Sour Cream Chocolate Quick Bread
This chocolate quick bread is enhanced with sour cream for a velvety soft texture. I put "no substitutes" next to "unsweetened chocolate because I think that is important to the overall composition, but it's a free country ;). If you do have to substitute, using 2 tablespoons of oil and 6 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder might work. Still, this is really good with unsweetened chocolate.
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped, no substitutes (56 grams)
- 4 tablespoons butter softened (56 grams)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour (100 grams)
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- Salt – ⅜ if using unsalted butter ⅛ if using salted
- ½ cup sour cream, room temperature (114 grams)
- ½ cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- Optional: Extra semisweet chocolate for melting and drizzling over the top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8x4 inch (1 pound) loaf pan.
- Put the chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for at least 30 seconds after each egg and scraping the bowl often. Mixture should become slightly fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt, then add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately, stirring until sour cream is fully blended. Stir in the cooled melted chocolate. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Bake the cake on the center rack at 325 degrees for about an hour or until a meat thermometer inserted registers between 205 and 210.
- Allow the cake to cool for about 30 minutes in the pan, then remove it and cool completely. At this point you can serve it, or wrap it up in plastic and shove it in the freezer. Before serving, you can drizzle it with melted chocolate. I haven't tried it with a glaze.
Notes
For the flour I've used both White Lily and regular bleached Gold Medal which are both lower in protein than my usual unbleached King Arthur. I think the acidity in the bleached flour also affects the overall texture, and in this case in a positive way. I'll have to test this with unbleached to be sure. I also want to try making it with cake flour.