brown sugar chocolate chip loaf cake: the cake that almost wasn’t

This is the story of a cake that almost didn’t make it.

While baking this cake, I successfully:

• beat an entire egg shell in with the butter and sugar
• spent fifteen minutes picking out the egg shell pieces
  
• banged the inner part of my knee so hard I cried
• set the oven temperature way too high and almost burned the whole dang thing
• had the cake fall apart on me when I tried to get it out of the pan
  

So, what this means for all of you is that if I can still bake this cake and serve it at a dinner party, after everything that almost went wrong, you can too.

And you’ll be real happy you did…promise.

This cake is like huge, sweet chocolate chip cookie bread, if you can get any better than that. I was about to tell you that you could toast it and smear some butter on it, but you’d probably think I was going a little too far.

You’re right.

It’s pretty rich, so a small piece is enough to satisfy and it’s lovely with a creamy scoop of vanilla gelato on top. And, despite the many baking blunders I just told you about, it really is very easy to make.

Actually, now that I think about it, you make this cake the same way you would make cookies. Just cream together the butter and brown sugar…

Add the eggs, one at a time (while beating on low), then the vanilla and finally the dry ingredients (pastry flour + baking powder and salt).

Then, just fold in your chocolate chips and you’re done!

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 325 for 75-90 minutes. It’s a long time, yes, but the end result is very worth the wait.

When it comes out of the oven, be careful NOT to make the same mistake as me and try to get it out of the pan before cooling.

Really. Don’t follow my lead.

But if for some crazy, random reason the same thing happens to you that happened to me, don’t lose hope!

Just let it cool in it’s ugly state and then slice into neat even slices. Your friends will be happy because they don’t have to slice the cake themselves and you’ll be happy because you don’t have to stare at this monstrosity a second longer.

Everyone wins and no one ever has to know the truth.

Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s not lying if there are chocolate chips at stake?

Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake

makes 1 loaf

2 cups pastry flour (I buy mine in the Whole Foods bulk bins…get white, not wheat)

1.5 cups packed dark brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, soft

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325.

In a medium sized bowl, combine your flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Cream together your soft butter and brown sugar. When it’s light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time (being careful not to get the shells in the butter!) and then the vanilla. Beat until creamy and well combined.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat only until incorporated. Fold in your chocolate chips.

Spread batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 75-90 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when stuck in the middle. The top of the cake will get quite dark…this is normal. Let cool in the pan for ten minutes before turning out and serving.

Tagged as: almost-disasters, baking, cakes