QUADRUPLE CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE
 NIGELLA
Photograph by James Merrell
INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CAKE:
200g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
50g cocoa
275g caster sugar
175g soft unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
80ml sour cream
125ml boiling water
175g dark chocolate chips (unless you’d prefer milk)
FOR THE SYRUP:
1 teaspoon cocoa
125ml water
100g caster sugar
25g dark chocolate (from a thick bar if possible)
Serving Size : Makes 10 generous slices, serves 10–12
Powered by  
METHOD

1.Take whatever you need out of the fridge so that all ingredients can come to room temperature.
2.Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/170°C, putting in a baking sheet as you do so, and line a 900g loaf tin (mine measures 21x11cm and 7.5cm deep and the cooking times are based on that) with greased foil – making sure there are no tears – and leave an overhang all round. Or use a silicon tin.
3.Put the flour, bicarb, cocoa, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream into the processor and blitz till a smooth, satiny brown batter. Scrape down with a rubber spatula and process again while pouring the boiling water down the funnel. Switch it off then remove the lid and the well-scraped double-bladed knife and, still using your rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips or morsels.
4.Scrape and pour this beautiful batter into the prepared loaf tin and slide into the oven, cooking for about 1 hour. When it’s ready, the loaf will be risen and split down the middle and a cake-tester, or a fine skewer, will pretty well come out clean. But this is a damp cake so don’t be alarmed at a bit of stickiness in evidence; rather, greet it.
5.Not long before the cake is due out of the oven – say when it’s had about 45–50 minutes – put the syrup ingredients of cocoa, water and sugar into a small saucepan and boil for 5 minutes. You may find it needs a little longer: what you want is a reduced liquid, that’s to say a syrup, though I often take it a little further, so that the sugar caramelizes and the syrup has a really dark, smokey chocolate intensity.
6.Take the cake out of the oven and sit it on a cooling rack and, still in its tin, pierce here and there with a cake tester. Then pour the syrup as evenly as possible, which is not very, over the surface of the cake. It will run to the sides of the tin, but some will have been absorbed in the middle.
7.Let the cake become completely cold and then slip out of its tin, removing the foil as you do so. Sit on an oblong or other plate. Now take your bar of chocolate, wrapped in foil if you haven’t got much of its wrapper left, and cut with a heavy sharp knife, so that it splinters and flakes and falls in slices of varying thickness and thinness.
8.I’ve specified a weight, but really go by eye: when you think you’ve got enough to scatter over the top of the loafcake, stop slicing. Sprinkle these chocolate splinters over the top of the sticky surface of the cake.



REVIEWS

I made this for a sick friend and she loved it. I covered mine with melted chocolate. It was moist and smelled fantastic!

TexasBaker

Beyond chocolatey! One of the best I've ever made.

Monkeyk2

I Have made this cake a few times for dinner parties, serving it warm with some thick double cream, its a real winner in the chocolate section. I especially love the the chocolate syrup that is sweet and crunchy, mmmm!

Nigella_nut

Love this chocolaty cake! Whenever I ask my dinner guests what they want for desert ... they request this cake very often ... I serve it with a thick vanilla sauce! In fact I bake 2-3 each time and keep them in the fridge! mmmmm

ShabbyChic

This is a lovely cake and very easy to make!

zba1983

This is a delicious cake/loaf, very similar to brownies in its texture, density and richness. Unfortunately, I made the recipe from the book FEAST and it instructed to line the pan with plastic wrap and "not to panic, it won't melt". WRONG! What a mess. The plastic wrap melted and shrunk and stuck either to the cake or the pan, causing the loaf to crumble on its way out of the pan. Seriously, what was she thinking? I should have known better... I'm very glad that the recipe listed here instructs the use of greased foil (though I would almost prefer to line the pan with waxed paper). Now I know to check here before making recipes in the book, to see if there have been any adjustments in the ingredients or cooking methods. Happy Cooking!

ingster13

I have made this cake so many times now. It is gorgeous. I have found that if I cook the syrup for that little bit too long it forms this thin crackly shell on the top of the cake when it cools. The taste isn't effected but it makes slicing more difficult and the cakes crumbles a bit. Took me a while to work out this is what I was doing wrong.

Foodie

This recipe is why I joined this website! It is delicious. My Auntie Di makes it every time we get together - and serves it with some thick cream. It's just divine - so very lovely. My handwritten recipe was becoming a bit illegible so i'm truly happy to have found it now.

Cat1

I adore this recipe. It's simple but tastes so decadent! I especially love it hot and covered with custard - the ultimate comfort food.

Rachael_NZ

Wow this is amazing! I never thought anything could top Nigella's simple chocolate loaf cake but this might just do it! I substituted in soft light brown muscavado sugar for caster and skimmed milk for the sour cream as that was all I had plus I used white choc for the topping as didn't have a thick enough bar of dark to slice but it was moist, tender, dark, damp and divine. Bliss on a plate :)

OCDcook273

This is a lovely chocolate cake, deep, rich, satisfying and damp bordering on a pudding. I also love the crunch from the caramelized syrup on top. I used 150g of milk chocolate instead of 175 dark without adjusting the sugar content and substituted natural full fat yoghurt for the sour cream (which I don't have). Delicious!

Sevilleoranges

This is just pure heaven. I used Yogurt (low fat) in place of sour cream as this was all I had available and the end result was just devine. Thank you Nigella.

djsyclopz

This is by far the BEST chocolate cake recipe I have ever tried. It kills the competition! Lovely and moist, very rich chocolatey flavour. The syrup gives this cake a wonderful mudcake-like texture. This is to me is what baking is all about! It's hard to believe such a delectable cake takes so little effort too! This would be a very difficult recipe to stuff up. Nigella, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Demonik

I made this recipe initially because I needed a base for Nigella's Tiramisu Cake. When I asked about the suitability of this on a thread the advice was – 'you are wasting a delicious cake!' Right and wrong. The cake is out of this world and should not be 'multi tasked' but, the base for the tiramisu was to die a thousand times for. Thank you Nigella. 5 stars here.

djsyclopz

I just made this cake last night for my husband and workmates to enjoy today. As soon as the first forkful went into their mouths, silence filled the room, followed by delighted sighs. I received high fives all around with multiple requests to "please make again"!

Liz1993
Back