In this sweet beer bread, the strawberries and fresh basil work beautifully together. It tastes well when toasted and served as breakfast bread or with pork or chicken for dinner. Although you can use any preferred beer, I believe a fruity beer, such as one with citrus or apple notes, is excellent for this recipe. You can also use lemon-lime soda in place of beer.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Additional Time: | 35 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 15 mins |
| Servings: | 54 |
| Yield: | 1 12×18-inch cake |
Ingredients
- cooking spray (such as Baker’s Joy™ Non-Stick Release Spray with Flour)
- 3 cups white sugar
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 6 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 4 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup 1% milk
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup half-and-half
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 12x18x2-inch cake pan with cooking spray.
- Combine sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy, about 8 minutes. Add in eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping the mixing bowl sides. Add vanilla bean paste and almond extract. Mix well.
- Sift together cake flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl. Combine milk, cream, and half-and-half in a measuring cup.
- Alternate adding sifted cake flour mixture and liquids to the creamed sugar mixture, 4 to 5 times, until everything is well combined and batter is smooth. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and loosely cover with a piece of foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 15 more minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Run a table knife around the edges to loosen. Invert carefully onto a serving plate or cooling rack. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes. Decorate with frosting of your choice.
- I calculated the serving size as 2×2-inch square pieces.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 143 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 20 g |
| Cholesterol | 36 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 66 mg |
| Sugars | 11 g |
| Fat | 6 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |