Gingered Applesauce Cake With Dark Chocolate (Inspired By Molly Wizenberg’s Banana Bread With Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger)
By: Brandi
Published: Monday, February 22, 2010 - 8:19am

Ingredients




4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger
2 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup vanilla greek yogurt

Preparation

1 Preheat the oven to 350. 2 Melt the butter and then set aside to cool. 3 In large bowl, mix the flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt together. 4 Add in the chocolate and ginger and stir to mix. 5 In separate bowl, beat the 2 eggs. 6 Add the applesauce, yogurt, and melted butter to the eggs and mix until combined. 7 Pour the butter mixture into the dry and mix until just combined (don’t overmix!) 8 Pour batter into greased loaf pan. 9 Bake bread for 50 minutes – 1 hour or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. 10 Let cool for 5-10 minutes…if you can.

About


After reading about Molly’s Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger in A Homemade Life, I knew I needed to try it. I love banana bread. I love crystallized ginger. And I love chocolate. Especially dark chocolate, which I was planning on using in this recipe whether it called for it or not. But while I was getting all my ingredients ready, I decided I didn’t want to use my bananas. I honestly wanted to save them for a few more bowls of oatmeal this week and couldn’t bear the thought of being banana-less the next morning. Now, I love a good banana bread. But my favorites are always the classic recipe – bananas and maybe walnuts. I guess when it comes to banana bread, I want simple. I want it to taste like the best banana ever, but that’s it. Since I had all the other ingredients out and I still wanted to try the chocolate and ginger combination in bread, I just made my own changes, crossed my fingers, and popped it in the oven. I’m proud to say that this is one of the best loaves of quick bread I’ve ever made.
Nick and I had trouble waiting for this to completely cool, and I’m glad we dug in when we did. Each slice was still warm, the dark chocolate oozing alongside the softly melted chunks of ginger in every bite. If you’ve never had ginger, this is a great way to get to know it. The ginger flavor is definitely there, but the “bite” that ginger normally has is subdued in the bread and melds perfectly with the richness of the dark chocolate and hint of sweetness from the applesauce. If you do try this…just don’t say I didn’t warn you.
It’s pretty irresistible

Comments:
MidnightSushi

This was utterly to die for! I made it with gluten-free flour, and it turned out perfectly. What a wonderfully decadent treat! Thanks for sharing.