Marbled Chocolate Pumpkin Bread (Refined Sugar Free and Dairy Free)
This pumpkin bread is perfectly spiced and swirled with rich chocolatey goodness, all made without refined sugar or dairy! It’s the perfect fall treat, especially for Halloween.
You know how there’s a shortage of canned pumpkin? It was me. I bought all of them.
You can ask my family, as I’ve been making pumpkin breads for months now trying to get the recipe right.
First I made an extremely healthy version. No refined sugar, no dairy, no egg, healthy flour and it wasn’t hitting how pumpkin bread should. It tasted too healthy.
I then attempted a maple flavored loaf but you really couldn’t taste the maple even though I used both maple sugar and maple syrup! It was strange, really. I definitely think I’ll try to revisit that idea next season.
I also tried your standard pumpkin bread, then cinnamon swirl, then streusel (This one was so bad that I regrettably had to throw it out because it was absolutely inedible. Happy to leave this one in the past) and finally I landed on chocolate marble.
Somehow, someway, the cacao gods swept through and saved me. A combination I thought was going to be too much and too basic, ended up being incredibly balanced. It’s not cloyingly sweet, and you can really taste the chocolate and pumpkin.
This recipe is fairly customizable (that’s why I didn’t include weighted measurements) in that you can easily sub out different flours, different oils, even the sugar for refined sugar if that’s all you have. That being said, you could also sub out the vegan butter and milk for dairy products, but it works well with the vegan alternatives so, why not make it dairy free!
Just keep in mind that, typically, with whole wheat flour, spelt flour, etc., you will get a bread that is denser. I haven’t tested this recipe without eggs, but you may be able to get away with an egg replacer or with flax, though don’t take my word for it! That could also make it dense. If you’re testing it to make it vegan, use regular AP flour or pastry flour to see how it works with an egg replacer/flax first.
To make the bread, you just simply combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, mix the wet ingredients in another medium sized bowl, then add the wet to the dry and combine.
After that, you divide the batter in half and add cacao powder and extra non-dairy milk, coconut sugar, chopped chocolate and salt. This helps balance the added cacao without making the entire loaf too sweet or salty! The chopped chocolate is optional of course, especially if you want to keep it refined sugar free and don’t have access to brands like Hu.
To create the marble, just alternate scoops of each batter until there’s no more left, then swirl it all with a knife!
I use a pullman loaf pan, so it makes for a large loaf. To keep a loaf shape, you can also make this in an 8x4 inch pan and divide the batter in half and make one loaf or you can make two loaves with the full recipe.
Try not to over bake it because it will dry out! I served mine warm with a bit of vegan butter (it’s so so delicious like this, trust me) but it is great at room temperature too.
MARBLED CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN BREAD(dairy free and refined sugar free)
makes one large loaf, two small loaves (8x4)
Ingredients
3 ½ cups flour (I used pastry but AP will definitely work. Gluten free AP should work too. You could also use whole wheat and spelt, but they may make the loaf a bit denser.)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt + ¼ tsp (divided)
1 ½ tbsp pumpkin spice
2 large eggs
1 ¾ cups coconut sugar + 2 tbsp (divided)
2 ¼ cups pure pumpkin puree
¾ cup oil (use whatever neutral oil you prefer)
3 tbsp vegan butter, melted + more for serving (I use and prefer Country Crock)
¼ cup unsweetened non dairy milk + 6 tbsp (divided)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup cacao powder
¼ cup chopped dark chocolate (optional, I used Hu chocolate to keep it dairy free and refined sugar free)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375F and line a 9x4x4 loaf pan (or an 8x4 inch loaf pan, see notes) with parchment paper or grease the pan (I prefer parchment because it’s easier and fool proof).
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1 ½ tsp salt, and the pumpkin spice, then set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the eggs, 1 ¾ cups coconut sugar, pumpkin puree, oil, melted butter, ¼ cup non dairy milk and the vanilla extract. Whisk until homogenous.
Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix just until combined.
Take half of the batter and transfer to another medium-large bowl.
To one half of the batter, add in the ¼ tsp salt, 2 tbsp coconut sugar, 6 tbsp non dairy milk, and the cacao powder. Stir until it is combined.
Into the prepared pan, place scoops of each batter randomly throughout the pan until the batter is gone.
Take a knife and gently swirl it together.
Place into the oven for 35-40 minutes (keep in mind, if using a different pan, baking time will be different, see notes) then cover with tin foil and bake for another 30 or so minutes until a toothpick comes out clean once inserted.
Once done, allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan.
Slice into it warm and top each slice with extra vegan butter. You can also eat it room temp, and it will last for about 4 days. Wrap/store the loaf well to keep it moist!
Notes
I use a Pullman loaf pan, which makes for an extra large and tall bread. I highly recommend investing in one of these, because you’ll get taller loaves (similar in height to a classic sandwich bread) plus you can use them for many other bread projects.
If you want to make this in a small standard loaf pan (8x4) either cut the recipe in half to make one (PDF recipe for 1/2 the recipe is available to print above as it is an annoying recipe to alter!) or keep the batch the same and make two. Bake for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. No need to cover it with foil as it’s not in the oven as long.
I will keep testing the recipe in different pan sizes and update the post here as I go!
