Chocolate, Cherry & Pecan Loaf Cake

In the week following Easter (and other chocolate-centric occasions) I generally have an internal struggle with myself. The chocolate is very tasty, and I want to keep it so that I know it's there to dip into if I want to. Equally, I know that I am very capable of disappearing the chocolate over a disconcertingly short space of time. The solution: only keep my favourite chocolate (dairy milk, FYI) to myself and bake the rest into cakes etc that can be both palmed off onto others and consumed by me in a controlled manner.

This solution was employed via today's Chocolate, Cherry & Pecan Loaf Cake. I wasn't a fan of the chocolate in an M&S Easter egg I received, so I broke it up and added it to the cake batter. Along with the unsatisfactory chocolate, I added the majority of a jar of cherries and a couple of handfuls of pecan nuts. Quick, fuss-free and rewarding.

Added bonus: the long baking time can be used for cleaning out the detergent slots on the washing machine, which is long overdue (for example...)

Obviously, you don't need to use old Easter eggs in this recipe; a bar of chocolate will do. My Easter egg was milk chocolate, but I think dark would work very well here too. I didn't go to too much effort to break up the Easter egg; just smash it into what you deem to be manageable chunks and add to the batter. I think the varied size of pieces of chocolate just makes it more exciting when cutting into the cake as every slice will be different.

Ingredients

• 200g Butter
• 200g Caster Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 200g Plain Flour
• 2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 400g Cherries in Syrup (drained)
• 200g Milk Chocolate
• 75g Pecans

Recipe

• Preheat the oven to 160C/140C fan and line a loaf tin with baking parchment.
• Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until smooth.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into the batter and gently fold in until well combined.
• Tip the cherries, pecans (chop if desired) and fragmented chocolate into the batter and stir gently until well dispersed.
• Tip the batter into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 1h 15 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean (it might need another 30 mins but check every 15 mins).
• Allow the loaf to cool before turning out of the tin.