Double Chocolate Loaf Cake

By Valerie Kolligian Thayer • August 14, 2014 • Recipes

Smitten Kitchen’s Double Chocolate Banana Bread is reason alone to purchase bananas and let them age gracefully so they are at the ready to make this moist loaf of deliciousness.

I subscribe to Smitten Kitchen and have tried a handful of Deb’s delightful recipes. Conveniently when this one came over the wires, I had 3 bananas desperately waiting to be rescued from their misery and transformed into something wonderful. The resulting bread was so delicious, that perfect combination of bananas and chocolate, reminiscent of banana boats by the campfire, minus the marshmallows and the smoke. The bread was more like a cake, studded with chocolate chunks which added texture and even more chocolate flavor. Here is my version.

I thought to myself this was such an easy recipe to execute! I could make chocolate cake appear in a little over an hour at any time! You know me and my love of chocolate, but if not you can read about it here.

But wait! What if I didn’t have overripe bananas? Or, what if I was craving my beloved chocolate but didn’t want the flavor of bananas interfering with my fix?

May I introduce, unsweetened applesauce.

I experimented by substituting 1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce, drained of extra liquid, for the recipe’s 3 mashed bananas. It worked! The loaf was moist, dense and shouted, “it’s just me, chocolate here”. The applesauce lent moisture without adding flavor. It makes me happy knowing I have this quick chocolate cake in my repertoire and I look forward to continuing my experiments with the recipe – white chocolate chunks, toffee chunks, peanut butter chips – think of the possibilities people!.

I hope you make either version of this double chocolate loaf cake – you won’t be disappointed! My version with the unsweetened applesauce is below and Smitten Kitchen’s original version is here.

As always, please let me know what you think in the comments!

Double Chocolate Loaf Cake

Adapted from Double Chocolate Banana Bread from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (I use Ghiradelli's or Hersheys)
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan or spray it with a nonstick baking spray.
Place applesauce in a fine sieve set over a bowl and allow excess moisture to drip out. Discard water in bowl. Add applesauce.
Whisk in melted butter, then brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Place baking soda, salt, flour and cocoa powder in a sifter and sift over wet ingredients. Stir dry and wet ingredients with a spoon until just combined - do not overmix. Stir in chocolate chunks or chips.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for roughly 55 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out batter-free (Deb says a chocolate chip smear is expected, however).
Cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then remove the loaf to a cooling rack.

Tips from The Kitchen Scout

After most of the liquid has been drained from the applesauce, give the sieve a shake to make sure it's fully drained. Spoon the applesauce into a clean bowl. For the banana bread version on Smitten Kitchen's website, I cooked the loaf for 55 minutes.

https://www.thekitchenscout.com/recipes/double-chocolate-loaf-cake/

Dessert

Tomato, Feta & Preserved Lemon Salad

Roasted Eggplant Parmesan

About the Author

Valerie Kolligian Thayer

the kitchen scout: seeking inspiration in and out of the kitchen

Roasted Eggplant Parmesan | The Kitchen Scout August 21, 2014 at 5:08 pm
[…] Although organized and able to schedule both Tomato, Feta & Preserved Lemon Salad and Double Chocolate Loaf Cake before we left, I was not prolific enough to also write this week’s post! Thanks to a […]