Sunday, November 13, 2022

Chocolate Loaf Cake for Emotional Times @LucyBurdette

 


LUCY BURDETTE: It's been a challenging time, starting with weeks of severe election anxiety. Whether or not you got exactly what you wanted, we've all been on an emotional roller coaster and I thought we deserved a cake to celebrate surviving!

This cake will be featured in A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS coming next August. The Scottish Scone Sisters are hosting the first leg of a baking contest in Key West, and one of the challenges is a loaf cake. This recipe is one of the entries.

This is a great cake if you don’t have the motivation to make a layer cake (I didn’t!) but want to serve a nice dessert. You could frost it with chocolate icing, and the chocoholics in your company would applaud you. I like chocolate, but I also like vanilla and this checked both boxes.

I read recipes from Pastry and Beyond and King Arthur Flour and came up with this combination. It’s quite sweet enough for dessert (my hub thought ice cream was a good addition,) but it also could be a tea cake or even something eaten for breakfast. (That could be a stretch, except perhaps for our Jenn.) As suggested by the Pastry and Beyond blog, it is not necessary to use a mixer. A whisk does the job perfectly well.


Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour 
  • 1 tsp espresso powder, optional
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  •  ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • ½ cup milk, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup boiling water


Ingredients for the vanilla glaze:


3/4 cup sifted confectioner's sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350.


In one bowl, place the flour, the espresso powder, the cocoa powder, baking powder, and the salt. (I sifted them together, as some of my ingredients came out of the freezer and were a little lumpy.)





In a small pan, melt the stick of butter and set this aside to cool.


In a second bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Whisk in the cooled butter, the milk, and the vanilla extract.


Whisk the two sets of ingredients together, and then add the hot water and stir that in.





Prepare an 8 x 4 loaf pan by greasing, and then fitting a piece of parchment paper inside so a couple inches stick up above the longer edges. This sling will make it easy to remove the cake.





Add the chocolate batter to the pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, checking with a toothpick or wooden skewer to be sure it’s done but not dry. Let the cake cool on a rack for half an hour, and then remove it to a pretty plate.








In a small bowl, mix the sifted confectioners sugar with a tablespoon or two of milk and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Once the cake is completely cooled, paint on the glaze. Serve exactly as it is, or with ice cream.






Since this is not a messy cake, it's perfectly fine to eat while reading...and haven't we gotten some wonderful new additions to our TBR pile right here on JRW this week?? 

Have you made anything great to treat yourself recently?

Breaking news: Gillian B is the lucky winner of Matthew Quick's We Are the Light!

54 comments:

  1. No treats lately, Lucy, but this delicious-looking cake will certainly be one . . . definitely on the must-make list. Thanks for sharing the recipe . . . .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh Lucy, this chocolate loaf cake sounds like a perfect treat. I think I would like the vanilla glaze, but I might double the recipe so I can get lots on it. I haven't really made any dessert treats lately, and this one would so hit the spot. I know I've got Thanksgiving coming up, and I'll fix a chocolate cherry cake and maybe a pecan pie. I'll let my daughter fix the pumpkin. She's so great at substituting much of the sugar in the pie. I will try to fix your chocolate loaf cake next week. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am currently reading Murder With Ganache!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This cake sounds delicious. Can you make it with whole wheat flour? I’m currently reading City of Flickering Light by Juliette Fay. Wonderful story with great texture, capturing early Hollywood transition from Vaudeville to the “Flickers”.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure you could use WW, I might be tempted to try half and half so it isn't too heavy.

      Delete
  5. LUCY: Yum, I love eating anything with chocolate, so this loaf cake looks delicious.

    I just got back from a foodie getaway in Montreal. It was Restaurant Week there and I enjoyed several prix-fixe dinners and other meals. Duck confit, escargots in puff pastry, salmon with risotto, poutine with Portugese grilled chicken & chorizo etc.

    I was frankly in an uninspired food rut at home. But I brought back lots of Quebecois cheese, pates, artisan chocolates, Montreal bagels to enjoy in the weeks to come.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your weekend sounds marvelous Grace! I know those food ruts Grace--they come along and all we can do is ride them out...

      Delete
    2. Grace, I’m glad you enjoyed your foodie getaway in Montreal.
      I live one hour from there but never did this.
      Danielle

      Delete
  6. Yummy! I made a rich sour cream apple coffee cake last week and it was well-received by guests and partner alike. (Recipe here if anyone wants it: https://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/2022/11/apple-coffee-cake-maddiedayauthor.html)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I share your feelings of post-election relief, Lucy, and thanks for the simple and delicious-sounding cake recipe! I recently made an applesauce cake with raisins and walnuts, and my husband was so sad that it wasn't chocolate. This loaf cake will cheer both of us up

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oooh, an easy, pantry-shelf chocolate treat, good for any meal including an insane breakfast? Thank you! This one gets saved and tried soon. I recently made an actual diet fruit cobbler that was delicious- apple/cranberry. (It's the season) I'm the only cobbler lover so I cut the recipe in half and use individual size casserole dishes to make 4-5. Tasty and even sort of healthy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Diet fruit cobbler, hmmm...what did you leave out?

      Delete
    2. It's a Weight Watcher recipe and pretty satisfying for a "light" dessert/snack. Lots of fruit, less sugar than usual and controlled amount of topping. "Reduced calorie" is more accurate than actual "diet." :-)

      Delete
  9. In the past, I've made "Road Oil Cake" which is a chocolate, one-layer, 9 x 13 cake dusted with powdered sugar. This recipe is similar to it and, I'm sure, equally delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This cake looks very good Lucy. Unfortunately, I’m intolerant to chocolate. Maybe I could try a vanilla one or a coffee one.

    My treat this week was to participate in a collective cooking. I don’t know if you do that in the States.
    Some persons meet to cook and than, they share what they cooked.
    This week we had a Spanish theme meal to prepare: a Spanish style kale soup, a chicken a l’Andalouse and a tarta de Santiago (Spanish almonds and citrus cake). All was delicious.
    Danielle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DANIELLE: That Spanish-themed meal made with a group sounds wonderful.

      Delete
    2. It sounds amazing! I wish all the reds could get together and cook and eat!

      Delete
  11. Thank you for the recipe, Roberta. I love having simple ones to go to when it gets too busy for the complicated ones (like your strawberry cakes). I am saving this one for just such a time. Yum.

    I have a couple old bananas hanging around here waiting for me to be inspired. I have told you all that I bake our breakfast breads and yesterday I chose to make one with dried cherries and cardamom. It's really nice.

    Later today I'll bake cookies because we need small desserts. I usually limit myself to one. Neither of us gets enough exercise to eat large desserts every evening.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love having cookies in the freezer--I too, try to limit myself to one.

      Delete
    2. Try is the word. I’m unable to limit myself to one homemade cooky.
      Danielle

      Delete
  12. lucy, this looks so good! I'll try it soon. But tell me about the Golden Sugar. last week, according to me supermarket flyer it was on special but I never saw it in the store and didn't know what it was. It seems like I had heard of something like it in UK recipes; would that be the same thing? Obviously I don't watch any cooking/baking shows or I would probably know all about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It must have been on sale, Judi, as I didn't try to find it on purpose. I didn't notice a difference after using it.

      Delete
  13. By coincidence to this chocolate theme, yesterday was our 45th wedding anniversary (we married after knowing each other for 21 days) and since the ‘surprise party’ was turning out to be a flop as everyone from away seemed to either have covid or some other miserable respiratory illness, it meant daughter Laura was not coming and therefore not making the dessert, so I got to pick out of my file ‘for the next party’. (what a long-winded sentence…) It was either chocolate or raspberry and chocolate won out.
    The cake was a lot of work but delicious! It was shuffled to the ‘good’ recipes file. The seven of us ate half of the cake and will save the 2nd half for Uncle Ralph’s birthday tomorrow. Had he not been dead, he could have celebrated 102 years – too bad for him, as he will miss a good cake!
    https://letthebakingbegin.com/marinas-birds-milk-cake/
    For anyone who needs a vegetarian chocolate cake that is super delicious, I have one. It is also lactose free. (weird people our relatives)
    (Bedtime is currently Death with All the Trimmings – love your characters.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Margo, happy anniversary! You knew each other for 21 days and have been married 45 years? that's amazing! Uncle Ralph will surely be glad you are eating a cake in his honor!

      Delete
    2. Happy anniversary, Margo! My mother and her second husband, the love of her life, stayed married until his death, just shy of their 20th anniversary. They had also only known one another a month.

      Delete
    3. Happy 45th Anniversary, Margo!! Congratulations to you and your sweetie. That's quite an accomplishment under any circumstances, but with only a three week acquaintance it's even more impressive. My parents met during WWII, Dad was AWOL (not for the first or last time), Mom had just broken an engagement, and they married three weeks later, too. By the time Dad died in 1985, they'd been married just short of 43 years. As with any marriage, there were ups and downs, but they loved each other deeply and gave my brother and me a terrific example to follow. ~Lynda

      Delete
  14. I used to bake almost every weekend, when I was living a different sort of life. This sounds like a simple one for me to bake to get myself back in the kitchen. I wonder if it would survive an Amtrak Thanksgiving trip?! And by that I mean it could be difficult for me to carry-I’m planning to pack a lot more lightly than usual OR I could find myself nibbling on it before I get to my sister’s house! Um, maybe I can make it at her house…

    DebRo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or else Deb, freeze it ahead and make the glaze at your sister's house. It's very hard to nibble on a frozen cake!

      Delete
  15. Lovely cake, Lucy! Simple is often the best, as far as I'm concerned. I made an apple-raspberry crisp last week--good for dessert and for breakfast! It made a great evening treat before reading in bed--just starting NEVER NAME THE DEAD by D.M. Rowell--a new to me author.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Lucy, your cake looks scrumptious yummy. Recently discovered that chocolate does not like me anymore.

    Tried a new recipe for chicken apple sausage quiche. It reminded me that I prefer to fry the sausages. Baked yummy vegan lasagna which was dairy free and gluten free. The cheese was from nut milk ( non dairy) and the lasagna noodles were gluten free. Today I’m going to attempt pancakes made from leftover yams.

    Like Jenn, I’ve eaten cake for breakfast. Sometimes I have banana bread. Still can have cinnamon and nutmeg 🥰

    Happy Sunday,
    Diana

    ReplyDelete
  17. This cake sounds delicious, Roberta! I would most definitely eat it with coffee at breakfast, since I rarely eat sweets at night. And I suspect it would work just as well with a gluten-free flour like almond meal or banana or coconut flour. We will have a gluten-intolerant guest for Thanksgiving, and I know she loves chocolate.

    We just had our most epic Halloween party two weeks ago, and I made three things for it that I'd never made before. They all turned out well, too: striped bowtie salmon pasta with brown butter sage sauce (to die for!), purple rice with dried cherries and chopped kale in a cider dressing, and black sesame seed brittle. The brittle is downright addictive, and it's made with only four ingredients: Black sesame seeds, sugar, water, and a pinch of salt. Plus, it looks very dramatic on a dessert tray. There were no leftovers!

    ReplyDelete
  18. This looks amazing!!!! I know what I’m doing today. Thanks, Lucy! Can’t wait for the book to be out! Such a great series.

    ReplyDelete
  19. This looks delicious, something even a limited baker such as me could pull off. Wondering if you could make it with mocha buttercream? And for me, personally, today began with one huge exhale and an audible PHEW. Who knows if it will last.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a lovely idea, Lucy. I'm enjoying this cake vicariously, because chocolate and I broke up one 20 years ago. It visits me in dreams occasionally, but even the aroma of it can trigger a migraine, so I don't keep any in the house, even for my husband. ~Lynda

    ReplyDelete
  21. Lucy, this looks delicious, and easy enough even for non-baker me. I keep saving all these desert recipes and so far haven't actually made single one!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Yum! And here I bought the makings for pumpkin cake today! No worries. I have all the chocolate ingredients on hand :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Looks easy and delicious! Have to try this!

    ReplyDelete