Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake

I think this cake is by far the most chocolatey cake ever invented. It’s got a fudgy interior filled with cocoa powder and chocolate chips, plus more chocolate chips and homemade chocolate syrup drizzled on top. And after the past busy, busy, busy month of my life, every bit of that chocolate is necessary.

Let me make it clear that the past month was not a bad month at all, just an incredibly busy one. This past July was spent doing an interview, a capstone presentation, and a super hard final class—all in Spanish and all with the amazingly lovely reward of finishing my Bachelor’s degree! Definitely worth it but definitely time-consuming.

I think my favorite thing about the cake—beyond the aforementioned choco-pocalypse (a word that clearly betrays that I’m writing this at 3 a.m.)—is the wording of the recipe itself. Although I’ve made some liberal adaptations to this recipe (namely, moar chocolate!), it originally comes from Nigella Lawson, who, incidentally has the cooking show of my dreams—it’s the lighting, you guys, I can’t imagine how to replicate it. Anyway, horribly-punctuated gushing aside, what I’m trying to say is that her wording of the recipe is like super flowery, poetic code. For instance, she informs readers,

“When it’s ready, the loaf will be risen and split down the middle and a cake-tester, or a fine skewer, should come out clean. But this is a moist cake, so don’t be alarmed at a bit of stickiness in evidence; rather, greet it like a friend.”

Truly, making this cake was such an enjoyable/baffling project. In fact, that’s probably how you could describe the entire month of July as well. It was full of awesome highs like graduation and looking forward to starting graduate school later in August, as well as…interesting…challenges like public speaking in a foreign language with a department Q&A period to follow.

Oh my gosh chocolate was so necessary this month.

See ya next time!

Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake

Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson via Broma Bakery

Printable Recipe

 

Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (or about 1 3.5-ounce bar of dark chocolate, chopped, which is what I used)

 

Syrup

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 3.5-ounce bar dark chocolate, chopped, divided

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with nonstick aluminum foil or greased regular aluminum foil, making sure all sides are covered.

Put the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream in a food processor and process until very smooth. Scrape down the sides, replace the lid, and pour the boiling water through the tube at the top while the processor is running. Turn off the processor, remove the lid, and carefully fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and place in the oven. Bake for about 1 hour, until a cake tester, skewer, toothpick, or what-have-you comes out clean.

About 10 minutes before the cake is done baking, start making the chocolate syrup. In a small saucepan, whisk together the cocoa powder, water, sugar, and half of the chopped chocolate bar. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes, until it has reduced to a syrupy texture. Be extra careful, as this is kind of a caramel situation, meaning the liquid will get very dangerous and very hot. Set aside.

Take the cake out of the oven. While it’s still in the pan, pierce the surface all over with a cake tester or skewer. Pour the syrup in an even layer over the cake. Sprinkle the cake with the remaining chopped chocolate bar, so the chips get semi-melted.

Serve once slightly cooled or fully chill and then serve (I tend to prefer the latter).