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This is the BEST and only Chocolate Loaf Cake recipe you need. A really simple one bowl loaf cake made with just a handful of basic baking ingredients. The most incredible light and moist chocolate sponge topped with a rich and creamy icing, or you can leave it plain if you prefer.
This might be a really simple chocolate loaf cake, but wow, does it taste good! A really light and fluffy sponge with a rich chocolate flavour and the creamy frosting just takes it to the next level. It takes less than 10 minutes to put together and it’s seriously impressive.
A full ingredients list with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Prep: Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
One: Add the butter for the cake and the sugar to a large mixing bowl (a). Cream together until smooth (b).
Two: Add the eggs (a). Mix them in (b).
Three: Hold a sieve over the bowl and add the flour and cocoa powder (a). Sieve in the dry ingredients (b).
Four: Fold the flour and cocoa powder into the wet mixture (a). Add the chocolate chips (b) and fold these in too.
Five: Transfer the batter to a lined 2lb loaf tin (a). Cook for 50-60 minutes, until the cake has risen and a skewer of sharp knife comes out clean (b). Once cooked, leave to cool for at least an hour.
Six: In a bowl add the butter for the icing (a), icing sugar and cocoa powder (b). Mix well to form a smooth icing (c). Add a small amount of milk at a time to loosen the icing if it is too firm.
Seven: Once the cake is cooled, pipe the icing on top. Finish off with chocolate sprinkles.
This is pretty indulgent as it is, but if you want to make it more of a dessert the why not pour some custard over it or serve with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt?
We love the combination of chocolate and orange, so you could add in a little orange extract to the chocolate loaf cake mix. Then, into the frosting you could add some fresh orange zest. You could do a mint version with mint extract too.
Instead of topping it with this frosting, you could spread some Nutella or Biscoff on top. You could also just drizzle some melted chocolate across it.
To lighten it up a little, add some raspberries or slices of strawberries on top of the chocolate loaf cake.
Store: This chocolate loaf cake stores really well. You can keep it in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also keep it in the fridge for up to a week but we find that it goes dry.
Freeze: This actually freezes really well, but ideally without the frosting on it as that doesn’t defrost very well. Wrap individual slices and then put in a freezer bag.
Defrost: You can defrost this at room temperature.
If you find it difficult to have just one slice of cake, why not try making cupcakes instead as they are individually portioned. To make 8 cupcakes, follow the recipe up until you would pour it into a loaf tin. Then divide the mixture between 8 cupcake cases that are in a muffin tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 for 18-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
To make a vegan version of this loaf cake, swap the butter for a vegan margarine and then use an egg alternative. Our favourite egg alternative for baking is a “chia egg”. For each egg you need, mix together 1 tablespoon of crushed (in a pestle and mortar) chia seeds and 2 tablespoon water. Leave it in the fridge for 20 minutes. You would need to make sure the chocolate is vegan and use a milk alternative too. You can also use half a very ripe banana, mashed, in replacement of each egg needed. However, this will give the cake a very banana flavour.
If you use gluten free flour and make sure that there is no cross contamination, then this can be gluten free.
This recipe needs a 2lb loaf tin. If you only have 1lb loaf tin then you will need to halve the ingredients.
A knife should come out clean when the loaf cake it fully cooked.
• Make sure your butter and eggs are at room temperature before using.
• For some extra warmth, add some vanilla extract. Not essence though, as it gives it artificial flavour.
• Make sure to grease and line your loaf tin before adding the chocolate batter.
• If your cake starts to look like it is burning on top, cover it in foil and continue cooking until a skewer comes out clean.
• To ensure that your cake is cooked all the way through and doesn’t burn either, use an oven thermometer to make sure it gets to the correct temperature for the recipe.
• Don’t over mix the batter once you add the flour. This can cause the cake to not rise.
• You could make this into a sandwich cake by slicing it in half and putting some buttercream in between the slices and then more on top.
• Make sure cake loaf cake is completely cooled before adding the topping, otherwise it will just melt.
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