I make a lot of loaf pan chocolate cakes these days, but Brownstone Front Cake is the OG chocolate loaf cake. According to Southern Living, the recipe first appeared in a little pamphlet associated with the 1895 Cotton State and International Expo. Referenced in many a historical cookbook, it is a rectangular shaped chocolate cake named for the front of a brownstone.
Brownstone Front Cake Variations
There are different versions of Brownstone Front Cake. This one is adapted from Jean Anderson who adapted it from Ladies' Home Journal and The American Heritage Cookbook. I have since modified it quite a bit and will go ahead and call it "my version" of the historical cake.
Loaf Pan Size
A 9x5 inch loaf pan works perfectly for this cake. It seems like 9x5 used to be the standard size and 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch are more popular now. For this cake, try to find a 9x5 because the cake is already pretty deep. Using a smaller loaf pan will just make it deeper and it will take longer to cook. Now if you do want to make a smaller cake -- say a half size loaf, the cubical loaf pans on Amazon work perfectly! The one in the photo below was made in the cube. I just used half the ingredients and the bake time was about 50 minutes.
Crumb Texture and Frosting
There are 2 oz of unsweetened chocolate in the crumb. It's not super chocolatey, but it still has a lot of flavor and moisture from the brown sugar. I did increase the salt a bit from the original. As for the frosting, I started with a basic cocoa powder frosting, but have since added a little sour cream since there's sour cream in the crumb and I love how sour cream tastes with chocolate.
Now I need to update the photo again.
Recipe
Classic Brownstone Front Cake Revisited
Ingredients
- 1 cup water, divided (230 grams)
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped (56 grams)
- 2 tablespoons neutral vegetable oil
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (230 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅝ teaspoon salt (Morton kosher -- see note)
- 4 oz unsalted butter, softened (114 grams)
- 1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar (300 grams)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ cup sour cream (120 grams)
Chocolate Frosting
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar (180 grams)
- ⅓ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (30 grams)
- 4 tablespoons softened butter, (unsalted or salted) (56 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon salt plus a pinch or two as needed
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ tablespoons sour cream (22 grams -- or so)
- 2 tablespoons whole milk plus more minus more as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 °F. Grease a 9x5 inch metal loaf pan and line with a rectangle of parchment paper for easy removal.
- In a small saucepan, bring ½ cup of the water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped chocolate. Let stand until the chocolate softens. Stir until melted and smooth, then stir in the espresso powder and remaining ½ cup of water (total liquid 1 cup). Stir in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
- Sift the flour, then whisk together with baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the brown sugar and continue beating for about 3 minutes on medium high, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing for about 30 seconds after each. Then beat in the vanilla extract.
- Add the sour cream to the chocolate mixture and just give it a little stir. No need to completely blend it, as it will all come together.
- Add the chocolate mixture and dry flour mixture alternately in 3 parts, stirring or beating on low speed with the paddle until everything is well mixed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center rack at 325 °F for one hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I recommend checking at 1 hour, as the shape and material of your loaf pan (and oven) could affect the time.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then invert the loaf onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting
- Sift together the powered sugar and the cocoa powder and set aside. Sifting is an extra step, but it can really help make icing smoother and creamier. Beat together softened butter and half of the powdered sugar mixture until smooth. Add salt, sour cream, vanilla and remaining powdered sugar, beating until mixed, then add milk as needed, beating and scraping side of bowl until smooth and fluffy.
shana says
I made this cake and did a caramel icing... everyone LOVED it and said it was exactly what they were use to from growing up. Wonderful recipe 🙂 Thanks
Janet says
The jury is in on the cake...it was a huge success. Had company and it served way more than 2;-) Everyone loved this cake. I like a LOT of frosting so I used your recipe on half of the cake and I had some frozen chocolate frosting that I used on the other half. Made a bunch of semi sweet chocolate curls for on top to disguise the differences in the two frostings....thanks again!
Janet says
Good morning! I have this cake baking in the oven right now...smells delicious and looks perfect. Glad it's sized for 2 and I can whip it up quickly. I was a little surprised at how much batter was in the loaf pan....worried it might overflow but so far...so good;-) Thanks for the tempting picture and recipe!
Cat @ ButteryBakery says
I love chocolate cake! And I always think thin icings are better because I'm not crazy about a ton of icing on cakes.
Anna says
Jenn, I'm glad you added the espresso powder. I might try adding coffee next time too.
Taste of Cuba says
UGGGGH! I can't believe I made the mistake of reading this recipe and looking at that yummy pic on an empty stomach. Bakery, here I come 😉
Jenn says
I made this last night and iced it up today...so, so good! I did add some espresso powder to the hot water (I love coffee & chocolate together!) and baked it in a 8x8 pan (which I cut to make a layered loaf). Everyone loved it! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Karen says
Beautiful! I love sour cream in everything!
Tina from PA says
This looks so good ! I too like recipes for smaller cakes ,it's only the 2 of us . I'm always sending stuff to work with my hubby , the guys just love it ! Thanks for sharing another great recipe!
Bakericious says
looks so chocolately, yummy cake!
Kathleen says
My mom used to make Brownstone Front Cake when I was little (40 years ago or so). Her version is a little different. I smiled when I saw your recipe for it. Thanks and I really enjoy reading your recipes.
Joe says
I like that it's a small cake too - I've never heard the name of this one before.
Kim Fluck says
Mmmm, with those ingredients, it's got to be moist and tastey! I like the cake's small size for a small family like mine. When I make a big cake, we eat too much...
Lisa Ernst says
This looks like a fun, easy to make chocolate cake. It has been years since I baked a chocolate cake (not counting German chocolate cake.) I stumbled across something that looks really intriguing though -- Broklyn Brownout Cake. Ever heard of it? It looks really good and quite tempting, although there is an extra step in baking brownies!
http://www.belleofthebakery.com/2009/04/sweet-melissa-sundays-brooklyn-brownout.html