Adam Liaw’s chocolate loaf with vanilla cream

September 4, 2023

Chocolate loaf with vanilla cream.William Meppem

easyTime:30 mins - 1 hourServes:6-8

One of the benefits of a little bake is that it won’t hang around for long. So instead of buttery icing, a good dollop of vanilla cream is a great accompaniment for a cake that’s only going to last a day or two.

Ingredients

50g butter
200g caster sugar
75ml vegetable oil
125ml milk
1 egg
150g (1 cup) plain flour
50g (½ cup) Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Vanilla cream

300ml thickened cream
50g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Step 1
Heat your oven to 160C fan-forced(180C conventional). Grease and line a 1.2-litre loaf tin. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together for about 5 minutes. Add the vegetable oil, milk and egg and mix to combine.
Step 2
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into a separate bowl. Add to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Add 80ml of boiling water and mix for about 30 seconds to combine.
Step 3
Transfer to the loaf tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
Step 4
For the vanilla cream, whip the cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract to soft peaks and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Step 5
To serve, pipe the cream very generously over the top of the loaf, dust with a little extra cocoa powder and serve with extra cream.