Moist Olive Oil Chocolate Loaf Cake

This homemade chocolate loaf cake has terrific texture and moistness because it's made with olive oil, rather than butter. Top with chocolate frosting (optional)!

Hi hi! Just popping in to share the recipe for this chocolate loaf cake! I have been sitting on this one for a while and I am so, so excited to share it with you! This easy olive oil chocolate loaf cake recipe is the perfect back pocket recipe. It comes together quickly with little effort, and is dairy free, so a great option to make if you are catering for guests with dietary requirements. This chocolate loaf cake has a super simple dairy free chocolate icing, but can also be finished with a a quick sprinkle of powdered sugar.

I love making loaf cakes - they have the vibes of a larger cake but are so simple and often don't need anything else, although I do love a quick and easy glaze or even just a dust of powdered sugar.

The chocolate icing is a nod to my childhood - it is a dairy free version of my brownie frosting, and it's just the best thing ever. You could add a little peppermint extract for a fun holiday twist, or some holiday sprinkles too if you like.

This chocolate loaf cake is perfect for whipping up when you need something quick and easy, and is great to make ahead. I love it so much and I hope you do too! If you are looking for another good dairy free loaf cake, my Carrot Cake Loaf is perfect, and if you don't need Dairy free, my lemon poppyseed loaf cake is for you!

How to make Chocolate Loaf Cake

This dairy free chocolate loaf cake recipe is super easy, and comes together in just a couple of steps.

• Whisk together dry ingredients - flour, brown sugar and white sugar (for texture and taste), baking powder, baking soda.
• Whisk together wet ingredients - eggs, olive oil, and plant based milk.
• Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well to combine.
• Bloom the cocoa powder by making a paste with the boiling water, then add to the mixture and whisk to combine. This is the secret trick to a super rich chocolate loaf cake.
• Add the bloomed cocoa powder to the batter and mix to incorporate.
• Transfer the whole thing to the lined loaf pan and bake until the centre springs back and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool.
• Finish with the chocolate icing - whisk together all ingredients until smooth then spread over the cake and finish with sprinkles.

The secret to a super rich chocolate loaf cake

Blooming the cocoa in boiling water before adding to the batter is an easy trick which gives you a super rich chocolate cake. I use this technique in my mini chocolate layer cake too. To bloom the cocoa you combine the cocoa and boiling water to form a paste, then stir this into the batter. This helps to release the flavour from the cocoa and gives you a super rich chocolate cake. Lots of cakes will add boiling water to the recipe - I took this one step further by making a separate paste from the cocoa. It really does make a massive difference to the flavour of the cake with very little effort.

The importance of oven temperature in a recipe

You will notice that the bake temperature of this chocolate loaf cake is 325°f / 160°c, which is lower than the 'regular' 350°f / 180°c that most cakes are baked at. I played around with this when I was testing as I found that the loaf cake was doming too much in the middle of the pan and the edges were getting dry before the middle could cook, which gave a differentiation in texture. Dropping the oven temperature slightly meant that the cake didn't dome as much in the oven, which makes it a much nicer shape and much easier to add the dairy free chocolate frosting.

This is another reason why it is super important to make sure that your oven is properly calibrated. I highly recommend having an oven thermometer in there to check the accuracy.

Can You use olive oil in baking?

Using oil in cakes provides a different kind of moisture (oil is liquid at room temperature while butter is not), and chocolate cakes made with butter can be on the drier side. An oil based chocolate cake is going to have a better texture, moistness, and overall crumb. This also makes it really easy to keep dairy free.

FAQ for Chocolate Loaf Cake

• What tools and equipment do you use?
  You can see a full list of all the tools I use here

• Which pan did you use?
  I made this chocolate loaf cake in a 1lb loaf pan which is 8.5"x4.5" (21.5x11.5cm). You could make it in something larger - the loaf will just be a slightly different shape.
• Can this cake be made ahead?
  This chocolate loaf cake recipe is super delicious and moist, so it is perfect to make ahead (up to a day). I would leave off the frosting until the day you serve, and store it in an airtight container at room temperature.
• Can I make this not dairy free?
  Yes! Just use regular milk in both the cake and the frosting.
• Is it possible to make this cake gluten / egg free?
  I haven't tried either sorry!
• Can chocolate loaf cake be frozen?
  Yes, this will work great. I often double recipes like this (I have two loaf pans), and once cool, wrap one tightly in plastic wrap and freeze.
• Can this loaf cake be made into muffins?
  That should work just fine if you wanted to make dairy free chocolate cupcakes - divide the mixture evenly between lined muffin pans and bake - check after about 15 minutes for doneness. I am not 100% sure on how many it would make, but usually aim for filling the liners ¾ full.
  

Recipe For Chocolate Loaf Cake

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