Hello frugal friends! Today I am excited to share another yummy recipe from Sarah. She shared a wonderful marble cupcake recipe last year and was gracious enough to provide a delicious chocolate loaf cake recipe with us today.
If you’re not familiar with Sarah’s work be sure to head on over to a Spoonful of Vanilla and check out her recipe site. It’s a baker’s dream! You can also follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE COURTESY OF A SPOONFUL OF VANILLA
Hello, chocolate heaven! This Chocolate Loaf Cake is a chocolate lover’s dream I mean just look at it! It has a deliciously moist chocolate sponge and is decorated with chocolate buttercream. I honestly don’t think you could get more chocolate in the one cake.
I have been absolutely loving loaf cakes recently; I mean they are just super easy and simple to bake. They do have a slightly longer bake time than a traditional round cake but trust me it is worth it. So when Cassie replied to a tweet to let me know she would love a chocolate recipe as a guest post I knew I had to make this.
BEFORE I START BAKING:
So before you start baking you will need to pre heat your oven. This is such an important step it is the first thing I do when I am about to bake. By the time my loaf cake batter is ready, the oven is the correct temperature. Pre-heating the oven will also ensure that your cake bakes evenly and in the stated time. If your oven temperature is too low then the cake won’t bake properly and will take longer, if you bake it too high the cake might burn on the outside but not be cooked on the inside.
Line your loaf tin with baking parchment. I used a 2lb loaf tin for this recipe. Everyone has their own way to lining the tin but I find it easiest to thinly coat the tin with butter and then pop the parchment paper on top. Once you have lined your tin leave it to one side.
CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE
To make the cake, first start by creaming together the butter and sugar. In this recipe I used light brown sugar because it gives the cake such a lovely fudgy, caramelly taste. If you can’t find light brown sugar or just don’t want to use it then that is perfectly okay, just replace it with caster sugar.
Once your butter and sugar is light and fluffy add in the remaining ingredients and mix again. It shouldn’t take too long for the ingredients to come together. If you are using a stand mixer I wouldn’t advise putting the mixer on and then walking away and leaving it. You don’t want to overbeat the mixture; it only needs to be mixing for around a minute or two until it is smooth and combined.
Pour the mixture into your loaf tin and bake in the oven.
HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THE CAKE HAS BAKED?
It can be quite difficult to tell when a chocolate cake has finished baking because it is dark in colour so you can’t really look for it turning golden brown. To check if the cake is ready you can gently touch it with your finger if it springs back then it is ready. You can also use a cake tester to test the thickest part of the cake. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready. If there is still cake batter on the end pop it back into the oven for 3-4 minutes and then check again. Repeat until the cake tester comes out clean.
Leave the cake to cool fully in the cake tin.
CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
Once your cake has cooled you can now make the buttercream, in a large bowl add the icing sugar, butter and vanilla and mix until it is combined.
If you find the buttercream is too thick add 1tsp of whole milk and mix again. Repeat until the buttercream is the desired consistency.
Pop your buttercream into a piping bag. I used a Wilton 2D Piping Nozzle but you can use your favourite piping tip.
I decided to pipe the buttercream on horizontally but again you can pipe any pattern on top of the cake.
Finish the cake off with some sprinkles.
ALTERNATIVES
If you would prefer you can make this cake vanilla instead of chocolate, just replace the cocoa powder with self-raising flour for the cake. Replace the cocoa powder with icing sugar for the buttercream.
If you don’t want to use cocoa powder in the buttercream you can melt 100g of chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave in 20 second bursts until it is completely smooth and add this into the buttercream. Mix the chocolate, 300g of icing sugar and butter together and add the milk if needed.
If you want to be even more extra why not add a melted chocolate drizzle to the cake. All you need to do is melt 100g of milk or dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave on 20-second bursts until it is completely smooth. Add it into a piping bag with either a small round nozzle or if it is a disposable piping bag you can snip the end off. Drizzle it over the top of the cake.
EQUIPMENT
- 2lb Loaf Tin
- Spatula
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring Spoons
- Scales
- Piping Tip
- Piping Bag
- Cake Tester
SHOPPING LIST
FOR THE CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE
- 200g Light Brown Sugar
- 200g Unsalted Butter or Stork
- 175g Self-Raising Flour
- 25g Cocoa Powder
- 4 Large Eggs
- 1tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1tsp Baking Powder
- 50ml Whole Milk
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- 275g Icing Sugar
- 25g Cocoa Powder
- 150g Unsalted Butter
- 3-4tsp Whole Milk
FOR THE DECORATION
- Sprinkles
METHOD
TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE
1. Preheat the oven to 180C (160CFan) and line a loaf tin with baking parchment. Leave to one side.
2. In a bowl mix together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder and milk and mix again until combined.
3. Fill the tin with the chocolate cake mixture.
4. Bake in the oven for 45-50minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
5. Leave to cool fully in the tin.
TO MAKE THE BUTTERCREAM
1. While the cake is cooling make the buttercream.
2. In a bowl mix together the, icing sugar, cocoa powder and butter until it is combined.
3. If the buttercream is too thick add 1tsp of milk at a time and mix in between each addition until it reaches the desired consistency.
4. Put your buttercream into a piping bag.
TO DECORATE
1. Remove your loaf cake from the tin and place it on your serving plate. Pipe the buttercream on the top of the cake.
2. Decorate with sprinkles.
This looks like a lot of fun! I love that it’s so easy to make and who doesn’t love chocolate (besides our pets). Right? We’re going to have to give this one a try for dessert at some point.
Oh wow, does this look fantastic! Anything that involves chocolate is a win in my book. I think I already have all of these ingredients on hand, so next time I am looking for a sweet treat, I am going to give this a try. Can’t wait!