Name: Buttermilk Chocolate Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 3/4 cup plain flour (all purpose plain flour); 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter; 1 cup buttermilk (see notes for making your own at home); 1 cup caster sugar; 2 eggs; 1/2 cup cocoa powder (suitable for baking); 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules (blended with teaspoon of boiling water)

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This is a great recipe for ‘all in one’ chocolate loaf cake that is just so simple to make than anyone can have a go!

Rich chocolate flavour with soft and slightly chewy texture, this chocolate bread is one of the best I’ve tasted. Perfect to eat as it is or serve it with my homemade vanilla ice cream.

Also a great recipe to try if you’ve made my herb butter and you have the buttermilk as a left-over ingredient.

I always make this cake recipe, when I need something quick and easy to bake or take with me as a gift for a friend because everybody loves this cake.

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Why make this recipe?

Easy to make – all in one method mix cake
Very moist and rich cake
Superb chocolate flavour

What makes this recipe work

The secret ingredients in this recipe is a that little bit of instant coffee, which enhances the flavour of the chocolate. The buttermilk ads richness and moisture to the cake and of course amazing taste too.

My top tips on making buttermilk chocolate bread recipe successfully

You can use an electric whisk to make most of this recipe, but be careful about not overmixing it right at the end. I usually use the whisk for the first stages, but towards the end I swap the whisk to spatula and just fold the rest of the ingredients in. If you over mix your batter, the cake might be too dense.

Any specialist equipment needed?

An electric whisk is helpful for this recipe, but you can make the buttermilk chocolate cake without it – just use regular whisk or wooden mixing spoon.

To bake this cake, I use 2 pound loaf tins (like for a loaf cake or bread) but often use smaller 1 pound loaf tins and split the recipe into two tins. This way I have one loaf to eat straightaway and one to give away or freeze for later.

Allergies & dietary requirements

This recipe is not gluten free or dairy free and is not suitable for vegan diets. I’ve not tested this recipe with other flours or plant based ingredients.

Notes on Ingredients

Chocolate

Use the best strong cocoa powder you have (without sugar) to get the best flavour.

Buttermilk

Buttermilk makes this chocolate loaf cake extra moist and it has a really great taste. If you don’t have buttermilk at hand, see my notes below on how to make your own buttermilk at home.

Butter

I use unsalted butter for this chocolate cake. If you have only salted butter, don’t add any more salt to the recipe and use it as it is.

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How to make a quick buttermilk replacement at home

Use the milk with the highest fat amount you have as this will give you a richer flavour. You could even use 1/2 milk and 1/2 cream (any kind) to give you thicker buttermilk.

Measure out the same amount as the buttermilk in the recipe (1 cup) and then stir in 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Wait a little for the milk texture to change and your homemade buttermilk is ready!

How to make buttermilk chocolate loaf bread

Cream together the sugar and butter (with electric handheld whisk or do this with a wooden spoon by hand)

Add eggs and carry on mixing or whisking until incorporated.

Boil water and mix a small amount with instant coffee granules and mix until the coffee is completely dissolved. Leave to cool down a bit before adding it to the mixture.

Add salt and the coffee to the mixture and stir in.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder.

Add half of the flour mixture slowly to the wet ingredients and mix in (by hand or slow speed handheld whisk).

Add the buttermilk and carry on mixing.

Add the rest of the flour and give the mixture a final whisk until just incorporated (don’t overmix it at this stage)

Pour the cake mixture into a well-greased (or lined) 2 pounds (1 litre) loaf pan.

Bake at 350F, 180C for 45 minutes after which time, check with a wooden skewer (if it comes out clean, your cake is ready, if not leave it for another 5-10 minutes and test again)

Leave to cool down on a cooling rack (as it is in the tin) and take out when the chocolate bread/cake is cool to touch.

MORE CHOCOLATE RECIPES

Chocolate Pancakes (made with cocoa powder) >>

Recipe size

This recipe will give you one large 2 pound loaf tin sized cake or you can split the batter into two 1 pound loaf tin cakes.

Can I scale up or down this recipe?

Yes, you can make 1/2 of this recipe – just divide everything by half and use one 1 pound loaf tin cake. The baking time will reduce by about 1/3, so keep an eye on the oven.

If you are doubling or tripling this recipe, use baking tins that are suitable for the quantities you want to use. Ideally the batter should come to about 2/3 up the side of any tin to allow for the cake raising during the baking.

You could use different tins (like round or square ones), but I’ve not tested this recipe with these, so you’ll need to experiment a little with the baking time.

Can this recipe be made in advance?

The buttermilk chocolate cake keeps really well. You can easily make the cake 1-2 days before you want to serve it and it will still taste amazing. If the cake dries out a little, you can use chocolate frosting or chocolate syrup to drizzle over the top.

How to store the loaf cake

I keep mine in a loose plastic bag in a bread tin or cake tin. The cake doesn’t need to be stored in the fridge, it’s fine in a room temperature. The cake should be fine for 2-4 days or longer, but watch out for any signs of mould after that.

Can I freeze buttermilk chocolate cake?

Yes, this buttermilk chocolate loaf cake freezes really well and keeps frozen for a good 3-6 months. If you want to, you can divide the cake into smaller portions, freeze them separately and then take out only what you need.

This blog post was originally written on 10 August 2022