Yummy loaf cake with croissant aspirations. # 359: Cherry Almond Croissant Loaf

Rich and sweet, this loaf has so many elements:

• Buttery almond cake
• Bright bursts of cherry
• Decadent almond frangipane
• Shredded phyllo dough on top for that irresistible crunch you get when biting into a croissant!

Almond croissants are one of those pastries that I wish had just one more bitter or tart element to cut the sweetness, like raspberry jam or dark chocolate. (I had one with dark chocolate and banana at B Patisserie in SF and I’m still dreaming about it.) So I love the idea of adding cherries to the butter cake for a little extra flavor kick.

Hopefully I’ve finally learned my lesson about not lining the pan with parchment paper. If you leave an overhang on two sides, you can use them like little handles to pull your loaf out of the pan without having to invert it. Which is most helpful when you’ve got a crispy, crumbly topping. I had to invert mine this time and a shocking amount of topping stayed put, phew!

This cherry almond loaf cake would be divine all on its own, but we’re going big today.

Swoosh.

Alternating adding flour and milk helps to gently convince the batter to play nicely.

I used frozen cherries and had to drain a whole bunch of cherry juice off before dousing them with flour to help them suspend as evenly as possible in the batter.

Frangipane time!

Almond custard serves as the croissant filling. Did you know that almond croissants are almost always second-day regular croissants that have been baked again with filling and a hefty shower of powdered sugar? No croissant left behind!

Noms.

Feels a bit like sacrilege to crumble up frozen phyllo dough instead of babying it like normal.

Voila! My oven is temperamental so it took an extra 5-10 minutes to bake this hefty loaf.

Much crunch.

Happy munching!

Recipe from: BakedwithlovebyIvy on Instagram & TikTok