Loaf Cake

A creamy yogurt glaze ups the tang factor of this loaf cake—and makes it totally suitable to serve for breakfast. 😉

This fun dessert magically turns store-bought ice cream into bread with a little help from self-rising flour. The butter pecan ice cream does double duty, adding caramelly sweetness and nutty crunch.

Zucchini bread is one of those things that is almost always good but rarely spectacular and a slice can serve as a breakfast, snack or dessert. Sprinkling it with sugar and grilling it so it becomes nicely caramelized moves it firmly in the dessert category (and, along with adding a spoonful of mascarpone, makes it much closer to spectacular). This recipe works with your favorite zucchini bread recipe or try it with this Spiced Zucchini-Walnut Bread .

This recipe was given to me by Jean Dix from Howth, Co. Dublin. She devised it for her daughter Sophie's birthday, who was the critical taster. It's a brilliant one to do with children, as there is no cooking involved. Unlike many other chocolate biscuit cake recipes, it cuts beautifully even straight out of the fridge and keeps well wrapped in clingfilm for at least 2 weeks.

Craig Strong, Executive Chef of Studio at Montage Laguna Beach, shared this recipe exclusively with Epicurious. When making his cinnamon- and nutmeg-scented coffee cake, Strong recommends having a whisk as well as a rubber spatula at the ready. The whisk is great for thoroughly blending the ingredients, but at certain points the batter is quite thick and you'll need to use a spatula.

This is an insanely easy cake to make. It goes together in just minutes and tastes awesome: a touch ducky—more so if you use wild duck fat—sweet, but not overly so, with a little hit of rosemary to even things out. I originally made this as a sort of stunt, but it's so good I've put it into the regular rotation. If you like a sweeter cake, up the sugar to a full cup, and if you hate rosemary, skip it or sub in lemon verbena, sage, or winter savory. Serve the cake with fruit and maybe a little whipped cream. A sweet dessert white wine, like a vin santo or a Sauternes, is a perfect choice.

This is a loaf cake that my mum liked to make and it remains a firm favorite of mine. The lemon syrup poured over the freshly baked cake seeps down into the sponge and adds a special moisture to the taste. Perfect to have with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

A delightful option for a mid-morning snack or brunch, our Teff Banana Bread is also gluten-free and dairy-free. We slice ours with a serrated knife, first lengthwise down the middle and then across into 12 slices, for a total of 24 one-ounce servings per loaf.

Epicurious member Marsha Klein of Barrington, Rhode Island, shared her everything-but-thekitchen-sink banana bread with our community, and it quickly became popular. Toasted walnuts and chocolate chips add texture, but this flexible recipe can easily be adapted to a baker’s whim. The chocolate-averse can substitute dried fruit—golden raisins or blueberries—for the chips; the nut-allergic, shredded coconut; the health-conscious, white whole-wheat flour.

My dad is the only person allowed to handle avocados in my family. Avocados are a very precious commodity, and in the hands of my father, reach their true potential: fresh homemade guacamole. Leave it to me to completely diverge from family rules. I developed this recipe out of my obsession with sweet avocado recipes. After a failed avocado milkshake and a disastrous avocado pancake, this pound cake totally satisfied my obsession. It's sweet, green, and has a slight bite from cornmeal. Yes, this cake is green, and tastes like avocado, but it's surprisingly delicious. Try it! You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Purchase high-quality pistachios, and pick through the nuts for the greenest ones. After roasting, rub the nuts between your palms to eliminate as much of the brown skin as possible.

This cake doesn’t rise very much, so don’t be surprised if it is shorter than you expect.

One saturday, Greg Brainin, my director of creative development, threw this together for his daughters. When he made it for me the following Monday, I knew it would become a regular weekend treat for my family, too. It’s as comforting as a classic buttery coffee cake, but the crunch of raw sugar and sea salt in the topping makes it taste refreshingly new.

If you are using the miniloaf pans, place them on a baking sheet, and bake cakes for about forty-five minutes.

Poppy seeds give these cakes an interesting texture and appearance, but you can certainly omit them if you prefer.

This recipe does not contain the traditional pound each of butter, eggs, flour, and sugar, but its proportions produce the most delicious results.

Pound-cake batters bake into especially rich and dense cupcakes, and the traditional recipe can be adapted in many ways to vary the flavor and texture. In this version, brown sugar replaces granulated for a hint of caramel flavor, while buttermilk makes for a more tender crumb than when made with regular milk. Nutty brown-butter icing pairs especially well with these cupcakes, but many other toppings would also work, including brown-sugar cream-cheese frosting (page 310) or whipped cream (page 316).

Every summer, my sister Beth fills her freezer with blueberries her family has picked. They eat as many as they can while the berries are in season, share some with friends and family, and then freeze the rest. This quick bread is good made with fresh or frozen blueberries, and Beth uses lemons from her own lemon tree, right in her backyard! (I’m jealous!)