larger chips leave bigger pools of oil when the cake is hot. The second time I used the regular white chocolate baking chips (these) and they worked much better.
Raspberry and White Chocolate Loaf Cake
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F and brush oil on a 9" x 5" loaf pan. Dust it lightly with flour after oiling it, and tap out any excess flour.
- Since the milk should be lukewarm when added to the batter, begin by warming up the milk slightly. Pour it in a small saucepan and turn it on low heat for about 1 minute- just enough to warm it up. Then turn off the heat and set the milk aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a larger mixing bowl with a batter attachment or using a handheld mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until fluffy and evenly combined, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture, one at a time, mixing well before each addition.
- Add both the vanilla and milk and mix another minute or so.
- Finally, add the dry ingredient mixture and mix until everything is just combined (do not over mix!)
- Gently fold in the raspberries and white chocolate chips at the same time until they're evenly distributed throughout the cake batter.
- Gently scoop the batter into the cake pan, making sure that it is even along all sides of the pan.
- Set the cake in the oven to bake for about one hour- or until golden brown, and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool for about 15-20 minutes before removing it from the pan. After removing it from the cake pan allow it to cool another 45 minutes-1 hour before cutting and serving.