Sunday, January 30, 2011

Baked Sunday Mornings: Double-Chocolate Loaf


This week's Baked Sunday Mornings pick was the incredibly decadent "breakfast bread," Double-Chocolate Loaf. I'm not quite sure if it's even okay to consume all that chocolate for breakfast, but if Matt and Renato say it's fine, then it must be!



This is such an easy loaf to make. You can throw all the ingedients together in just about no time flat, then it bakes up in the oven for an hour or so (mine took about an hour and fifteen minutes). The most difficult part of making this, for me, was having to smell its chocolatey, heavenly aroma for that long! Torture, it was.



Mine baked up pretty well, I thought, except for a minor sinking issue in the center of the loaf. I wonder if anybody else experienced this? Anyway, it looked pretty gorgeous otherwise, and smelled insanely wonderful.

I ran into a snag when I set out to make the peanut butter spread which accompanies this loaf in the cookbook. I had no cream cheese in the house, and it was snowing that day so we were trying to avoid having to leave the house. So, I just decided to whip up a little something different. I found a recipe on the website for Marshmallow Fluff for a Fluffernutter Frosting, so I decided to make that instead. I'll include the recipe at the bottom of this post, because it was yummy! Even if the peanut butter/cream cheese spread was divine, and I'm sure it was, I just wanted to share this Fluffernutter Frosting with you because it is worth trying. You could put it on so many things, I'm sure, and it would work perfectly.



So, I sent this loaf in, along with the spread, to my husband's office the morning after I made everything. He came home empty-handed at the end of the day; the whole thing was gone! The reviews were completely positive; people were cursing me for allowing such a treat to enter their radar. Well, I'd much rather be cursed because something was sinfully good than because something tasted horrible, so I'd say it went over well! The only minor complaint my husband had about the loaf was that it was just a tad dry. Of course, that is probably why this is supposed to be served alongside a spread. He also said it was rich, dense, and very chocolatey. I wish I could say I tried some myself, but it just didn't happen this time. Oh well. It just gives me an excuse to make it again!

You can find the Baked Sunday Mornings blogroll for this loaf here.




Fluffernutter Frosting
adapted from the Marshmallow Fluff website
makes enough to frost a 9-inch layer cake (I cut the recipe in half)

Ingredients
1 cup marshmallow fluff
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
2 Tbsp. milk

Directions
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the fluff, peanut butter, and butter at low speed. Increase speed to medium and mix until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

2. Slowly add in the confectioners' sugar, alternating with the milk, beating well after each addition. Add only enough milk to make the frosting smooth and spreadable. Beat in vanilla and salt; mix well to combine.

5 comments:

  1. The marshmallow fluff sounds like a grand idea. I haven't made the peanut butter spread yet and I am thinking of subbing yours in. I am attempting to turn mine into a cake for company, rather than a bread so this works well.

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  2. Mmm the fluff sounds amazing! Will have to try it next time.

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  3. Love that you used "fluffernutter"! How creative and original. Brought mine into work also and it was gone in record time!

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  4. Oh yea, the best way to start the day is with all that chocolate! Today I was quite alert all through church because I started with all THIS chocolate...I noticed a real difference...I did not yawn once and smiled all through my meetings! No more oatmeal for me.

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  5. I absolutely LOVE your fluffernutter frosting idea. I love both PB an Fluff, but never thought to combine them in a frosting. Well done!

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