Chocolate Marble Bread with Ganache

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Yield:
Makes one 8 1/2-inch loaf

This chocolaty loaf is a bit lighter than pound cake. It's great with a glass of milk, but the swirls and ganache make it fancy enough to offer with dessert wine.

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan

  • 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • ¾ teaspoon baking powder

  • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

  • cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

  • 4 large eggs

  • ½ cup whole milk

  • ¼ 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.

Cook's Notes

Bread can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

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