Buena Vista Loaf Cake

By Dr_Mom

From the Maida Heatter book of Great Chocolate Desserts (which is out of print) this is a plain chocolate loaf cake loaded with fruit, nuts and chocolate chips. It's similar to a fruit cake but not as sweet.
It has a crisp and crunchy crust so slice it with a bread knife.

Ingredients

• 2 c sifted, all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tbls Dutch process cocoa powder
• 1/4 lb (1 stick) sweet butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp dry instant espresso powdered instant coffee (not granulated)
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, large or extra large
• 1/2 whole milk
• 8 oz (1 c, packed) dates, cut in half
• 3 oz (2/3 c) raisins
• 7 oz (2 c) walnut or pecan halves or large pieces
• 6 oz (1 c) semisweet chocolate morsels

Preparation

Step 1

Adjust rack 1/3 up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" x 5" x 3" loaf pan (8 c capacity) and dust with fine, dry bread crumbs (not flour, this sounds nuts but it does work better than flour), shake out the excess and set aside.
Sift together the first 5 ingredients and set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the vanilla, espresso powder and sugar and beat to mix well. Beat in the eggs one at a time. On low speed add about half the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl and beating only until just incorporated. Gradually beat in the milk and then the rest of the dry ingredients again scraping the bowl and beating just incorporated (it's important not to overheat this).
Remove from the mixer.
Add the dates and stir to mix well, then stir in the raisins, nuts and chocolate morsels.
Turn into the prepared pan and smooth the top
Bake for approximately 1.5 hours or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean and dry.
Remove from the oven and let sit in the pan for about 10 minutes.
Cover with a rack and invert the pan. Remove the pan and carefully (the cake is still soft) turn right side up.
Let sit until completely cool.