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Chocolate Marble Bread with Ganache

This chocolaty loaf calls to mind pound cake, but it's lighter and somewhat more textured. It's great with a glass of milk, but the swirls and ganache make it fancy enough to offer with dessert wine.
Martha Stewart Living, December 2004
  • Yield Makes one 8 1/2-inch loaf
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Ingredients

  • 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 1/2-by-4-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a medium bowl.

  2. Melt 5 ounces chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

  3. Put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add sugar; raise speed to medium. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two batches of milk. Mix until just combined.

  4. Pour half of batter into melted chocolate; stir well. Alternating between remaining plain batter and the chocolate batter, drop large spoonfuls of batter into the prepared pan. When pan is filled, use a table knife to cut through mixture with a swirling motion.

  5. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. (If bread browns too quickly, tent with foil.) Let bread cool slightly in pan on a wire rack, about 10 minutes. Run a thin knife around edges of bread to loosen; unmold. Let cool completely on rack.

  6. Make ganache: Put the remaining 3 ounces chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until just about to simmer. Pour cream over chocolate; stir until mixture is smooth. Let stand 10 minutes to thicken slightly. Using a small offset spatula, spread ganache over cooled cake; let stand until set, about 1 hour. Bread can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

Recipe Reviews

Reviews (12)

  • Kia77
    30 Nov, 2010

    I've made this several times and everybody loves it. The only variable is sometimes i change the type of chocolate i use. I buy the chips not blocks and melt them down, it makes a difference in the flavor. I've used semi-sweet, milk, and dark chocolate and each tasted. if you are aiming for sweet don't use bitter chocolate, the sugar doesn't combat that enough.

  • toronto_cookies
    17 Oct, 2010

    I won't make this recipe again. Dense , texture and flavour was off.

  • summitt
    22 Feb, 2010

    I would like to make this recipe; but you do mention when you melt the chocolate if it should be cold or it does not matter. Also need to know if bitter chocolate does make a different for this cake.
    Please adv

  • Tryingsomethingnew
    14 Feb, 2009

    This just didn't turn out right. It came out too floury and not sweet. Not a repeat recipe.

  • BarbaraGardner
    16 Jan, 2009

    I made this for a holiday gathering and everyone loved it. I Will be making it again for SuperBowl Sunday. Ganache was a little runny but was still delicious. bj

  • FindlaysGrammy
    1 Jan, 2009

    When and how do you put the coin in the bread? The recipe looks great, but I was expecting the instructions to include the 'lucky coin' info.

  • andeande
    24 Nov, 2008

    sounds great!

  • chefbb317
    23 Oct, 2008

    this was the best.def for the chocolate lover. It turned out just like in the picture which was awesome.

  • SOMERSIZING
    17 Aug, 2008

    DEAR TRY: THEY MUST HAVE FIXED THE PROBLEM, AS IT NOW PRINTS AND SHOWED UP ON MY COLLECTION. GOOD LUCK.

  • Cheryl711
    8 Jul, 2008

    I've made this Marble Bread already and it's very good! Looks just like the one in the picture when done.

  • igines
    28 May, 2008

    I didn't try printing, but it saved just fine. This looks really good. I will try this soon.

  • Try
    6 Apr, 2008

    The receipe won't print nor will it show up after it's saved to your collection