Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake

This Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake is sweet and custardy with a crisp streusel topping that’s studded with fresh strawberries and ooey gooey cream cheese.  Prep the day before and bake the morning-of for a sweet, simple and decadent make-ahead breakfast casserole.

Jump to:

• Strawberries and Cream French Toast Casserole
• What to Serve With Overnight Strawberry French Toast Bake
• Ingredients for Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake
• How to Make Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Recipe: Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake

Strawberries and Cream French Toast Casserole

Our Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake is so pretty, so impressive and so delicious that no one will ever believe it only took about 20 minutes of prep.  We take a classic French toast egg custard and fresh strawberries, pour it over pieces of French bread where it makes magic as it soaks overnight (or as little as 20 minutes if you’re in a rush). 

Just before baking, we top with a brown sugar cinnamon streusel, and pieces of cream cheese for a creamy, dreamy dessert-for-breakfast casserole.  Serve with whipped cream, berries, syrup, or however you like to eat your French toast.

What to Serve With Overnight Strawberry French Toast Bake

In our house, we love to eat this with a dollop of freshly whipped cream, fresh fruit, and whatever kind of syrup we have on hand.  Sometimes that’s plain maple syrup, but making your own syrup is so simple that we often have homemade syrups around the kitchen, too!

Some of our favorite homemade syrups include:

• Homemade Buttermilk Syrup 
• Lemon Syrup
• Mixed Berry Syrup
• Coconut Syrup

Ingredients for Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake

• French Bread - use day-old French bread from any local bakery or grocery store, Brioche bread works great too. You can even make your own!  
• Eggs -  any kind of large whole eggs will work.
• Milk - we prefer whole milk, but you can substitute 2% if you’d like.
• Maple Syrup - you can use all maple syrup, or else substitute a touch of honey for some of the maple syrup.
• Vanilla Extract - pure vanilla extract tastes best.
• Strawberries - we like using fresh because the colors end up bleeding less, but in a pinch frozen will work.
• Cream Cheese - use either lite or full-fat cream cheese, cut into ½” pieces.
• Butter - this will taste best with salted butter.  You can use either room temperature butter or else cut cold butter into small cubes.
• Brown Sugar - we use light brown sugar but you can use dark brown sugar if you want a little more molasses flavor.
• Flour - we use all-purpose flour for this recipe.
• Cinnamon - any kind of ground cinnamon will work.  You can also omit this if you prefer.

How to Make Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake

The Day Before Serving

1. Add bread.  Spray a 9" by 13" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, then place your cut or torn pieces of French bread evenly in the bottom of your baking dish.  The bread should be about even with the top of the baking dish.
2. Make egg mixture.  In a large bowl, add the eggs and whisk to break them up.  Then, add the milk, maple syrup, and vanilla and whisk again until all the ingredients are well-combined.  Pour your egg mixture over the bread, covering as much of it as possible.  Add the fresh strawberries and use a fork to gently stir your bread and egg mixture together.  Cut or scoop ½" pieces of cream cheese and place evenly over the top.
3. Refrigerate overnight.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least four hours, or overnight, to allow time for the bread to soak up all of the liquid.

How to Bake

1. Make streusel.  In a medium-size mixing bowl, add the butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon.  Stir or mix with a fork until the streusel has ¼" pieces.  You can also use a standing mixer with the paddle attachment on low speed, making sure to stop the mixer once you have ¼" pieces.  (Note: Either use immediately, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight, or until you are ready to bake.)
2. Let come to room temperature.  When you're ready to bake, pull your baking dish from the fridge and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Allow the baking dish to come to room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
3. Add streusel and bake.  Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the bread and egg mixture and put it into your preheated oven.  Bake uncovered for 45-50 minutes, or until the top and edges are light golden brown. 
4. Serve.  Remove from the oven and let cool slightly, then cut into 12 portions.  Serve with whipped cream, chopped pecans, berries or your favorite syrup.  Enjoy!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Make French Toast Casserole the Same Day?

Definitely! The only change would be to soak the bread in the egg mixture for at least 20 minutes before baking. Fold the mixture once or twice so as much of the custard can soak into the bread as possible.

How do you keep Strawberry French Toast bake from getting soggy?

The two main reasons that you would end up with a soggy French toast bake would be if you either used the wrong kind of bread (i.e. soft and fluffy sliced white bread) or didn’t soak the bread long enough. Otherwise, as long as you follow this recipe your French toast bake shouldn’t be soggy!

What’s the best kind of bread to use for Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake?

The best bread to use is a dense bread, such as French bread, challah, brioche or even cinnamon rolls!  Ideally, the bread should be at least a day old and on the dry side. If it’s too fresh, there is still much moisture in the bread still which doesn’t allow for as much of the egg mixture to soak in (therefore giving you that soggy French toast that no one wants).

If you don’t have day-old bread, you can cut the bread into 1” pieces and place on a sheet tray in a single layer and dry it out in a 250 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on it so that you don’t accidentally burn it.

Here are more of our favorite breakfast casserole recipes!

• Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
• Blueberry French Toast Bake
• Sausage Egg Biscuit Casserole
• Pumpkin Stuffed French Toast
• Sweet Potato Breakfast Casserole

If you’ve tried this recipe, please rate it and leave a comment on this post. I love hearing feedback from you helps me and other readers too! If you love Pinterest,  feel free to leave a comment and photo there too.  Also, if you like to share, use the hashtag #thecarefreekitchen on Instagram and tag me @thecarefreekitchen so I can find you and give your post some love. You can also find me on Facebook at The Carefree Kitchen. Thank you!!

This Strawberries and Cream French Toast Bake is so pretty, so impressive and so delicious that no one would ever believe it only takes about 20 minutes of prep.  It's made with French bread, creamy egg custard, and topped with brown sugar streusel, fresh strawberries, and melty cream cheese.

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