It is summer and that means an abundance of fresh local fruits! Ontario is known for their magnificent strawberries so while they are fresh and ripe, why not add them to every dessert. This is a delicious, fluffy and moist orange loaf cake with a homemade strawberry compote swirl to tie it all together. It is absolutely moist, delicious and customizable. You can choose the amount of compote to add to the recipe (within reason of course) and the type of compote to add to the recipe. I went for tasty strawberry compote but who says you can’t use a pint of fresh Ontario blueberries to make this compote. You can layer your compote for a berry swirl throughout or place most of it on top of your loaf for a stunning finish. I have doubled the compote recipe written below before, added half to the batter, as the recipe calls for, and topped the finished cake slices with the second half of the compote! Check this recipe out today if you love a fruity dessert. You can have this as a snack, as a dessert with some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (yum), or perhaps with your morning tea or coffee.
Orange Berry Swirl Loaf
Ingredients
Loaf
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup full fat Greek yogurt
Homemade Berry Compote
- 2 cups frozen or fresh strawberries blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or a combination
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
Make Compote
- Combine 2 cups of fruit, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes.
- Cook until most of the water has dissolved and the compote is thick. Taste and adjust sugar if necessary. Can also adjust sugar by adding more fruit and cooking down for at least 10 more minutes.
- Allow compote to cool completely which will take at least an hour. You want about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup for your loaf.
- Make Orange Loaf
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8×4-inch loaf pan with baking spray and line with a piece of parchment paper that covers the bottom and long sides, with an inch or so extending past the top of the pan. If you have a reliable non stick loaf pan you may not need your parchment. Grease with butter and set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream your butter, sugar until light and fluffy, Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating between each egg added.
- Beat in the orange zest. Beat in the orange juice and lemon juice. Your mixture will most likely curdle but this is okay.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together well the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
- Add half of your flour mixture and yogurt into the wet mixture and beat on low.
- Add the rest of your four mixture to your batter and mix until just incorporated.
- Take batter and pour half of it into your parchment lined (or just greased) loaf tin.
- Scoop half of your compote onto the batter and used knife or chopsticks to swirl around but do not mix into batter.
- Poor second half of batter on top or your compote swirl, and scoop remaining compote onto batter for the very top of your loaf. Swirl compote again but don’t fully mix into batter. You do not need to swirl as much as your think, as your loaf bakes, the batter rises and compote sink into loaf.
- Alternatively, if you like, you do not have to layer the compote, you can simply just put compote onto of all the batter and swirl. The cake will be compote heavy on top with few swirls inside the cake. If doing the latter option, try and get the compote as evenly distributed onto of the batter before swirling.
- Bake in preheated oven for 55 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then run a knife along the cake and turn out of pan or use your parchment handles to pull cake out.
- Slice and enjoy!
