Bert Swope
Noel Quick Bread is a pound cake-style bread that is a perfect dessert for the holiday season. This is less dense than traditional fruit cake with a festive look fit for Christmas. Adding fruit to holiday desserts is a tradition that dates back hundreds of years, but the sweetness of this Noel Quick Bread is lighter and palatable for modern taste buds.
If you are looking for a delicious snack, Noel Quick Bread is an excellent choice. You can make it at home and keep it on hand for a quick snack or after-dinner dessert.
Prep Time
- 20 minutes
Cooking Time
- 60 minutes
Servings Size
- approximately 8
Required Equipment
- Large bowl
- Medium bowl
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Electric mixer
- Mixing spatula
- Knife
- Paper towels
- Toothpick
- 9 x 5 inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- One 6 oz (170 g) jar of maraschino cherries (red)
- One 6 oz (170 g) jar of maraschino cherries (green)
- 1/2 cup (1 1/8 dl) softened butter
- 1 1/3 cups (3 1/8 dl) sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups (3 1/2 dl) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup (1 1/8 dl) sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar for plating
Preparation Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C).
- Drain cherries and chop finely, absorbing any excess moisture with paper towels, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat butter on medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
- Gradually add sugar to the butter, beating until fluffy.
- Add eggs one at a time to the butter and lightly beat until just combined.
- Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl.
- Stir chopped cherries into the flour mixture.
- Beating at low speed, add part of the flour mix to the butter.
- When the flour is incorporated, add the sour cream, continuing to beat at a low speed.
- Add the rest of the flour mixture and beat until thoroughly combined.
- Stir the vanilla in with a mixing spatula.
- Grease and flour a 9 x 5 inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan and pour in the batter.
- Bake for about 60 minutes. The cake is fully baked when a toothpick stuck in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, remove the loaf and finish cooling on a wire cooling rack.
Plating
- Sprinkle on a dusting of powdered sugar, reminiscent of snow, and garnish with a few maraschino cherries or fresh cranberries.
Cook’s Notes
- An additional option for this recipe would be to sprinkle the top of the cake before placing in the oven to bake with about ¼ cup of walnuts or my personal favorite pecan nuts. Then, there’s no need to sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar.
- Also, you can reduce the Marciano cherries to 4 ounces each and add 4 ounces of soaked golden raisins to add a little extra character.
- As a last option, you can reduce the Marciano cherries to 3 ounces each and add nothing to make it look a little less like a fruitcake but still have some color in it.
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