![Lemon Bundt Cake](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/05/17/dining/ya-lemon-bundt-cake/ya-lemon-bundt-cake-mediumThreeByTwo440-v2.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake
![Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/04/18/dining/ya-whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-loaf/merlin_205522503_39777bb5-34be-41be-8e85-aa42d96ae6fe-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1 hour 10 minutes, plus cooling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- ¼cup/56 grams unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
- 2large eggs
- ¾cup/150 grams light brown sugar
- 1cup/235 grams sour cream
- ¼cup/60 milliliters neutral oil
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal) or ½ teaspoon fine salt, plus more for sprinkling
- 1½teaspoons baking powder
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- 1cup/128 grams all-purpose flour
- ½cup/64 grams whole-wheat flour
- 1cup/170 grams semisweet chocolate chips
- 1teaspoon turbinado sugar or granulated sugar, to finish
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter a light-colored metal 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan. Line the pan with a strip of parchment paper that hangs over the two long sides.
- Step 2
In a large bowl, vigorously whisk eggs and brown sugar until light and smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Step 3
Add the sour cream, melted butter, oil, vanilla extract and salt, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the baking powder and baking soda.
- Step 4
Add both flours and all but one 1 heaping tablespoon of the chocolate chips. Stir with a rubber spatula until combined and no streaks of flour remain.
- Step 5
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle with the reserved chocolate chips, 1 teaspoon of granulated or turbinado sugar and a sprinkle of salt. Bake until golden and puffed, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean or with a bit of melted chocolate, 50 to 60 minutes.
- Step 6
Carefully run a thin knife or offset spatula around the edges of the pan not protected by the parchment paper. Set the pan on a rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Then, use the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan and set it back on the rack to cool completely. Keep leftovers loosely covered at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
You can reduce the sugar here, but eliminating it will be a structural problem since the egg and sugar form a gel or syrup that holds onto air bubbles. Reduce the sugar by more than about a quarter and you'll start to see less rise and a rubbery texture; remove it entirely and you'll have a flat and very untender cake.
I can confirm that subbing Greek yogurt for the sour cream works nicely. Also added a mushy banana and coconut flakes. V moist.
I have experimented with whole wheat flour and find you do not need the all purpose flour, just use all whole wheat. I eliminate the added sugar for the recipe. The chocolate chips give the bread all the sweetness it needs. Measuring the flour in grams makes all the difference. If you must add “sugar” add a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup, as it is not refined as sugar is.
Great recipe. I cut the sugar back to 110 g; use 227 g sour cream (because that's half a typical 1 lb container); use 110-125 g chocolate chips; and do half/half whole wheat flour and AP flour (96 g each). I make this into 12 muffins for 16-18 min at 350. They're a fantastic little pick-me-up in the afternoons and I feel better about eating them because of the whole wheat and reduced sugar!
After reviewing comments I made some changes: I used all oil for shortening, reduced sugar to 1/2 cup, used full-fat yogurt not sour cream, and used equal part white whole wheat and all purpose flour. I also added a bit of cinnamon, and baked as muffins in parchment paper cups (thereby eliminating the need to grease tins)--at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Oh, and I used 72% cocoa chips, and eliminated the added salt. Tasty...and considerably healthier than the original recipe
Fun and easy to make with a 7 year old on the weekend. We were not very precise with our measurements but still delicious. We added chopped pecans to the batter, lowered the sugar to ~1/2 cup, and did roughly half whole wheat flour.
Wanted a more distinct flavor from the flour, so I did 1/2 cup AP, 1/3 cup rye, 1/3 cup buckwheat, and 1/3 cup whole wheat. The taste was absolutely divine and super complex. High recommend.
I really appreciate all the notes! Especially those that make recipes a bit healthier. My bread came out wonderfully with the following changes: added one overripe banana, subbed applesauce for oil, used Greek yogurt for sour cream, used 1/2 cup brown sugar instead of 3/4, used all whole wheat flour. Tender, flavorful bread that still tastes decadent with the chocolate! I’ll make this again.
Made as written, ignoring all the sugar-shaming comments (it's cake!) and enjoyed its tenderness and mildly sweet taste. Sole change was instead of whole wheat flour, I used spelt flour, which I starting buying during baking supply shortages early on in the pandemic. Am another huge Yossi Arefi fan!
I used dried fruit instead of chocolate chips and substituted apple sauce for the oil and labneh for the sour cream. I also made 12 generous cupcakes instead of a loaf at 350 for 20 minutes. Not exactly the recipe as written but a nice, pleasant bite, very moist.
The whole wheat and chocolate are a terrific combination. This was easy to pull together and very tasty and warming on a cool, rainy afternoon--I think this recipe has easily become my new go-to weekend morning baking project.
I will make anything by Yossi Arefi, whose “Snacking Cakes” is my go-to cake book. This recipe did not disappoint. I cut back on the sugar as others suggested, but otherwise kept it as is. The next time I have Greek yogurt on hand, I will try it with that. I hope this one is included in Yossi’s next book (Snacking Cakes 2?).
Gees! did anyone actually make this recipe as stated? My head is spinning from all the substitutions and deletions.
How can I adapt this for baking in a glass loaf pan?
I was short on brown sugar and subbed in 25g of granulated, loaf came out just fine. Not sure if my batter was a bit over-whipped, and i forgot about the parchment so the buttered pan probably added even more moisture, but evenly distribute the remaining chips on top of the batter once in the pan. The melting chocolate can make batter even heavier, and I'm slightly concave/underbaked at the center. Nevertheless, this is simple and delicious with coffee!
Used walnut oil as the “neutral” oil Coconut sugar instead of light brown 1/2 cup buckwheat flour in place of 1/2 of the AP SO good!
Substituted olive oil for butter. Used dark brown sugar. Added sunflower seeds and pumpkin pie spice. So good!!
Made the loaf following the recipe and it was delicious!! I will probably adjust next time to use 1 cup whole wheat flour of the total 1 1/2 cups as is suggested just because I loved how the whole wheat added to the loaf. Saved to favorites in my recipe box. Now I’m going to enjoy another slice!
I made a half recipe of this in a mini-loaf pan measuring 2 3/4" x 6.5" (at the base), baked for 31 minutes, and it turned out perfectly. For the whole-wheat flour I used King Arthur's white whole-wheat. This cake has a nice complexity of flavor from the whole-wheat flour and I bet it would be great with some of the other types of flour suggested in the comments.
I use a locally milled whole wheat flour from Barton Springs Mill and I almost never use white all purpose flour any more, so that’s the way I made this but was delicious and the texture was perfect. I used flaky salt sprinkled on the top-don’t skip this!
I made this GF and Bariatric friendly using a cup of Almond flour a 1/2 c of Casava flour and a tsp of Xantham gum. I also used Monkfruit sweetener (Truvia) and Lilly's chips. My husband was skeptical but he loved it. Bariatric and GF friendly. I would use less chips next time. I did use the Turbinado sugar on top which made it super yummy.
Delicious! I can’t eat dairy, and I didn’t have any cashew sour cream made when I wanted to bake this, so I subbed it with 3/4 cup of a quick almond milk buttermilk (.75 T apple cider vinegar and fill the rest of the measure up with almond milk). Worked great! Kept the sugar and such the same because I made this for my family’s sabbath treat, but I did appreciate the little bit of fiber and extra flavor the WW flour brings.
Loved this recipe--this recipe was delicious and is a keeper, and I will certainly make again--very easy and unfussy, and warming, too, on a snowy Saturday morning. Loved the whole-wheat, and not sticky-sweet. Would have loved to have made this recipe with Nestle's espresso chips, but they no longer make them. I had made this recipe a long time ago but then forgot about it, so grateful to be reminded of it again.
So I read all the comments and this is what I did: used half KA AP flour & half KA white whole wheat. Reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup. Added coconut flakes and a little cinnamon. Used low-fat Greek yogurt. Cake is delicious and moist and has a hint of coconut! I will definitely make this again.
Can Greek yogurt be used in place of sour cream?
Made as written, ignoring all the sugar-shaming comments (it's cake!) and enjoyed its tenderness and mildly sweet taste. Sole change was instead of whole wheat flour, I used spelt flour, which I starting buying during baking supply shortages early on in the pandemic. Am another huge Yossi Arefi fan!
I will make anything by Yossi Arefi, whose “Snacking Cakes” is my go-to cake book. This recipe did not disappoint. I cut back on the sugar as others suggested, but otherwise kept it as is. The next time I have Greek yogurt on hand, I will try it with that. I hope this one is included in Yossi’s next book (Snacking Cakes 2?).
Advertisement