These Vegan Chocolate Chunk Pistachio Olive Oil Loaf Cakes are super simple to make, and perfect to bake for brunch or to gift to friends! The bittersweet chocolate and nutty pistachios complement the sweet batter so nicely!
Helloooo, friends! I am so excited I have less than a week to go until Christmas break. YAAAAY. To {prematurely} celebrate, today I am sharing these fabulous vegan loaf cakes! These Vegan Chocolate Chunk Pistachio Olive Oil Loaf Cakes may be a mouthful to say, but they're an even more delicious mouthful to eat! These cakes are packed with bittersweet pieces of chocolate and toasted pistachios, and made with extra virgin olive oil for a sophisticated touch. Oh, and they're also absolutely delicious. Obviously. 😉
So this Frankenstein of a dessert started as many of my recipes do, with just a simple idea. I thought, HM, I think I'd like to make some olive oil cake. And it might be cute as a gift! Then of course I had to add some chocolate. I figured pistachios would be a tasty addition. And then, of course, I had to turn it into a vegan recipe. So now here I am, with the longest recipe title of all time. But you have to agree all those elements are necessary! Obviously I have to specify it's vegan. You gotta know it has chocolate and pistachios. And I have to let you know I'm fancy because I used olive oil. I'll tell y'all though, these are seriously SO good! These olive oil loaf cakes would make the cutest gifts this holiday season!
I'm sure it will surprise precisely no-one, but I am such a huge fan of giving food as gifts! I've done hot chocolate sticks and brownie mix, as well as the not-quite-edible-but-made-with-food sugar scrubs. I'm also a fan of giving treats such as cookie trays and red wine truffles and pandoro truffles! If anyone is ever unappreciative of the food you've made for them, they are not true friends and that's all I gotta say. And if they're not into food {the horror!!!}, well... I put together a handy-dandy gift guide last week so that might be helpful!
How does one make vegan olive oil loaf cakes? Well, I'm glad you asked. It was kind of experimental but it worked out pretty nicely! Really, the only substitutions I had to make were coconut yogurt in place of sour cream, and aquafaba in place of eggs. Everything else stayed the same! And no, I will not ever stop loving aquafaba in all-the-things in place of eggs. SO easy! So cheap! I do like flax and chia in some places, but for now I'm digging the convenience of chickpea water. I'll keep using it as long as it works. 😉
Looking for more edible presents for your vegan friends? Check out my Vegan Chocolate Chip Molasses Crinkles Cookies, Vegan Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies, Agave Roasted Peanut Butter, and Vegan Cinnamon Rolls! Happy gifting! 🙂
{recipe adapted from The Almond Eater - thank you!}
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ cups white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅔ cup aquafaba {chickpea brine}
- ¾ cup coconut milk yogurt
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 bar dark chocolate, chopped
- ½ cup shelled pistachios, chopped
- Preheat oven to 400F. Grease & flour 3 small loaf pans {or 1 standard 9 x 5 loaf}, and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the aquafaba, coconut milk yogurt, olive oil, and vanilla.
- Add in the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder, and mix until a dough forms.
- Gently fold in the chocolate pieces and pistachios.
- Divide the batter evenly among the pans, and run a knife or spatula down the center of the loaf {this will help it have the nice crack in the middle}!
- Bake at 400F for 15 minutes, then lower oven to 350F and bake for 40 more minutes. The loaves will be slow to rise - don't panic! They will rise up and be nice and puffy in the end! If using one big loaf, check often as the time will likely be longer.
- If the inside is still raw but the outside is forming a dark crust, cover the loaf cakes with foil to prevent burning.
- Let cool to room temperature, and enjoy!
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Carla Patterson says
Wow, that's some really good cake. I was never good at making cakes truth be told, but with your guidance and great recipe you have given us, I'm sure, that I will manage 😛
Sheila says
Wow! This looks really delicious. Too bad was not able to discover this during the holiday season. It could have made a wonderful holiday gift to friends.
Anyway, would really love to try this soon. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
child care in stafford says
These look so lovely, I have 2 questions.......regular olive oil or extra-virgin and........unsalted or salted pistachios?? I'm anxious to try these! Thanks for sharing!
valentina says
Hi! I used extra-virgin olive oil 🙂 And for the pistachios I used unsalted but either one would be delicious!! Happy baking!
Ellen Cooper says
So Yummy
S. A. Priya says
I absolutely love the combination of pistachios and chocolate together – and recently I have become obsessed with olive oil cake. So I dug out one of my mamam’s old recipes and added a little bit of me by replacing sugar with muscovado to add an almost toffee richness to this delicious fudge-like texture cake. This is pure indulgence and decadence and could soon become your go to cake for any occasion