I am absolutely living for spring brunch vibes at the moment, so this Strawberries & Cream French Toast Bake came to be! It’s easy, delicious, perfect for a cozy spring brunch at home, or for celebratory occasions like Mother’s Day! Seriously, mom will love this.
I used two loaves of Trader Joe’s brioche, which is soft, fluffy, and delicious all on its own. It’s a great place to start. It also comes already sliced so the work here is super minimal! For the egg and milk mixture, you simply whisk a few ingredients together and voila. I will say that the first time I made this, I arranged the bread in the baking pan and then poured the egg mixture over it. It was still insanely good, but the far superior method is going the classic french toast route and dipping each side of brioche in the egg mixture and THEN arranging in the pan. This way, each slice bakes up deliciously.
One of the great things about this Strawberries & Cream French Toast Bake is that you can bake it right after making, OR do your egg mixture and arrange the slices and pop it in the fridge over night. So all you have to do in the morning is mix up the cream cheese filling (easy) and slice some strawberries (also easy). These go between each slice and then it’s off to bake!
I like topping this with more fresh and juicy berries, plus powdered sugar and lots of syrup. It’s truly a treat with minimal work and delightful and delicious payoff. Feel free to swap out the berries here, too! This is one of those recipes you can customize and make through all of the seasons!
Happy baking!
More Brunch Recipes:
Small Batch Pancakes
Lemon Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast
Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Waffles
Cinnamon Roll Waffles
Strawberries & Cream French Toast Bake
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 2 16-oz loaves of brioche (I used Trader Joe’s brioche)
- 1 ½ blocks 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 16-oz container strawberries, washed, hulled, & sliced
- Powdered sugar and syrup for serving
Instructions
- Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla bean paste.
- Quickly dip each side of each slice of bread in egg mixture. Arrange in the prepared pan, overlapping pieces as necessary. Pour remaining egg mixture over slices in pan.
- At this point, you can loosely cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or continue with the next steps and bake.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium-sized, beat cream cheese on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; mix until incorporated. Transfer cream cheese mixture to a piping bag (or zip top bag with the corner cut off) and pipe between each slice of brioche.
- Add sliced strawberries between each piece of brioche. (I did about three slices.)
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, covering with foil about halfway through baking to prevent over-browning. Remove and allow to cool for about 30 minutes.
- Top with additional strawberries, powdered sugar, and syrup. Serve and enjoy!
Any mother would be lucky to have this Mother’s Day morning! (Or for lunch or dinner!)