Rec. Award winning Buena Vista Loaf Cake

[marsha-tbay]

Buena Vista Loaf Cake

2 cups sifted flour

1/2 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon

3 T.unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process

1/4 lb. sweet butter -- (1 stick)

1 t. vanilla extract

1 t. dry instant espresso or other powdered

(not granular) instant coffee

1 cup granular sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

8 oz dates -- (1 cup packed) cut

in half

3 oz raisins -- (2/3 cup)

7 oz walnut and/or pecan halves or large pieces -- (2 cups)

6 oz semisweet chocolate morsels -- (1 cup)

Adjust rack 1/3 cup from bottom of oven and preheat to 350. Butter a 9 x 5" loaf pan, 8 cup capacity. Dust it with fine dry bread crumbs or chocolate (powdered cocoa). Invert to shake excess. Set aside. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and cocoa and set aside.

In large bowl of mixer, cream butter. Add the vanilla, dry instant espresso and sugar. Beat

to mix well. Beat in eggs, one at a time. On low speed, add about half of the sifted dry ingredients. Scrape bowl with spatula and beat only until incorporated. Then gradually beat in milk and finally the remaining dry

ingredients, again scraping the bowl and beating only until incorporated.Remove from mixer.

Add dates and stir to mix well. Stir in raisins, nuts and chocolate morsels. Turn into prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for about 1 1/2 to 1 &3/4 hours, or until cake tester inserted into middle comes out

clean and dry. Let cake stand in pan for about 10 minutes. Then cover with a rack and invert pan and rack. Remove pan and then carefully turn cake right side up. Let it stand until it is cool. The crust will be very crisp and

crunchy. Slice with a serrated knife.

Note: This won first prize at the California State Fair. I've made it many times, and it even passed the high school kid test. I brought it to school one holiday, and the kids raved about it. They wanted the recipe to bring home to their moms. As soon as they discovered that there weren't any prunes in there (they were dates!), they came back for seconds. And thirds! This

loaf freezes beautifully, so you can make it weeks in advance.

Shared by Lynnda

 

[marsha-tbay]

Rec. Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf

Pt claims this is a 'killer' sweet bread


This recipes makes 3 large loaves, so you can
make one to eat now, one to freeze, and one to give away to a neighbor or friend



Pumpkin Chocolate Loaf



3-1/2 cups sugar

1-1/4 cups vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 can (29oz) solid-pack pumpkin

3 squares (1oz each) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3-3/4 cups flour

1-1/2 tsp salt

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1-1/4 tsp baking soda

1-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1-1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips



In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil. Add eggs;

mix well. Stir in pumpkin, chocolate and vanilla;

mix well. Combine dry ingredients; stir into

pumpkin mixture until just blended. Stir in chips.



Transfer to three greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pans.

Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick

inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for

10 minutes before removing from pans. Wrap and

freeze for up to 6 months.

Yield: 3 loaves

Shared by PT in vegetarian_group