I like baking. But the kind of baking I do is often limited by time. In case you’re curious, the criteria for recipes I want to try are:
- The recipe itself needs to be easy to follow. If I’ve read it twice over and I cannot understand what I am supposed to do, forget it.
- I need to have the ingredients on hand or the ingredients in the recipe in question need to be either substitutable with stuff I have on hand, or the ingredients be something I’m willing to have in the pantry, or be entirely used up in the recipe.
- It cannot include things I don’t want to eat.
- And the easier the better.
The Chocolate Chip Pecan Loaf Cake qualifies on all counts. It comes from a relatively new book – In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite by Melissa Clark, which I have enjoyed reading and have enjoyed cooking from. One of the things this author writes about is her persistent recipe fiddling which I feel makes us sisters in the way we deal with recipes. So I’m pretty sure that she won’t mind that I’ve already revised hers a bit.
Here’s what you need:
1 Cup of Sugar
2/3 C Plain Yogurt – I used Trader Joe’s Non Fat Greek style Plain Yogurt because that’s what I have around.
3 Large Eggs
1-3/4 C All Purpose Flour
1-1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp Kosher Salt
2/3 C Unsalted Butter, Melted
1 C Chocolate Chips (Melissa Clark uses 1/2 cup which I think is not nearly enough)
1 C Chopped Toasted Pecans (The author uses 1/2 cup. My sentiments above apply here as well)
Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a 9×5 in loaf pan says her instructions. Note: I add more stuff into my Chocolate Chip Pecan Loaf cake because from my point of view, if the title of a recipe is something, it really should represent those items in a plentiful way. This means that when I follow my recipe and reasoning, there’s 1 cup more stuff to fit into the 9×5 pan. It does not fit well. The first time I made it I increased the chocolate and the pecans, used the 9×5 pan and, blobs of batter rose over the side of the pan and plopped onto the bottom of the oven where they made delicious smell followed by a less delicious burning smell. So. If you follow my revisions, use a slightly larger pan. 
Or use two smaller ones. Or use a 9×5 and make an extra cupcake. Or ignore the pan spillage and put a spill over pan below the loaf pan in the oven so you can take it out at about 10-20 mins of cooking and preview the delicious cake in small blobby bits. I personally use a longish loaf pan that I bought at Ikea that seems to fit the batter perfectly.
Pardon that diversion. I hope I haven’t lost you. Moving on….
Whisk together the sugar and yogurt. Add the eggs one at a time and whisk until completely combined.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry mixture into the wet and mix until just combined.
Using a spatula, fold in the melted butter a little at a time. Fold in the chocolate chips and the pecans.
Scrape the batter into the greased pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until the cake is golden and the tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool to room temperature, right side up.
Try not to devour in one sitting.
By the way, here’s a printable version of the recipe. No pictures but easier to deal with in the kitchen if you don’t have your computer/laptop nearby.
Chocolate Chip Pecan Cake
I saw the bird fabric and loved it immediately. Usually I’m drawn more to clear colors, brights, reds, less the muted ones, but over the years, I’ve stashed away a fair amount of greys, greens, and cream contemporary prints. I was feeling like a more quiet quilt, and a quick one, so with the bird print (Alexander Henry Fabrics) in hand, I decided to slice and dice less than usual, and pieced together this top in about 2 hours.
piecedgoods 