Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake

It's Potluck Week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), our last theme for 2017. It has been a wonderful year baking and cooking with my friends at IHCC. And looking forward to another delicious year ahead.  For a sweet ending for 2017, I've made Nigella's Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake. 

The cake is moist  and dense yet very tender and slightly crumbly. I did reduce the dark brown sugar to only 1 cup (loosely packed) and it was just right for us. And have used salted butter.

Another winner from Nigella. 

Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake

(How To Be A Domestic Goddess, Nigella Lawson)

1 cup soft unsalted butter

1-2/3 cups dark brown sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 ounces best bittersweet chocolate, melted

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup plus 2 tablepsoons boiling water

9x5-inch loaf pan

Preheat the oven to 375F, put in a baking sheet in case of sticky drips later, and grease and line the loaf pan. The lining is important as this is a very damp cake; use parchment or one of those loaf-pan-shaped paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar, either with a wooden spoon or with an electric hand-held mixer, then add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well. Next, fold in the melted and now slightly cooled chocolate, taking care to blend well but being careful not to overbeat. You want the ingredients combined; you don't want a light airy mass. Then gently add the flour, to which you've added the baking soda, alternately spoon by spoon, with the boiling water until you have a smooth and fairly liquid batter. Pour into the lined loaf pan, and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 325F and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. The cake will still be a bit squidgy inside, so an inserted cake tester or skewer won't come out completely clean.

Place the loaf pan on a rack, and leave to get completely cold before turning it out. (I often leave it for a day or so; like gingerbread, it improves). Don't worry if it sinks in the middle; indeed, it will do so because it's such a dense and damp cake.

Makes 8-10 slices.

I'm linking this post with I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC), theme for this week

December 2017 Potluck

I wish everyone A Happy New Year!