Monday, January 31, 2011

Chocolate Nut Loaf - Chocolate With Francois

Most of the recipes we've made so far from Chocolate With Francois have been shall we say a little challenging. I was thrilled when I read this month's recipe. The recipe read like a basic quick bread recipe and except for the almond paste, I had all of the ingredients on hand.

I decided to make my own almond paste, of sorts. I combined the "dust" from the almonds I had chopped for the bread, with a teaspoon of almond extract and a little powdered sugar. As well, I substituted macadamia nuts for the hazelnuts. The baking time for this recipe is 50 - 60 minutes. When I checked my bread at 45 minutes, the butter was bubbling around the sides of the pan and had run over in the oven. Fortunately, I use an oven liner. If you don't have one, I strongly recommend buying one!!! After the bread cooled, most of the butter seemed to absorb back into the bread. It did create an interesting crisp edge around the bread. I decided to skip glazing the bread. The bread was moist and the combination of nuts were delicious.


Thanks to Leslie of Lethally Delicious for hosting this month. You can find the recipe on her blog. The links to the other Chocolate With Francois Bakers can be found here!

12 comments:

  1. Looks fantastic, Julie! Chocolate with nuts, has to be so good! I bet that would make an awesome French Toast!

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  2. Looking good! I made a few adjustments to the recipe so have to admit, my version is only "based" on F.P's recipe. I love how you made your own almond paste. I had a milisecond contemplation for doing just that then saw the 8oz can that had been sitting in my pantry for way too long. I used it and decided to dump in the whole can. It really resulted in a terrific cake.

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  3. Your bread sounds fantastic, Julie. The combination is wonderful and it looks like yours is perfectly baked. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  4. You are fantastic making your own almond paste. I'm sure it made this bread even better.

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  5. Delicious looking loaf. Chocolate with nuts is always a delicious combination. :)

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  6. This sure sounds and looks wonderful! Chocolate loaf just has to be good!

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  7. What a beautiful cake! I'm not brave enough to make my own almond paste. Fortunately I had some in the pantry that had been there a while (seems to be a common theme!) so I used that. Thanks for baking with me!

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  8. Oh, I have a can of almond paste in my cupboard that my sister gave to me. I didn't know what to do with it. This recipe looks so good ~ I will give it a try :)

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  9. I am in awe of you making your own almond paste! I actually googled it to see how it was made, but didn't try it myself. This was a lot of butter, huh? But we did enjoy the cake even though mine was a tad on the dry side. Yours looks so good!

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  10. A chocolate loaf sounds so decadent. I'm glad this one worked for you!

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  11. mmm! This looks so elegant and delicious! I know I have a similar recipe in my pile of recipes to make. This is inspiring me to try it!

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