triple berry creme fraiche cake

This is an elegant spring loaf cake that’s bursting with juicy berries, bright lemon zest, and the delicate tang of creme fraiche. It’s buttery, moist, and incredibly simple to make.

This moist creme fraiche cake is studded with fresh berries and zesty lemon. It has a fine, delicate crumb and it’s all too easy to scarf. What I love about this cake, aside from the juicy berries and tender texture, is the simplicity.

It’s naturally beautiful to look at— no fancy decorating tips or swiss meringue frosting are required. All you need are really delicious berries, creme fraiche and a loaf pan. To dress it up just a tad, I brush the warm cake with a lemon glaze for a crystally, crunchy, citrusy crust. It’s totally optional, but as far as cake decorating goes, it’s my kind of doable.

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how to make this triple berry creme fraiche cake:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Whisk together sugar, creme fraiche, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest. 
3. Add dry ingredients to wet, whisk to combine.
4. Fold in vegetable oil until well mixed. You’ll feel like this is a completely ridiculous thing to do and that the batter will never come together. That’s normal. Just be patient and stay the course!
5. Fold in fresh or frozen berries.
6. Pour batter into a parchment paper lined 8-inch x 4-inch loaf pan.
7. Bake for about 65 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Let cool 10 minutes, remove from pan, then brush with lemon glaze while the cake is still warm.

baking with creme fraiche:

This creme fraiche cake only requires 1/2 cup of creme fraiche, but it’s such an important ingredient! It adds tenderness, moisture and a delicate tang to baked goods.

If you have a lingering, half used tub of creme fraiche in your fridge, this is the cake for you. But if you don’t have creme fraiche or can’t find it in your local grocery store, don’t worry. You have two options:

• Substitute full-fat sour cream or yogurt in place of the creme fraiche
• Make your own creme fraiche, which is so easy and so much cheaper than buying it. If you’re at all curious about the process, I definitely recommend giving it a shot one evening.
  • Whisk together 1 cup heavy cream and 1 tbsp buttermilk together, cover loosely, and let sit at room temperature for about 12 hours, or until thickened to your desired texture. Learn more here!

notes on the triple berry creme fraiche cake:

• While I call this a triple berry cake, you can use any combination of berries you’d like. I prefer the blueberry, blackberry, raspberry combination. But you can also use strawberries, as seen in the pictures! If you do use strawberries, make sure to dice them into 1/2” pieces so they don’t take over the cake. 
• Fresh or frozen berries can be used. Frozen berries have a tendency to bleed color in the batter, so your cake won’t look at clean as the cake in the photos. It will taste just as great. Avoid frozen strawberries, which can be very watery and are also a pain to cut into small pieces. 
• You can use a 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan without any change in taste. The creme fraiche cake will just be wider and shallower.

related recipes:

lemon poppyseed loaf cake

cherry rye buckle cake with walnut streusel

raspberry jam oat muffins

white balsamic tart with fresh berries

creme fraiche panna cotta with ginger roasted rhubarb

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