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!
This is a delicious loaf.. I’ve made it twice already and posted your link on my blog so others can find this awesome recipe. I’m gonna to try mini loaves next time for gifts for the holidays. Last time I made it I added 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.. Yummy!
We didn’t have applesauce, so I mashed up a very ripe banana and it came out great. Also, instead of choc chips I crushed up a half cup of Newman’s espresso dark choc bar – fabulous. Thanks for yet another great one.
I was wondering if the ground spices could be replaced by a pumpkin pie spice blend (such as the one by McCormick’s), and if so how much would I have to use? Thank you!!!
Do you think it would be possible to make this a marbled bread like the marbled banana bread recipe on this site? Divide the batter in half and add the 1/3 c water + 1/3 c cocoa to one part? I’m trying to make something that looks a little fancy, but unfortunately I don’t have any bananas on hand.
Love it! I left out half the sugar and attempt at homemade apple sauce went wrong but still tasted delicious. I took some in to work intending to have a cake supply to hand for a couple of days but ended up having to reluctantly hand it out to co-workers who were surprised to discover that they really liked this odd looking (mine didn’t exactly look like the photo!) vegan cake. Had a few requests for recipe so big success. Isa, you are such an inspiration and do an amazing job at making veganism fun, inclusive and doable. Do you still have plans to come to the UK to do some demos?
Would it be possible to make this in a bundt pan or even as a layer cake? And would you have a suggestion for frosting? I am looking for a recipe to make for my son’s birthday. I made the pumpkin choc. chip cupcakes with cinnamon frosting for his party last week. They were delicious, and I am looking for something a little different for his actual birthday. Is it possible to use the apple cider cupcake recipe for a layer cake? Thanks!
So I’m a vegan newbie and this is the recipe I chose as my first venture into vegan baking. Oh I LOVE it! I’m pretty sure this will last…. maybe 12 hours. I have quite a few guinea pigs for my crafty-type endeavors.
Isa – this is easily the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten 🙂 The only change I made was to use 1/2 cup of maple sugar instead of the cup of sugar. WOW, you’re good! I’m using this as my hook to reel non-vegans in…
I’m totally bringing this to Thanksgiving!
this was out-of-control delicious! Holy mackerel. Thanks!!
i (literally) just baked this, and it turned out wonderfully!
i decreased the sugar to 3/4 cup, used WW flour and subbed half the chocolate chips for chopped pecans. it’s glorious!
Has anyone tried this with gluten free flour? What was the result?
Question from a Brit.
I normally faff on and convert all the measurements to grams but have been out and bought myself a set of measuring cups.
Now this may sound silly but I should just expect them to be universal???? The idea of using a up to measure everything sounds too easy! Ha!
*cup
I’ve made this a couple times now, and it’s a fantastic recipe. Some people who tried didn’t even realize there was pumpkin in eat which I thought was odd. Just soooo much chocolately goodness in one loaf. It goes perfectly with coffee and tea for a quick breafast.
Insert a steak knife, huh? Well, since I’ve been vegan for 29 years, they are hard to find around my kitchen.
: )
A shish ka bob skewer works well.
Question for you – with a few of your chocolate recipes I find up close the cake has a bit of an odd smell – do you know what I mean? I thought it was the soya milk/vinegar combo but this recipe didnt have that and it still has a bit of a weird smell…do you ever get this? Do you think it could be the ground nut oil (I’m from the UK, I think this is your canola oil)?? I’m just being picky because as I’m writing this I’m scoffing a giant piece of this cake but it’s a comment I get from my family/friends and has made me notice it more…let me know your thoughts..
Sorry, no idea! I have never heard anyone else say it. I would check that your oil isn’t rancid and make sure that the oil you use is very mild tasting.
Hello o’ awesome one! I made this loaf (twice) two nights ago and thought it was missing something… then when I made your Best Pumpkin Muffins today (for tomorrow), I realized that this recipe doesn’t have Allspice. So, making this again tonight, I added in an 1/8 tsp of Allspice, not knowing if I should up it to the 1/4 called for in the other recipe. Would love to hear your thoughts! Be well & Happy Holidays! Thanks again for sharing such awesome recipes as they are all the rave EVERY TIME! 😀 <3
Sounds great! Those are my thoughts. 🙂
Thanks for answering Isa- you promted me to google canola oil and it is not the same thing as ground nut oil at all – I don’t know where I got that from! Canola oil is not easily available in the UK – what other oil do you think would work? Thanks again – I wish I could leave work right now and try all your recipes again with the correct oil!
hey Sara – canola oil is rapeseed oil, just don’t use the coldpressed one while baking as that will smell gross! The cheaper versions should be fine. I live in Ireland and that’s what I’ve used.
I was disappointed in the results of this recipe. I followed it with the exception of using spelt flour in place of AP flour and used canola oil. I thought the flavor was muddled, neither chocolate nor pumpkin nor spicy. I think I would prefer straight pumpkin bread with raisins.
Thanks
I just made this for Thanksgiving! I had to make some adjustments because I live in Boulder, CO and the elevation makes baking difficult. It turned out absolutely perfect and everyone love it! Thanks!
I made this deelish cake two nights ago. Of course I was totally unprepared so I had to make do with substitutions. First, I didn’t have regular flour so I used whole wheat. And because that has such a strong taste, I increased the spices and chocolate just a tad. And then I forgot to add the oil, but luckily some extra pumpkin fell out of the can and into the batter which must have done the trick because the bread turned out lovely and my family scarfed it down. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
I didn’t have applesauce so I used pumpkin purée in place that. Also reduced the sugar to about 3/4 cup and substituted 2tbsp of flour with cornstarch (just something I always do with dense cakes. Seems to make it more moist.). Turned out great! I never thought that a vegan cake could taste so good. Thanks for the recipe!
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Thank you for such a great recipe…you are a baking GENIUS! I made this with the cinnamon frosting from vctotw as well, and my husband and guests were blown away. Everyone MUST try this! 🙂
Yummy! I used leftover baked sweet potato instead of the pumpkin, and mashed banana instead of apple sauce, and guess what — it still turned out great 🙂 Also forgot the cloves, I think it would’ve been better with them though.
Tripled this recipe and made two giganto loaves. Brought one to the fam, brought the other to work. They were DEVOURED. Thank you for helping us get the word out that vegan food can bring all the decadence and comfort of animal-laden baked goods.
That being said…I did goof up and put in white pepper instead of ground ginger (which no one noticed and actually kinda worked!).
If you put out a low fat baking recipe book I will buy three copies.
I think you are the BEST!
And I have made this cake several times already with excellent results on all kinds of variations. It is very forgiving.
I like how the pumpkin flavor comes out more as it cools. Great combo of flavors!
Made this yesterday as a follow-up to Black beans in red velvet mole and Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples from Appetite for Reduction. Love that book!! Everything I’ve tried so far is amazing and as a newbie to vegan cooking and eating I am so inspired. Thanks for all you do, Isa.
droooooooooooooools, my mouth is full choc just watching with the eyes this divine choco recipe, thanks for sharing!
I have some hachiya persimmons softening on my counter, and I’m thinking about subbing persimmon for the applesauce, because I don’t have any applesauce and because I think the persimmon will complement the pumpkin. Any thoughts? I don’t have any experience baking with persimmon; it just seems like it would have similar properties to applesauce or mashed banana.
Absolutely delicious. I made muffins AND a loaf. AND now I am now making cookies with the batter. So—–delicious. I don’t like to use oil so I use Sunsweet Lighter Bake(butter and oil replacement). These treats could not stay on the tray at our after church gathering. Mmmmmmm. Good.
Yowza, sooo incredibly delicious. And I don’t even love chocolate. Has a really sophisticated chocolate flavor.
I was worried I wouldn’t like the spices with the chocolate, but I was oh-so-wrong. Made a “practice loaf” last week and ate it all in three days (OK, maybe two and a half). Just made another to take to my parents’ house for Xmas. They’re going to love it, and I’m going to love telling them it’s vegan and low-fat after they eat it all up. Thanks for making me feel like a womanly woman who can bake!
I made this tonight and the flavor is awesome but I didn’t get a good rise. I used very hot water instead of boiling water. Would that make a difference?
This is sweet!
I didn’t have any applesauce on hand, and so used Isa’s comment to sub additional pumpkin instead…I also didn’t cut down on the sugar, since I assumed the extra pumpkin could use the sugar….I also messed around with the flour (used 1/2 ww pastry and 1/2 whole spelt and 2 T chickpea flour)…and my family LOVED it! The loaf turned out gorgeous, my two kids and hubby (all notorious picky eaters) consumed nearly the entire loaf this afternoon!!!!
Perfect! 12 muffins in 20 minutes – thanks for another great recipe!
I made muffins and they came out great. I used whole wheat pastry flour,3/4 cup of sugar and chopped walnuts(instead of choc/chips). I waited 15 min. and ate one WOW!! warm is the way to go YUMMY
Thank you Thank you