double chocolate pumpkin swirl bread recipe

Oh pumpkin bread, how we love thee. I first tried pumpkin bread about 10 years ago, when a friend brought me some. I immediately called her back for the recipe, and I’ve been making it ever since. And so has the rest of the world, apparently. Every time I see a popular pumpkin bread recipe, I realize it’s the same one I’ve been making for years. It’s just the perfect comforting fall treat. But after having a crazy difficult week last week (which happened to include moving houses while fighting strep throat) I decided I needed to up the “comfort” level of our old standby. What adds comfort? Chocolate.

So I tampered with the pumpkin bread recipe a little, pulling out half the batter before baking and mixing in baking cocoa. It was good, but not quite good enough. So I made it again, using baking cocoa in half the batter AND throwing in a swirl of melted chocolate.

And that did the trick. Pumpkin slash chocolate bread with a river of melted chocolate. Yes. I felt better immediately.

The basic recipe will likely look familiar if you’ve ever made pumpkin bread before, but I did make a few changes (other than adding chocolate). I decreased the sugar a bit because I think it tastes richer when it’s not quite as sweet. Also the original recipe calls for 1 cup of oil, which makes it a bit greasy. I always grab a snack size applesauce cup (4 oz) and pour that into a measuring cup, then add oil to make 1 cup total. This makes a perfectly moist bread that doesn’t feel greasy.

Once you’ve mixed up the basic pumpkin bread recipe (printable recipe card below), scoop about 2 cups of the batter into a separate bowl and stir in 1/2 cup of baking cocoa and 1 tablespoon on water. I like to use a whisk to make sure the cocoa gets completely incorporated. In another bowl, melt 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips in the microwave. Then grease and flour 2 standard size loaf pans.

Scoop enough pumpkin batter into each loaf pan to just cover the bottom. Then divide the chocolate batter between the two pans and smooth it out. Add more pumpkin batter to each pan, reserving a little of it. Then divide the melted chocolate between the two pans and top with the rest of the pumpkin batter. Smooth everything out, then use a spoon to scoop batter up from the bottom of the pan to swirl all the layers together. I scooped (or swirled) in 8 different spots in each loaf pan.

Then you can bake to loaves in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. Be sure not to take them out until you can gently press down the top of the loaf and it springs back. Pumpkin bread is really gross underbaked, so you want to make sure it looks all the way cooked, even in the cracks.

I like to let the loaves cool for at least 10 minutes in the pans before removing to a cooling rack. The bread is delicious warm while the chocolate is all melty; however, it tastes even more chocolatey once it’s completely cool!

Let’s Make

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bread

5 from 1 vote

Serves: 2 Loaves

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 1 hour hr

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Ingredients

• 3 & 1/2 cups Flour
• 2 & 1/2 cups Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons Salt
• 1 tablespoon Cinnamon or Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil or 4 oz Applesauce plus enough oil to make 1 cup
• 2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon Water divided
• 4 Eggs
• 1 can Pumpkin 15 oz
• 1/2 cup Cocoa
• 1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

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Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a mixing bowl, beat together sugar, oil (or applesauce and oil), 2/3 C water, eggs and pumpkin until combined.
• In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.
• Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and stir until combined.
• Remove 2 cups pumpkin mixture to another bowl and stir in cocoa and 1 tablespoon water until combined.
• In a microwave-proof, microwave semi sweet chocolate about 1 minutes until melted.
• Layer pumpkin batter, chocolate batter, pumpkin batter, melted chocolate, and more pumpkin batter in 2 greased loaf pans.
• Use a spoon to scoop from the bottom and swirl layers.
• Bake about 1 hour until tops spring back when touched.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Cake