Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

This post may contain affiliate links and/or Amazon affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own. Thanks for reading & thanks for your support!

Hello there Fall! This Chocolate Pumpkin Bread has all the warm flavors of the season. A tender, moist quick bread, perfectly pumpkin spiced with the richness of cocoa.

Pumpkin Spice Meets Chocolate

It’s getting to the time of year where the serious baking begins.

Shorter days, cool days & cooler nights. Not quite hibernation season – but we’re almost there.

I’m in no way shape or form a “pumpkin spice fanatic”. You can skip all that in my coffees, creamers, ice creams….

But I do love baking with pumpkin. The taste, the texture, the warm, earthy spices.

Clearly one can only bake so many pumpkin breads, pies & muffins with the usual flavors. Cocoa pairs wonderfully with pumpkin – it compliments pumpkin with a rich, earthy sweetness.

More pumpkin recipes I love! This Pumpkin Coffee Cake topped with golden streusel topping & this Pumpkin Loaf Cake with a cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

This Chocolate Pumpkin Bread recipe is almost the child of two other recipes of mine – Pumpkin Molasses Bread & Chocolate Banana Bread (Click to check out recipes)

It starts off as a pretty standard pumpkin bread recipe.

I’ll note the ingredients that might not be so typical.

Obviously cocoa powder stands out. This recipe calls for natural cocoa power (original, unsweetened). Click here for cocoa powder I use.

You may notice melted butter & applesauce. Let me explain why.

I’ve been trying my hardest to eliminate excess seed oils from my baking – actually all my cooking.

Most quick breads call for about 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. For the past few years I’ve had great success subbing melted butter and applesauce for the oil in much of baking.

I tested this recipe numerous times (that’s a whole lotta bread to eat). I tried it with & without the addition of applesauce. Basically thinking that the pumpkin puree would eliminate the need for applesauce.

Not so.

The texture was preferred with applesauce.

As for the pumpkin – I’m using canned pumpkin puree. Feel free to puree your own fresh pumpkin if you prefer.

This Chocolate Pumpkin Bread pairs best with dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Preparation

As in all quick bread recipes – you’ll need two bowls.

Whisk together all your dry ingredients (minus the sugar) in the larger mixing bowl. Mix together all your wet ingredients (and the sugar) in a separate bowl.

Then add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Overmixing develops the gluten and you’ll end up with a chewier bread – not a soft, tender bread (that we want here)

Chocolate chips get folded in at the end.

My preference is to line the loaf pan with parchment paper, but you can always skip that & grease/spray the pan. This recipe was baked in a 9″ loaf pan – click for product link.

Serve & Storage

I serve this Chocolate Pumpkin Bread straight up. It’s rich & delicious.

If you wanted to be extra, I’m sure it would pair lovely with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Store it in an airtight container, eat within a few days. This bread does freeze well.

Hope you enjoy!

Amanda ♥

Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

www.craftycookingmama.com

This Chocolate Pumpkin Bread has all the warm flavors of the season. A tender, moist quick bread, perfectly pumpkin spiced with the richness of cocoa.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course baked goods

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Equipment

• loaf pan 9"x5"
• parchment paper optional
• 2 mixing bowls

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Dry Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoon cocoa powder natural, unsweetened
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clove

Wet Ingredients

• 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree 1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup melted butter cooled to room temp
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips optional – reserve 1-2 tablespoon to sprinkle on top of bread

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Prep loaf pan by either lining with parchment paper or greasing/spraying with nonstick cook spray.
• In a large mixing bowl – whisk together all dry ingredients. Flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger & clove.
• In a separate mixing bowl – mix together wet ingredients (except chocolate chips). Pumpkin, sugar, eggs, melted butter, applesauce and vanilla extract.
• Add wet mixture (pumpkin mixture) into dry mixture. Stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
• Fold in chocolate chips.
• Spoon/scrape batter into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle with reserved chocolate chips (if desired)
• Bake 55 – 65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
• Place on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan. Allow to cool on wire rack. Once cool, bread can be covered or stored in airtight container for a few days. This bread freezes well.

Notes

This recipe uses pumpkin puree – not pumpkin pie filling. 

Use 1 3/4 teaspoon if using pumpkin pie spice instead of separate spices.

It’s important to not overmix quick bread. Overmixing will result in a tougher bread.

When checking for doneness with toothpick – keep in mind that there’s chocolate chips in the bread. You’re looking for a toothpick clean of crumb (you may see melted chocolate)

 

Keyword chocolate, pumpkin, quick bread

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!