Equally at home on a breakfast bar or dessert tray, loaf cakes are kind of like the chameleons of baked goods! This one has a touch of cinnamon in the batter which lends a subtle spicy undertone to the chocolate.
The swirling of the batters is an artform that frankly, I haven’t quite mastered. Oftentimes when I slice into my loaf, it looks more like a ‘checkerboard’ than a ‘swirl’. This could be because the batter is pretty dense and so ‘swirling’, while simple in theory, is difficult in execution. But at the end of the day, the cake tastes great, so I can’t really be all that upset about it (and neither can anyone who is lucky enough to get a slice!)
Word of warning: this loaf needs over an hour in the oven. That said, I should also point out that the batter comes together very quickly (in fact I’ve been known to do the whole thing in a food processor), so from start to finish it’s not such a long process. Still, consider yourself warned, this may not be the cake to start at midnight if you have an early morning.
One tempting variation – try swapping the chocolate for Nutella! Personally I can’t be trusted around that heavenly chocolate-hazelnut spread. I try not to let it in my house because I’m more likely to eat the jar clean with a spoon before I have a chance to bake anything. But if you have more self-control than I do and you have ¼ cup to spare, this loaf is quite a treat!
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 ½ cup flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate, melted (or Nutella!)
Process:
- Preheat oven to 325ºF, grease a 9×5 loaf pan
- Cream butter and sugar
- Add vanilla and eggs (one at a time), beat until smooth
- In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together and add them to the cream mixture until fully combined (batter will be thick and sticky – that’s OK)
- Remove 1/3 of batter to a small bowl, add melted chocolate and stir until evenly mixed
- Add batter to the prepared tin, alternating between plain and chocolate. Once it is all in the tin, insert a knife into the batter and draw across the pan in swirling patterns.
- Bake 1hr 15mins, or until the middle of the cake is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. You may want to cover the cake with tin-foil after 45 mins to avoid browning.
Photos by Sarah Matista | www.sarahmatista.com | Copyright 2016