Quick Breads and Loaf Cakes

Upside-Down Cardamom-Spiced Plum Cake

Peak-season plums mean plum cake—and we can do no better than this enchanting recipe, inspired by Claire Ptak’s upside-down fig cake.

By Rose HattabaughAugust 9, 2023

Carrot-Tahini Quick Bread with Candied Ginger and Pistachios

We turn carrot cake into moist, tender quick bread for any time of day.

By Rose HattabaughApril 26, 2021

Double Chocolate Loaf Cake

A velvety, deeply chocolatey cake from renowned baker Claire Ptak, of Violet Cakes in East London.

By Malcolm JacksonJanuary 22, 2024

Tahini Banana Bread

Earthy, nutty tahini is as at home in cookies, brownies and cakes as it is in savory hummus. Here, it replaces some of the butter in banana bread, lending the crumb an especially plush, tender texture. Banana slices, arranged on the batter, followed b

By Lawman JohnsonNovember 14, 2025

Meringue Cradle Cake

If this cake sounds a little offbeat, that’s because it is. A billowy meringue “cradles” a yellow cake batter in the pan, and together they bake. The ingenious invention, called Meringue Cradle Cake, was a contender in the 1953 Pillsbury Bake-Off. Cha

By Hisham Ali HassanMarch 18, 2026

Banana-Hazelnut Bread

Buttery hazelnuts, ground in the food processor, take banana bread to a new level—adding more moisture to the crumb and playing off the bananas’ sweetness.

By Rose HattabaughOctober 12, 2020

Zucchini Bread with Orange Zest and Chocolate Chunks

Unlike the basic (and often boring) zucchini bread, this quick bread is saturated with citrusy orange flavor thanks to a simple step of rubbing orange zest into the sugar. This draws out the zest’s essential oils and evenly distributes them for bright

Clementine Blender Cake

We blitz whole, unpeeled clementines in a blender and use them to flavor the batter and finishing syrup in this fragrant, bright orange cake.

By Hisham Ali HassanFebruary 9, 2024

Brown Butter-Cardamom Banana Bread

Two simple changes, and zero additional effort, make banana bread holiday-worthy, and we now only make it this way.

Browned Butter and Coconut Loaf Cake

This moist, dense, buttery loaf cake comes from Briana Holt of Tandem Coffee + Bakery in Portland, Maine. It's baked until the exterior is deeply browned, developing rich, toasty flavors and an amazing aroma. A coconut syrup is brushed on while the ca

Tomato, Feta and Black Olive Quick Bread

The idea for this savory quick bread with a Mediterranean flavor profile comes from Milk Street Facebook Community members Stephanie Huddleston and Alin Manukyan. Tomato, olives, feta and fresh dill add bursts of boldness, while olive oil and Greek yo

By Rose HattabaughSeptember 10, 2024

Yogurt Loaf Cake with Coriander and Orange

An easy yogurt cake often baked by French children, with a moist crumb and an added fragrant, zesty lift.

By Diane UngerDecember 14, 2020

Pistachio-Cardamom Cake

Baking a cake can be daunting. Enter the loaf cake, as easy as a quick bread but with more polish. Rose Bakery in Paris, created by Briton Rose Carrarini and her French husband, Jean-Charles, has elevated the style to an art form, producing tempting l

Marbled Chocolate-Tahini Cake

This loaf cake boasts a marbled interior featuring one of our favorite flavor combinations—nutty, savory tahini and rich dark chocolate. The cake’s striking design is made by alternating layers of chocolate-enriched batter and plain, lightly colored b

By Hisham Ali HassanAugust 12, 2024

Lemon-Almond Pound Cake

Plush Lemon Pound Cake

Lemon and Caraway Butter Cake

Claire Ptak made us this elegantly simple cake when we paid her a visit at Violet Cakes, her bakery-café in London. She explained that it is an old-fashioned British teacake known, rather plainly, as “seed cake” and that she first encountered it after

By Malcolm JacksonDecember 24, 2023

Yogurt Cake with Citrus and Spice

Citrus and spice mingle beautifully in our take on France’s gâteau au yaourt—a simple cake, perfect for using up extra yogurt and eating at any time.

By Diane Unger & Courtney HillNovember 16, 2022

Paul Hollywood’s Lemon Drizzle Cake

This light, airy Lemon Drizzle Cake with a crispy lemony topping is Paul Hollywood's “favorite cake of all time.”