The Startup Cook – Chocolate Chip Loaf

Everyone is in agreement that ‘Tis the season of flus and colds’. When one is inflicted with the common cold during a very rainy and gloomy weather spell, the infliction thus becomes unbearable. The sickness includes several pains such as clogged up nasal passages, body aches, fever and of course the loss of appetite.

While the consumption of everyday food is quite understandably difficult, it still remains possible to eat something. Therefore this Chocolate Chip Loaf serves as a delightful appetite booster. Taken from purplefoodie.com this delicious cake is a saviour during those mucus filled days. You may not be able to relish it entirely, but having little bits of this loaf is definitely nourishing AND after downing some icky medicine this baked confection is like soothing balm to your palette..

Chocolate Chip Loaf to the rescue indeed!

Ingredients

2 cups of (all-purpose) flour
½ – 2/3 cup chocolate chips
16 tbs of butter
2/3 cups of sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp of baking powder
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
1 tsp of vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Prepare a loaf tin and set it aside.

Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until it becomes light and fluffy.

Next, add the eggs one at a time, beating for a couple of minutes in between each addition.

Add the vanilla essence to the egg mixture.

Sift the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder) in to the egg mixture.

Add the vegetable oil and whisk until all ingredients are combined well.

Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour the mixture in to the prepared tin.

Bake for 40 – 50 minutes.

Disasters, Warnings and Tips

Once baked, let the cake rest for about 15 minutes before you remove it from the pan.

When I made this first time, it came out dry and half cooked. KITCHEN DISASTER!

Use chopped cooking chocolate as chips.

If your oven is too hot, your cake will only be cooked outside and remain uncooked inside.

Unfortunately for this particular recipe I ran out of chocolate chips (thanks to a few kitchen disasters). But it was still yum!

I significantly reduced the sugar level from the original recipe. Feel free to increase it if you’re an extreme sweetie.

The author Daphne Du Maurier is growing on me.

Coat this loaf with some chocolate frosting and make the perfect homemade birthday cake!

Stick a toothpick right in to the middle of the loaf and if it returns with a few crumbs attached to it, you need to bake it a bit more.

I like my chocolate loaf a little toasted, hence I left it for an extra ten minutes.

By Shazzana Hamid