Pumpkin and chocolate: a match made in confectionery heaven. In this pillowy vegan pumpkin chocolate chip bread, the sweet, aromatic pumpkin purée intermingles with the rich, dark chocolate and melty semi-sweet chocolate chips. Together, the two create a delicious, beautifully swirled dessert bread centerpiece that goes excellently with tea and coffee on cold fall and winter days. If you’re looking to bake a pungently pumpkin-y and audaciously rich and elegant pumpkin and chocolate flavored bread, then this is the one for you.
Preheat the oven to 350°F, and then lightly grease a 9x5 baking dish.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and soda, ground cinnamon and salt.
Then in another large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, melted vegan butter, soy milk, ground flaxseed, vanilla extract, and pumpkin purée until smooth.
Combine together the wet ingredients with the dry, and fold together just until no dry flour remains. Then, split the dough in half, and transfer one half back to the other large bowl.
Add to one half of the dough the cocoa powder and vegan chocolate chips, and fold them in with a spatula just until incorporated and the dough has changed to a nice dark color. Careful not to overmix it.
Next, take a decent sized scoop of the lightly colored batter, and place dollops of it in the 9x5 diagonally back and forth. Then, take decent sized scoop of the chocolate batter and fill in the missing spots. It should look like a checkerboard. Keeping alternating between the two doughs until you have filled up the 9x5 baking dish.
Now that all the dough has been laid into the 9x5, take a knife or large toothpick, and make 3 - 4 large figure 8's in the dough to lightly blend together the two batters. Don't overdo it or it will look muddy.
Once swirled, bake the bread for 52 - 60 minutes, covering with aluminum foil halfway through (~ about 30 minutes in) to keep the bread from browning too much on top.
Let the bread cool for for 15 - 30 minutes before removing from the 9x5, and then it's ready to eat right away!