Serves 12
This loaf is dense, chocolaty and moist, with undertones of pumpkin and autumnal spices laced throughout. It’s also lower in fat than most dessert loaves, with only 2 tablespoons of oil in the batter. To add to the chocolatiness, I threw in some chocolate chips, and you may like to add other yummy things, like pecans or walnuts. But I’ll take my chocolate straight up, please!
There’s a funny little method with boiling water in this recipe and you may wonder why I use it. The answer is simple: I don’t exactly know. Well, I know why I use it, but I’m not positive why it works. What you do is add boiling water alternately as you add the dry ingredients to wet. I was introduced to this method in Nigella’s monumental book “How To Be A Domestic Goddess” with her recipe for a chocolate loaf cake, and I’ve used it ever since. I’ve tried to disobey it, thinking it was frivolous and unneeded, only to be greeted by a loaf whose crumb was not as fine and rise was not as perfectly formed. And so I’ve stopped fighting it. Maybe it has to do with the baking soda, I don’t know, just use it.
I love this loaf still a little bit warm, but anyway you slice it (har har) it will be delicious and no one will guess that it’s lower in fat.
PS I have a feeling that people will ask if they can make this in muffin tins, so let me get that out of the way. You can! I haven’t tried it, but I think you’re gonna’ want to fill the cups 3/4 of the way (you might not get 12, but let me know) and bake for about 20 minutes.
PPS I also have a feeling people will ask if they can completely omit the oil. I prefer a little fat in my baked goods, but I bet that subbing it with applesauce would be just dandy.
1/4 cup applesauce
2 tablespoons coconut oil (or canola oil)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons boiling water, divided (see note)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease an 8 inch loaf pan. Also, boil some water in a tea kettle (no need to measure yet.)
Put applesauce, coconut oil and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, spices, baking soda and salt.
Measure out 1/3 cup boiling water and pour into the bowl with the chocolate mixture, mixing quickly to make a smooth chocolate sauce. Add pumpkin, sugar and vanilla and mix well.
Dump about half of the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and gently stir just to incorporate, then measure out 1 tablespoon of boiling water and stir again. Now add the rest of the flour mixture and another tablespoon of boiling water and stir just until smooth. Take care not to overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan. It will be good and thick. You can smooth the top out with a spatula.
Bake for 55 minutes to an hour. Stick a steak knife into the center of the loaf to check for doneness. A little bit of wetness is okay since it could be from a chocolate chip, but the knife should come out mostly dry.
Let cool for 10 minutes, then invert pan and place loaf on a cooling rack to cool most of the way. It’s yummy a little bit warm, or thoroughly cooled. Slice and serve!
These are amazing! I made 2 dozen muffins with a double batch, and although they stuck a bit to the paper liners, they tasted delicious. My only changes – a little more applesauce (to make up for the annoying 1.75 cups of pumpkin in a can) and added a little instant coffee (always good with dark chocolate recipes). They baked up in about 30 minutes.
My family loved this, including my nonvegans. I used sweet butternut squash. When I first read the recipe it seemed complicated but after making it, it actually seems pretty foolproof. I can imagine all kinds of variations like coffee instead of water. Very rich and moist! Loved the complexity of pumpkin spice with chocolate.
To get the oil out…I make a vegan chocolate cake that I replaced the oil with pureed black beans. It’s moist and delicious and everyone is amazed that black beans are in it. So I’m thinking that will work for this also. I’ll give it a try.
Looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it. Thanks!!
I just made these this evening and they were fantastic! I did these as muffins and got 12. Thank you so much for the recipe 😀
YUM! Thanks for the amazing recipe!! Please, oh please, publish a low-fat vegan dessert book!! Since cooking my way through APR, I am rifling through all of your other wonderful cookbooks for lower-fat desserts with 100% success, but hey, one can never have too many delicious low-fat recipes!!!
Delicious. Your baked goods recipes are always so reliable. Love knowing that ppk recipe will always turn out well. Keep ’em coming. You have been on a serious roll lately.
yum. yum. yum. i subbed fresh espresso for your hot water, and OMG. the pumpkin kind of disappeared, but left a really wonderful thick & gooey texture. my vegan BF loves me. lots.
Is there a recommended baking time if I were to make this recipe using mini-loaf pans? I can’t wait to try the “normal” sized version first; it looks delicious!
I also doubled the recipe, used 8oz of homemade jarred applesauce, a can of pumpkin, a touch more water than called for, a little less sugar and flour, and a handful extra choco chips. Baked all at 350ºF; pulled the muffins out at 25′ and the bread at 55′. PERFECT. Isa, you are brilliant.
(meant to add – split it into an 8″ loaf pan and 12 muffins. whoops! i’m on a chocolate high!!)
Made this tonight for visitors, awesome, will become a staple as so easy to make and tastes so amazing…. Cannot thank you enough for the change your recipes have made to my life!
Ahh this is so good 🙂 I just made it on a sunday morning and around afternoon half of the loaf was gone 🙂 It’s so soft and moist and chewy and crispy and definitely doesn’t taste low-fat at all! Thank you so much Isa 🙂
I just made this and WOW!
I like the edge bits best. They have that crunchy sugary goodness that make me think that this will have a test run at cookies in my kitchen.
So delicious! Thank you!!!! It didn’t last long at my house 🙂
If I just used the premade pumpkin pie spice sold in store in place of the individual spices how much would you recommend using?
We made these yesterday as muffins and they were deeelish!! Thanks Isa!!
I made this last night for a family dinner. The table was silent except for the random “this is so good” between bites. Loved by all ages, and we had 16 months – 60 years!
Could it work to sub in avocado for the applesauce (and possibly oil, too)? I made some chocolate cupcakes with avocado before from a Vegetarian TImes recipe, and they were a huge hit. So moist and amazing! I wanna make this for my family for Thanksgiving. I’m the only vegan, but they all always love the foods I make 🙂
OMG. I made these in muffin form and cant.stop.eating.them. These seriously taste like they are from a bakery. Took exactly 20 minutes as 12 muffins. These will be a regular in my house!!
I made the loaf this morning as I was hosting my church’s Mom’s Group at my house. I am the only vegan mom (with a vegan baby!) in this group and let me tell you they all DEMANDED the recipe!!! This goes very well with a cup of coffee or even a vegan pumpkin spice latte. My only complaint is that the cook time took me an hour but let me tell ya’…it was worth it!!! Thank you soooo much Isa for helping me get some serious street cred with my church group 😉
This is a delicious and easy recipe. I loved the subtle spice of it. I topped with the Cinnamon Icing from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World which was just perfect. Thank you, Isa, for the amazing recipes.
That’s a great idea for the icing!
Just mini muffin-ized these–I got 24 mini muffins with a brownie-sized amount left over 🙂 Very good.
I seriously have an addiction to this recipe…I makethis so often i know the recipe by heart. So freaking good!!!!!!
this is awesome! I made it in a bundt pan since I couldn’t find a loaf pan. I baked it for 30 min, but it probably could have used an extra 2 or 3 minutes if you don’t like you stuff underbaked like I do.
I made this Saturday and took it to my Bible study group on Sunday. It got RAVE reviews by all. Delicious!
I made this for Halloween and it was delicious! The omnivores at work loved it. Can you substitute a whole grain flour for the all-purpose flour?
could you substitute a different flour (wheat-free)? Maybe coconut, rice, or spelt flour? Thanks, Jen
Just tried this recipe with gluten-free (rice-based) flour. Twenty-seven minutes until I pull the bread out. Can’t wait to report back!!
I just made this, and it’s perfect. It’s really dense but at the same time not heavy, and it holds together perfectly. I love the chunks of chocolate in it. YUM! Just wondering one thing though, when you add the apple sauce and pumpkin to the cocoa mix, the water that was once hot in turns cold. I guess the warm water mystery remains a mystery.
not a baker, scared of baking. BUT, i tried this and it came out amazing. so thank you!!!
Whoa! SUPERB!
For Jennifer asking about spelt, i can tell you that I made a double batch with whole grain spelt flour (one was a loaf and the other 4 mini loaves) and it was delightful! The loaves were done in about 30 minutes the loaf in about 65 minutes. I think mine took longer since I used homemade pumpkin puree, which I think is a bit runnier than canned – knowing this I reduced the boiled water to 1/4 but they still took longer to bake. We cut up our Halloween pumpkin and going pumpkin crazy around here. I like to add a bit of xantham gum with my spelt goods so they are moist longer but it would sub well without it too. Also, since I have little kids we go low on the cocoa, so used half cocoa/half carob powder and subbed carob chips. I love love the lower fat baked goods! I have two of your cookbooks and would so buy a low fat dessert books with loaves like these. Thanks
Hi Isa I have a question. Is the applesauce unsweetened or sweetened in this recipe? Thanks.
I used unsweetened, but it’s such a small amount, I bet it doesn’t really matter.
Today is the second time I try this recipe. The first time was a total success! amazing!! today I tried it gluten free with almond flour instead of wheat and a puree from dates + agave for sugar free….plus I added almond chuncks… It’s in the oven right now…we’ll see
I have had to make this twice, the second time I made two loaves. My hubby and my three kiddos – 10, 9 and 6 – beg for the chocolate bread!!!!!! I love this! You are amazing!!!!!! I haven’t gone wrong with a single recipe of yours yet! You could be my hero! 😉
I made these in muffin form (twice already!) and they are the most delicious thing I have eaten in a long time. I used half white AP flour and half whole wheat pastry flour. I used only a tad more than 3/4 cup of sugar (turbinado sugar) instead of a whole cup, and increased the apple sauce by a little bit. I upped the spices a bit, too. I added 1/2 cup of chopped pecans and walnuts. I LOVE these muffins and want to eat them all day, every day. They are so good!
I have this in the oven right now, and even though I have three (count ’em, THREE) pumpkin scented candles burning throughout the apartment, the smell of this loaf is wafting through the apartment and making my roommates pop their heads out of their bedroom and go, “OMGwhatareyoumaking?!” Your recipes are always a hit in this place, Isa, and my roommates basically subsist on red meat, fried potatoes, cheese, and orange juice. You (via me) might be the best thing that ever happened to these people.
The loaf was delicious! I didn’t have applesauce so I just used some of my son’s homemade baby food 🙂 (pureed McIntosh apple), and I was all out of ground cloves so I just left that spice out, but I still think it turned out great! THANKS!
Rose Levy Beranbaum uses the same method of adding boiling water to cocoa powder in her book, The Cake Bible. It brings out the aroma of the chocolate and really makes a difference in the finished cake. One difference in her recipe is that she covers the dish of boiling water and cocoa powder with saran wrap because otherwise you lose a few grams of water (you may not think it’s a big deal, but it’s the difference between a dry cake and a deliciously moist one).
Anyway, I’ve got some buttercup squash cooked in the fridge and I can’t wait to try this recipe!
I made this loaf over the weekend and it was gone in 2 days. It was delicious, my family LOVED it!!! Thank you.
I propose this is renamed the OMG Loaf. Because that’s the expression/phrase that everyone that’s tried it so far has made. Can’t believe how little fat is in here – it’s SO dense and delicious! Vegans, vegetarians and omnis alike have all swooned over it! Such a great recipe!
Wow! This was so tasty! Thanks so much for sharing! My housemates were shocked it was vegan. I’ll definitely be making this again 🙂
I made this with 2/3 cup sugar, subbed in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and yielded 24 mini muffins (15 minutes), and poured the rest into a loaf pan (28 minutes), then cut that into bite-sized portions. My husband, who’s not a big fan of chocolate baked goods and loathes pumpkin anything devoured four minis before I could test them. Raves raves raves from him to me, which I must pass to you, Isa. Keep on rockin’ in the eats world!
Thanks! I made this recipe a week ago but the cake did not rise at all. So this time I added a half teaspoon of baking powder and it just doubled in size! Did you forget it in the recipe or is it voluntary? If it’s voluntary, how do you get this crumbly texture? My first try just looked like it did not rise at all in comparison to your pic!
Nope, the recipe is correct! I don’t know why yours didn’t rise, perhaps your baking soda is expired?
These were unbelievably good. I made mine as muffins. Pretty sure I ruined any low fat qualities they may ave had when I ate half the pan straight from the oven. This is my second time combining pumpkin and chocolate, and I think I may love it even more than chocolate and peanut butter O.o