Pistachio Cake Loaves

My co-worker Karen brought these green loaves in for St. Patrick's Day a few years ago and it was one of the best things i've ever tasted, no exaggeration. The texture and taste of this cake is unbelievable! It was referred to as "pistachio bread", but it is truly a cake through and through. You can obviously for-go the green food coloring if you're not making it on St. Patrick's Day, but it does add a beautiful green hue to the loaves! It's so easy to pull together and you'll have everyone asking "WHAT IS IN THIS!?" because it's just THAT good. Karen sent me the recipe and I just had to pass it along!

1 box of yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

2 tablespoons of water

1 tsp. almond extract

1 cup of sour cream

1 package of instant pistachio pudding mix

2/4 cup of chopped walnuts

1/2 tsp. green food coloring (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. Grease and flour two 9x5 loaf pans**.
3. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until smooth and blended.
4. Pour equal amounts of batter into both pans.
5. Bake loaves for 40-45 minutes (keep an eye on them after the 40 minute mark - every oven is different!) or until toothpick is inserted in the center and comes out clean.
6. Allow the loaves to cool before removing them from the pans. Enjoy!

**I've made these loaves with greased pans, as well as with the greased & floured pan method and both worked just fine - it's totally preference. Flouring a greased pan stops the loaves from getting crispier on the outside but simply greasing the pans works well too! They're going to be delicious no matter what. :)

Chocolate Chip Cake Loaf

You guys... this chocolate loaf is the BEST. I know "loaf" isn't the prettiest word, either but hear me out. I was craving chocolate cupcakes and I knew I had a box of chocolate cake mix in the pantry ready to go, but I wanted to try something a little different. I also wanted to bake something that would require less work and less room for storage (storing a ton of cupcakes can be a pain). Long story short, I whipped up a chocolate cake loaf using the chocolate cake mix and it was out of this world delicious and easy. For some extra chocolatey taste, I threw some chocolate chips into the batter and on top of the loaf right after it came out of the oven. I'm sure there are amazing, from-scratch chocolate loaf recipes out there if you're not a fan of the boxed mix, but I am apart of the population that is allllllll about that cake mix taste :). (Not sure how many more times I could have said "chocolate" in this description....) 

1 box of general chocolate cake mix

1 cup of milk chocolate chips (3/4 cup for the batter and then ¼ for sprinkling on top of both loaves

2 loaf pans

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and spray 2 loaf pans with cooking spray.
2. Prepare the chocolate cake mix per the instructions on the back of the box.
3. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and mix until smooth.
4. Pour equal amounts of batter into each loaf pan.
5. Bake loaves for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick/knife is inserted and comes out clean.
6. Let both loaves set and cool completely before removing them from the pans. To remove, I place my hand over top of the loaf and gently flip the pan over. The loaves should slide right out!