There’s a lot to be said about a humble chocolate loaf cake, the very sight of which is often chocolate. This one takes shape in the familiar comfort of a loaf cake, just the very sight of which is restorative enough to put the world to rights, even at such grim times! Upping the ante even further, is this dark chocolate loaf cake – intensely-rich yet marvellously-moist. We won’t judge if you sneak in an extra slice (or two) when no one’s looking!
The Ultimate Dark Chocolate Loaf Cake
The only chocolate loaf cake recipe you'll ever need! Decadently-dark yet hopelessly moist, a slice of this intensely-rich cake is the perfect pick-me-up when you need one.
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 eggs, whisked
- 100 gm dark chocolate, melted
- ½ cup hot espresso (or hot coffee) + ½ cup boiling water
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C; line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with baking parchment, greasing well.
- Sift the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl, whisk well to combine and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a separate bowl until light and fluffy (preferably using an electric hand-held mixer); next, beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Fold in the melted chocolate (make sure it’s slightly cool) until combined well. But don’t over-mix!
- Fold in the dry ingredients (the mixture of flour, cocoa powder and baking soda) into the liquid mixture in batches, alternating with the hot coffee & boiling water.
- Your final batter will be smooth and relatively runny. Pour it into the pan and bake for 30 minutes, after which time turn the oven down to 160°C and bake for another 12 minutes or so until a toothpick/ knife plunged in the centre comes out mostly clean but with some moist crumbs attached.
- As tempting as it is to tuck in straight away, leave the loaf pan to completely cool down on a wire rack before slicing the cake.
Notes
- This cake is rather perfect on it’s own , but if you’d like to frost it – might we recommend a chocolate fudge frosting to dial up the decadence even more! Just be sure to wait until the cake is at room temperature before you get started. Get the recipe for the frosting, here.
- This recipe is inspired by and (significantly) adapted from Nigella Lawson’s Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake.
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We’d love to hear from you! Do let us know if you try this recipe – you can leave a comment below and/ or tag us in your delicious creations on Instagram @the_foodiediaries.
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Hey.. the loaf looks very tempting🙂.. will give it a try.
Can u help me with how u make the 1/2 cup espresso.
Hi! I usually make it with my nespresso machine. If you don’t have an automated coffee maker, even just brewing half a cup of coffee will be fine!
Hi can you tell how much is one cup in grams
Around 200 g
Hi. Is the cup size 240 ml? Also for half cup coffee..is 1 tsp of instant coffee powder in half cup of hot water ok?
Tried the recipe and absolutely loved it the result, true to it’s name. Highly recommended.
thanks so much for the wonderful feedback!
Hi …. can u plz suggest me the substitute of egg
Decadent. Glad I picked this recipe !
Glad to hear you liked it!
Hi..can we use twi flaxeggs in place of eggs in this recipe for eggless version,?!
Hii I tried the recipe today. I substituted the eggs for 1/2 cup yogurt. For some reason the cake turned out to be oily. What can do to prevent this the next time?
Hey, I wouldn’t recommend this recipe without eggs. The eggs are what gives it its unique richness. There are lots of other eggless chocolate cake recipes on the site though – do search under “eggless” in the recipe index!
Thanks a lot 😀
Hey..
When you say half a cup of coffee… it has 1 or 1.5 tsp instant coffee powder?
Depends entirely on you! I.5 tsp should be fine
We discovered another family favourite from the foodie diaries collection. Easy and quick to make. And the cake turns out super moist!!
Wow, humbling – thank you!
You get an amazing outcome from this recipe and its super easy to follow. Divine and heavenly🙌
So great to hear, thanks for leaving your feedback!
How to brew the 1/2 cup espresso or coffee could you elaborate please I’m a little confused
I usually use half a cup of Nespresso for this recipe! However you can also just add a tsp of coffee powder / espresso powder to half a cup of water if you don’t have a Nespresso machine.
I tried recipe and it turned amazing love it’s decadently chocolate taste perfect moisture must try recipe
Simply can’t have just one slice
Thanks a ton Ayushi for recipe loads of love
I tried recipe and it turned amazing love it’s decadently chocolate taste perfect moisture must try recipe
Heavenly cake
Simply can’t have just one slice
Thanks a ton Ayushi for recipe loads of love
Could you give the ingredients in gm please.
Just tried it simple recipe turned out fab
Perfect 👍 thanks
Delighted to hear this! Thank you!