Guest Author - Katherine Tomlinson
“Tea bread” originally meant any sweet bread or bun that was eaten with tea. Nowadays the phrase refers to a whole range of sweet breads, usually leavened with baking powder instead of yeast and baked in loaf pans rather than cake pans.
Tea breads are still served along with dainty sandwiches, scones and other finger food at high teas, but they’re just as likely to be found in school lunch bags as sliced up on a fine china plate. (It’s not like banana bread is a fancy food.)
Tea breads are sweet but not as sweet as cake, although dribbling the top of a hot loaf with a glaze is not unheard of. You could also mix a bit of strawberry or raspberry jam in a few tablespoons of cream cheese and spread across the slices for an utterly decadent treat. Really, though, this tea bread is delicious just the way it comes out of the pan.
Buttermilk is the secret ingredient in this luscious tea bread recipe, adding a tang to the chocolate that plays against the sweetness for a balance of flavors that is even better the day after baking.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
¼ cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 ½ cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute 1 cup of plain, unsweetened yogurt. If you have dried buttermilk powder in your pantry, you will need to dissolve four tablespoons of the powder in 1 cup of water.
Cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg and mix until fluffy.
Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the cocoa mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the butter milk. Beat well, but don’t over-blend. Over-blending will make the “crumb” of the cake a little tougher and can even cause “tunneling” in the baked slices, so just mix until all the ingredients are incorporated.
Note: Hand and stand mixers are wonderful things, but beating ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon keeps you from over-blending them.
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan (or treat it with non-stick cooking spray).
Bake for an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool on a wire rack before slicing.
If you like your chocolate double-dipped, feel free to add 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips to the mix.
