Sweet, tender, and studded with deliciously tart berries, this Raspberry and White Chocolate Loaf Cake is the easy, no-egg dessert you need in your life right now. This eggless pound cake is topped with raspberry white chocolate ganache for a rich dessert that's perfect for keeping your budget in check!
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients & Substitutions
- How To Make Raspberry & White Chocolate Loaf Cake
- Optional Variations
- Expert Tips
- Storage Instructions
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Deliciously Easy Egg-Free Desserts
- Raspberry and White Chocolate Loaf Cake (Eggless Pound Cake with Raspberry White Chocolate Ganache)
- đź’¬ Reviews
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Aside from being super flavorful, deeply satisfying, and just the right amount of sweet, you'll love this raspberry white chocolate quick bread recipe because it's:
- Easy To Make - You'll only need about 15 minutes of active time to get it ready for the oven.
- Takes Only 11 Ingredients - Or 10, if you don't want to add the raspberry white chocolate frosting.
- Budget-Friendly — There are no eggs in it! - With the prices of eggs going absolutely insane right now, I've been looking to find alternative recipes to keep my food budget from exploding. I took a cue from this vegan (so, egg-free) pound cake from Organically Addison, and I couldn't be happier with the results.
- Versatile - The egg-free pound cake is made with dairy here, but works just as well as a vegan dessert. It can also easily be made gluten-free, or you can change the flavor profile. Read on for all the ways to customize it!
Ingredients & Substitutions
As promised, this eggless pound cake with raspberries and white chocolate ganache requires just a handful of simple ingredients, most of which I'd imagine you already have on hand. Here's what you need:
- Butter - I typically keep salted butter on hand because it lasts longer, tastes better on bread, and my fridge is too small to keep both salted and unsalted on hand. If you are using unsalted butter, increase the added fine sea salt to a teaspoon.
- Sugar - Plain granulated sugar has a neutral flavor profile that's perfect for letting all the other flavors shine through. Feel free to swap in organic cane sugar if you prefer.
- Almond Extract - I love almond-flavored anything, and the toasty flavor pairs beautifully with both raspberries and white chocolate. Feel free to omit it in favor of more vanilla extract if you prefer.
- Vanilla Extract - You can also use an equal amount of vanilla paste or vanilla powder, or use half as much ground vanilla bean.
- Greek Yogurt - I suggest using full-fat yogurt for the most tender cake. You can also swap in sour cream, or use your favorite coconut or soy greek yogurt alternatives.
- All-Purpose Flour - This recipe works equally well with a gluten-free cup-for-cup flour mix. Just make sure to grab one that has xanthan gum for stabilization!
- Baking Powder - Not to be confused with baking soda, this is a necessary ingredient for leavening.
- Salt - I used fine sea salt in this recipe. If you're using a different variety (say, kosher), use this conversion chart for proper measurement.
- White Chocolate - If you can't find real white chocolate chips (read the label — if cocoa butter isn't one of the first ingredients, it's not white chocolate), check where they keep the good bar chocolate instead. (Deal alert: Aldi recently started carrying mini bars of white chocolate for just $3.58/7oz.)
- Raspberries - You can use either fresh or frozen, so use what's on sale. I scored fresh at Aldi for just $1.59/6oz clamshell.
- Heavy Cream - You'll only need this ingredient if you make the white chocolate raspberry ganache topping. Feel free to swap in canned coconut cream (NOT sweetened cream of coconut) for a dairy-free option.
How To Make Raspberry & White Chocolate Loaf Cake
This everyday raspberry white chocolate cake is super simple to make. Here's how it's done:
Prep. Preheat the oven. Lightly grease your loaf tin, then add a parchment paper sling with an overhang to help you lift the loaf out of the tin.
Step 1: Cream the butter and sugar together.
Step 2: Add wet ingredients (extracts plus Greek yogurt), mixing to combine. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl for full incorporation. The batter will look a little curdled at this point.
Step 3a: Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) in a small bowl.
Step 3b: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until no pockets of flour remain. The dough will be quite thick.
Step 4: Fold in the white chocolate chips.
Step 5: Layer for baking. Using a spoon or damp fingers, add a few dollops of dough to the prepared pan, using damp fingers to help spread it out over the bottom. Sprinkle in about ⅓ of the raspberries. Add more dollops of dough and more raspberries, repeating until all the dough and berries are used up. TIP: Try to end with a few dollops of dough on top so the raspberries don't get too dried out during baking.
Step 6: Bake & cool. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, allowing it to cool for about 10 minutes in the tin before moving it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Optional Steps For Adding Raspberry White Chocolate Ganache
***The remaining steps are optional, in case you want to add the raspberry white chocolate ganache glaze!***
Step 1: Purée berries for the ganache.
Step 2: Strain the purée through the mesh strainer to remove the seeds.
Step 3: Warm raspberry cream. Add the heavy cream to the pan with the raspberry purée and stir to combine. Set over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is steaming and beginning to bubble around the edges.
Step 4: Chop or break the white chocolate into small pieces and add them to a shallow bowl (e.g. a pasta bowl). Finish raspberry white chocolate ganache by pouring the heated cream mixture over the white chocolate and let it sit for a few minutes to melt, then stir or whisk to combine. Set aside until the cake is fully cooled.
Step 5: Glaze. When the cake is fully cooled, place it on a piece of parchment and pour the cooled and slightly thickened ganache over the top, gently coaxing it over the sides to make a pretty drip pattern.
Step 15: Chill & serve. Allow the ganache to set up for about an hour (feel free to refrigerate it to hasten the process), then dig in!
Optional Variations
While I love this white chocolate and raspberry loaf cake just the way it's written (both with and without the berry white chocolate glaze), there is plenty of room for you to put your own spin on it. Here are just a few optional variations to consider:
- Vegan - Use plant-based butter, coconut or soy-based greek yogurt, and coconut cream (the hard stuff at the top of a can of coconut milk) to make this recipe entirely plant-based.
- Gluten-Free - Feel free to swap in your favorite measure-for-measure gluten-free flour blend for all-purpose. Make sure to let your batter rest for about 30 minutes before baking to let the flour rehydrate properly, otherwise you might end up with a grainy texture.
- Swap Your Chocolate - This flavorful egg-free pound cake with raspberries would also be delectable with milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, or dark chocolate chips and a true chocolate-raspberry ganache.
- Try Different Berries - Blackberries, boysenberries, blueberries, or even chopped strawberries would also be delicious here!
- Add Sliced Almonds - Feel free to add some extra texture to the loaf cake by adding up to ½ cup of sliced almonds to the batter, plus some toasted sliced almonds as decoration across the top.
- Raspberry Lemon Loaf - Omit the almond extract and either swap in the juice and zest of one small lemon or use lemon extract in its place.
- Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins - Divvy the batter into lined muffin tins and decrease the baking time accordingly (about 18-22 minutes).
Expert Tips
- Don't overmix the dough. While pound cake is supposed to be rich and dense, you don't want it to be tough! Be very careful to gently fold in the white chocolate chips.
- Use real white chocolate for the best flavor and consistency. Read your labels — most commercially available options are cleverly called "white baking chips" because they aren't actually white chocolate. In order to be white chocolate, cocoa butter should be the primary ingredient! If you can't find it in chip form, buy it as a bar and chop or smash it into pieces.
- Use your fingers to pinch small pieces of dough to cover the raspberries as you layer the cake into the pan. If you try to fold the raspberries in, they'll get crushed and leave streaks through the batter.
Storage Instructions
The naked, ganache-free raspberry white chocolate loaf will keep, well covered at room temperature, for up to 4 days. You can also refrigerate it (being sure to wrap it well in plastic wrap to prevent drying out) for up to a week, or freeze it for up to a month.
The raspberry white chocolate ganache will keep for up to a week or so in the fridge.
If you've iced the egg-free pound cake with the ganache, it will keep for up to 4 days at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to a week. I do not recommend freezing it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! While traditional pound cake calls for a pound each of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter, this egg-free recipe uses Greek yogurt to replace the fat, water, and protein content you'd find in eggs.
A loaf cake is simply a cake that has been baked in a loaf pan.
Some might argue that it also needs to be frosted or iced in some way, otherwise it would be considered a "quick bread" (like banana bread or zucchini bread). If you believe this argument, then you will also agree that the only difference between a muffin and a cupcake is the frosting. 🤷‍♀️
While that happens to be the case in this recipe, not all loaf cakes are pound cakes. You can also have butter or oil cakes that are baked in loaf pans.
Stick a toothpick or a skewer in a few places along the center of the loaf — it should come out cleanly (or with a bit of raspberry juice, but no batter). If there are still some spots that are undercooked, return it to the oven for a few minutes at a time until it's done.
If the top of the berry loaf cake is browning too much for your liking while you're waiting for it to finish cooking, tent it lightly with some foil.
Sure! You can also use 3.5 oz of butter and a splash or two of milk or half & half (potentially omitting the added salt), or feel free to use coconut cream for a vegan version.
If you are looking to save money in the long term, it's a bit of an investment upfront*, but powdered heavy cream is great for many applications like:
-baking,
-making creamy coffee,
-adding to soups,
-adding to milk to make half-n-half, or
-in traditional churned ice cream recipes.
The only thing it can't do? Whip into actual whipped cream or turn into butter. To use powdered cream, dilute the powder into water as directed on the package and use in a 1-to-1 ratio with refrigerated heavy cream.
*($28 for 2 lbs at the time of writing, which will yield about 9 quarts' worth. That beats my local Aldi by about $2/quart!)
Potential 3rd Option: You can also try using sweetened condensed milk in place of the cream, but you'll be battling a pretty cloying sweetness if you do.
Potential 4th Option: I haven't tried it myself with this particular recipe, but I have also read that you can make ganache using evaporated milk instead. That said, I'm not sure what the proper ratio would be or if the added raspberries might affect the consistency.
More Deliciously Easy Egg-Free Desserts
Raspberry and White Chocolate Loaf Cake (Eggless Pound Cake with Raspberry White Chocolate Ganache)
Equipment
- Measuring Cups or Kitchen Scale
- Immersion Blender or Food Processor
Ingredients Â
Raspberry Pound Cake
- ½ C Butter (8 oz) or vegan butter.
- 1 C Granulated Sugar (205 grams)
- 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 C Greek Yogurt (230 grams) or plain coconut greek yogurt.
- 2 C All Purpose Flour (270 grams) or GF cup-for-cup AP blend.
- 2 teaspoon Baking Powder (9 grams)
- ½ teaspoon Salt (4 grams)
- 6 oz Raspberries fresh or frozen
- ½ C White Chocolate Chips (80 grams) or white chocolate bars broken into small chunks.
Raspberry White Chocolate Ganache (Optional)
- 4 oz Raspberries fresh or frozen
- ½ C Heavy Cream (4 ounces)
- 7 oz White Chocolate (200 grams)
- 1-2 pinches Salt
Optional Decorations --> Ai, use whatever you think will look best in photos, or omit if you think that looks best!
InstructionsÂ
Make Raspberry Pound Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F. Use the remaining butter on the wrapper to grease your loaf tin on the skinny sides, then add a parchment paper sling with an overhang on either broad side to help you lift the loaf out of the tin.
- Using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.
- Add the almond and vanilla extracts plus the Greek yogurt, mixing to combine. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl for full incorporation. The batter will look a little curdled at this point.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until no pockets of flour remain. The dough will be quite thick.
- Fold in the white chocolate chips.
- Using a spoon or damp fingers, add a few dollops of dough to the prepared pan, using damp fingers to help spread it out over the bottom. Sprinkle in about â…“ of the raspberries. Add more dollops of dough and more raspberries, repeating until all the dough and berries are used up. TIP: Try to end with a few dollops of dough on top so the raspberries don't get too dried out during baking.
- Bake in preheated oven for 38-48 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, allowing it to cool for about 10 minutes in the tin before moving it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Make Raspberry White Chocolate Ganache (If Using)
- Meanwhile, purée the berries for the ganache using an immersion blender and a tall glass or a food processor.
- Strain the purée through the mesh strainer to remove the seeds, adding it directly to a small saucepan.
- Add the cream and a pinch or two of salt to the pan with the raspberry purée and stir to combine. Set over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is steaming and beginning to bubble around the edges.
- While the raspberry cream heats up, chop or break the white chocolate into small pieces and add them to a shallow bowl (e.g. a pasta bowl).
- Pour the heated cream mixture over the white chocolate and let it sit for a few minutes to melt, then stir or whisk to combine. Set aside until the cake is fully cooled.
Glaze Cake
- When the cake is fully cooled, place it on a piece of parchment and pour the cooled and slightly thickened ganache over the top, gently coaxing it over the sides to make a pretty drip pattern. Feel free to add any optional decoration here.
- Allow to set up for about an hour, then dig in!
Notes
- Make sure to use real white chocolate for the ganache. Many white baking chips don't have any cocoa butter, so the ganache doesn't quite turn out right!
- Use your fingers to pinch small pieces of dough to cover the raspberries as you layer the cake into the pan. If you try to fold the raspberries in, they'll get crushed and leave streaks through the batter.
- DON'T OVERMIX THE BATTER. Be gentle as you're adding the white chocolate chips. Overmixing will cause the cake to collapse.
- Vegan - Use plant-based butter, coconut or soy-based greek yogurt, and coconut cream (the hard stuff at the top of a can of coconut milk) to make this recipe entirely plant-based.
- Gluten-Free - Feel free to swap in your favorite measure-for-measure gluten-free flour blend (preferably one with xanthan gum) for all-purpose. Make sure to let your batter rest for about 30 minutes before baking to let the flour rehydrate properly, otherwise you might end up with a grainy texture.
- Swap Your Chocolate - This flavorful egg-free pound cake with raspberries would also be delectable with milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, or dark chocolate chips and a true chocolate-raspberry ganache.
- Try Different Berries - Blackberries, boysenberries, blueberries, or even chopped strawberries would also be delicious here!
- Add Sliced Almonds - Feel free to add some extra texture to the loaf cake by adding up to ½ cup of sliced almonds to the batter, plus some toasted sliced almonds as decoration across the top.
- Raspberry Lemon Loaf - Omit the almond extract and either swap in the juice and zest of one small lemon or use lemon extract in its place.
- Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins - Divvy the batter into lined muffin tins and decrease the baking time accordingly (about 18-22 minutes).
Let's taco 'bout it.