I wanted to share one final, delicious dessert for the holidays. This bread is foundationally the same as my banana bread recipe, but the mix of holiday spices, pumpkin as the base, and the swirl of chocolate take it to a completely different, festive, delicious, and wonderful place; a perfect recipe to close out the year.
I love that this recipe can be toned up or down, removing some of the sugar and the chocolate chips, or even the cocoa powder, to make it more like a mild breakfast loaf. If you made it as just a pure pumpkin bread and sprinkled pumpkin seeds or pepitas over the top before baking, it would even come out pretty similar to the Starbucks pumpkin bread and pair perfectly with a morning cup of coffee or tea.
It’s difficult to describe how delicious this loaf is, but, to name a few, it’s:
- Rich
- Chocolately
- Flavorful
- Festive
- Visually beautiful (from the swirl/marbling)
This loaf is actually one of the first recipes, and the first loaf recipe I ever made when I started coming up with my own recipes at the beginning of my transition to a plant-based diet, and helped convince me that eating this way was not only sustainable long term, but proved that eating animal-free, mostly whole-plant foods could taste just as good or better than the alternative. It also convinced me that I just might have a knack for creativity in the kitchen.
So I’m very happy to be sharing it with you as a last recipe for the year – if there’s any gift I can provide to you during the holidays, I’m glad that it’s a delicious recipe that’s easy to make and will hopefully be the sweet little cherry on top of all the holiday food you’ll be making over the next few days.
If you try out this recipe, please share it with me by commenting here or on my YouTube channel, or even tagging me in a photo on Instagram @plantsnotplastic. Happy holidays, have a wonderful New year celebration, and enjoy!
Marbled Chocolate Pumpkin Bread
Equipment
- 8x4 or 9x5 inch loaf pan
- 2 mixing bowls
Ingredients
- 2 cups oat flour sub white or wheat for non-gluten-free
- 1/2-1 cup sugar (1)
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp salt optional
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree 1 can or sub 1 small sugar pumpkin
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
Optional Additions
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts walnuts, pecans, etc.
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds or pepitas for topping
- 1 tsp turmeric for color
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Combine all dry ingredients, except cocoa powder, in a medium bowl and mix well
- Add all wet ingredients and mix until smooth
- Transfer a third of the batter to a small mixing bowl and add the cocoa powder to it, then mix well
- Fold in chocolate chips or nuts if desired. Optional: if you're a fan of turmeric, add 1 tsp to the remaining 2/3 of the batter and mix until even
- Spoon a layer of the pumpkin batter into a loaf pan and smooth out, then a layer of the cocoa batter. Repeat until all of both batters is used (2)
- Using a knife and holding it vertically from the pan, swirl the batters together from one end of the pan to the other in wave or infinity motion until they look marbled but not muddied, and tap the pan against the counter to remove an air pockets you've created
- Sprinkle with any desired topping and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean in the center
- Cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from loaf pan, and (ideally) cool completely before slicing.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- I typically use 1/2 cup and add chocolate chips, or leave out the chocolate chips if I want to the loaf for breakfast, but you can add more sugar if you want it to be more of a true dessert.
- I aim for 2-3 layers of each batter, with a small amount of pumpkin batter on top to 'hide' the chocolate inside the loaf.
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