Dark Chocolate Espresso Marble Loaf Cake

loaf cake with two slicing laying in front with chocolate icing on top with coffee beans and white flowers around, empty glasses and stack of plates behind.

Dark Chocolate Espresso Marble Loaf Cake

Rich, decadent, and SO DELICIOUS! This Dark Chocolate Espresso Marble Loaf Cake is the perfect combination of vanilla and chocolate, with a hint of espresso in each bite. It's so simple, but SO GOOD!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 1 15

Total Time: 1 30

Servings:

Calories: 410kcal

Ingredients

Cake

1 cup bittersweet chocolate
2¼ cups all purpose flour*
1½ cups granulated sugar
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅓ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup whole milk
3 large eggs
9 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon espresso powder

Icing

½ cup powdered sugar sifted
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder sifted
2 teaspoons espresso powder
2 Tablespoons whole milk

Instructions

Cake

Heat oven to 325℉.
Spray a 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pan with baking spray. Set aside.
Place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.
Heat in 15 second increments, stirring well after each, until chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients.
Stir together gently, being careful not to over-mix.
Ladle ¼ batter into small bowl.
Add espresso powder.
Stir gently.
Add melted chocolate.
Stir gently until combined.
Using a 1 ½ Tablespoon cookie scoop for the chocolate and a 3 Tablespoon cookie scoop for the vanilla, add batter to prepared pan, alternating between plain and chocolate cake batter.
Top with remaining plain cake batter.
Use a flat-blade knife to swirl batters, being careful not to completely mix them together.
Bake for 75 minutes, or until cake tests done.

Icing

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.
Whisk until smooth.
Spread on top of cooled cake.

Notes

*This recipe was written using an average of the dip and sweep method for measuring flour and the spoon and level method. If you are using a scale, you will need to add 3/4 oz or 22 g to the measurement for each cup of flour.

Substitutions:

To make this recipe vegan, you can use your favorite non-sweetened plant based milk with your favorite vegan egg substitute. Our favorite is aquafaba! For the icing, be sure to use a plant based milk. Also, be sure to double check the ingredients on your chocolate to ensure it is vegan.
If you don't have espresso powder, you can use instant coffee.

Expert Tips:

Check the expiration date on your baking powder and baking soda.
Remember to preheat your oven!
Be careful to not over-mix your cake batter.
Don’t let the melted chocolate for the cake sit too long before stirring in the cake batter. The longer you let it cool, the higher chance you have of it solidifying.
The chocolate cake is thicker than the vanilla cake batter. Swirling them may be difficult so be sure to swirl it thoroughly to ensure the perfect marbling.
If you’re unsure if the cake is baked, use a cake tester or an instant read thermometer to check! A cake tester should come out clean with no crumbs once the cake is completely baked. If you use a thermometer, a completely baked cake should read about 210°F.
Be sure to let this cake cool completely before icing.

Nutrition