Paleo and GAPS-friendly, this death by chocolate pumpkin spice bread with coconut cream ganache is the perfect blend of fall flavors and dark chocolate love.
For the love of chocolate.
It’s no secret that I love chocolate. Gladly would I eat it for every meal, and I’m not too picky about what form it takes, either. Cake, cookies, ice cream, syrup, marshmallows, smoothies… It all has my name written on it in big, bold letters.
When it comes to chocolate, there’s really only one thing I’m picky about: the darkness of it. Do not try to fool me with your Hershey’s milk chocolate. No sir. I know that’s not real.
Dark chocolate is where it’s at. The darker, the better.
I may have even been known to eat plain cocoa powder straight from the canister a few times. Sometimes you just need it as dark as possible, ya’ know?
Learning moderation.
Granted, I don’t do that much any more. Ever since my 6-month journey through the GAPS Intro Diet, my chocolate love has been under extreme control.
Not that I don’t love it just as much, unfortunately I just can’t tolerate it as well. So instead of making myself a pan of blender brownies for breakfast, I portion out small pieces of homemade, honey sweetened chocolate to enjoy.
My chocolate treats have also been lacking the depths of chocolatey darkness I’m used to, as well. I’ve been using only tiny bits of cocoa, slowly working my way back up to my old days of chocolate glory.
Death by chocolate.
All was going fine with my slow ease back into chocolate, until a few weeks ago, that is. A friend of mine posted a link to a death by chocolate pumpkin bread recipe on Facebook, and I couldn’t look away. I immediately knew I had to make a grain-free version I could eat.
So here we are, basking in the beauty of a paleo, 100% honey-sweetened death by chocolate pumpkin spice bread. Yep, even the chocolate chips are refined sugar-free! And you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg at Walmart to get them, either (as if you could even find such a glorious thing at Walmart).
Though I’m working on my vary own, perfectly dark chocolate chip recipe, for this death by chocolate pumpkin spice bread I used My Gusty’s honey chocolate drops. They were pretty easy and worked wonderfully in place of “real” chocolate chips.
Death by chocolate pumpkin spice bread.
To help make this bread turn out perfectly asap, I mixed and mashed parts of the aforementioned glutenous, sugar-laden bread with a nice grain-free pumpkin spice bread recipe I found (don’t remember where how I found it!). I added in the homemade chocolate chips, and after cooling, topped the whole thing with a gorgeous drizzle of coconut cream ganache.
And thus came about the birth of the most delicious, deeply dark death by chocolate pumpkin spice bread. Completely free of grain, dairy, and refined sugar. And also free of death, in case you were really wondering…
All the dark chocolate things.
Looking for more dark chocolate goodness? I have soooo many delicious and easy dark chocolate treats hanging around here. And they’re all pretty healthy, too! Here are a few of my favorites…
- Dark Chocolate Mexican Blender Brownies
- Triple Chocolate Mousse Shooters
- Spiced Dark Chocolate Cake
- Quick Fix Dark Hot Chocolate Shots
- Easy Paleo Dark Chocolate Eggnog
- Dark Chocolate Triple Berry Muffins
- Healthy Dark Chocolate Marshmallows
- Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
- Peppermint & Buttermilk Dark Chocolate Cake
In the recipe card I’ve linked to some of the products from my affiliate partners that I like to use. Purchasing through these links won’t cost you anything extra. Thanks!
Death by Chocolate Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Coconut Cream Ganache
Free of grain, gluten, dairy, and refined sugar.
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup almond flour (sifted)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon each nutmeg, cardamom, and ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup honey (local is best!)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (I like to use my homemade stuff)
- 1 cup chocolate chips (I used my homemade chocolate chunks)
For the ganache:
- 1/2 cup melted coconut cream (I used the cream off the top of my homemade coconut milk)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- dash sea salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9×5 loaf pan and line with parchment.
In a bowl whisk together dry ingredients. In a separate large bowl whisk together wet ingredients.
Stir dry into wet and fold in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan to a rack to cool completely (it’s hard, I know!).
In small saucepan melt the coconut cream. Whisk in remaining ingredients until smooth.
Set in the freezer to firm up about 10 minutes, or until thick and not too liquid-y.
Drizzle or pour over cooled cake. Admire the beauty of your creation.
Devour.
This looks amazing! And I’m with you. Loooove dark chocolate. I don’t ever eat milk chocolate any more.
Thanks so much, Jean! Dark chocolate is for the hard core. Haha!
II would happily die of a chocolate overdoes, especially with this chocolate bread!
Haha! Thanks. 😉
Wow raia! That looks so chocolatey amazing!
Haha. 😉 Thanks, Linda!
Yesss! Oh my goodness this is amazing Raia! Thank you for the fun fall treat!
Thank you so much, Renee! And you’re so welcome, too. 😉
Well, thanks for making my mouth water today! Seriously, this looks absolutely heavenly!
Haha! You’re welcome. 😉
This bread looks flipping delicious and soooooo chocolately 🙂 Love all the spices you’ve incorporated in there too!
Thanks so much, Monique! 🙂
SWOON!!! I may need to make this today! Or better yet…have the 11 year old make it! 😉 That coconut cream ganache sounds heavenly!
Haha! What do you have kids for, anyway? It was pretty hard to save the ganache for the bread…. 😉
as if the bread didn’t sound yummy enough you had to go and add that coconut cream!
Haha! Might as well die happy, eh? 😉
This looks super chocolatey and delicious! My favorite combo! 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
If I have to die…it might as well be from chocolate:)
Haha! Exactly. 😉
Oh my goodness this looks crazy good! LOVE all of that beautiful pumpkin chocolate goodness and that ganache SWOON!
Thank you so much, Emily! You can’t go wrong with pumpkin, chocolate, and ganache. 😉
SO good! This is beyond decadent! Thanks for sharing and the inspiration to try it!!
So glad to share, Carol! I hope you get to enjoy it!
This looks like absolute heaven. However, I am much like you in that my body can’t seem to handle that much sugar in one setting anymore.
Thanks, Carrie! It is crazy what we figure out about our bodies once we reset them to eat more naturally. 😉
I have never thought about making ganache with coconut milk before – and I LOVE coconut milk. Thanks for the idea!
I hope you enjoy it, Katie!
I’ve made this a couple times. I love the recipe; it’s so easy, made with pantry staples, & delicious. But on Sunday I used the recipe to make muffins… I baked them at 375 for about 20 mins & they turned out great. I left off the frosting & sprinkled them with raw sugar before baking them. They have been a real hit at breakfast! Thanks !!
Oh wow, that’s an awesome idea, Maria! Thank you so much for sharing. I’m so glad you enjoy the recipe!
This looks yummy! Can I use Pumpkin Pie Spice in lieu of some or all of the spices? (I don’t keep some of those around.). If so, please tell me how – amounts and which substitutes for which.
Thank you.
I’m sure you could use pumpkin pie spice instead, I’ve not ever tried it, though. I would go for 1 teaspoon as a test. 🙂 Hope you enjoy it!
That ganache looks pretty amazing! It’s like a chocolate butter!!
Pretty much! Haha! Thanks, Tessa!
This cake looks so moist and full of chocolate! I can’t wait to try it!
Thank you, Anne! I hope you get to enjoy it!
So fun Raia! My girls would think this is such a special treat – great ingredients that I can feel good about too!
Thanks, Renee! My kids probably would’ve liked it… but I don’t share chocolate well. Haha!
This looks amazing! I wish I wasn’t cocoa free right now. Maybe I’ll have to make it for my kids.
I hope they enjoy it, Mary!
This looks absolutely delicious! So moist and well chocolatey! Love that it is grain free…..
Thank you, Hope! It’s pretty decadent. 🙂
There is no better combination than pumpkin and chocolate! This recipe is over-the-top amazing!!
Thanks, Lauren!
I know what I will be having for dessert tonight! This looks incredible and easy too!
Haha! I hope you enjoy it, Sara!
As both a chocolate and a pumpkin lover, this sounds absolutely divine! I’ll have to give it a try.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!
OMG! Looks Amazing! It won’t last long in my house.
Haha! Thanks, Andrea! It doesn’t last long here, either. 😉
This cake sounds ah-mazing! I love anything with dark chocolate. I can’t wait to make this, maybe this weekend!
I hope you get to enjoy it, Kristine!
These look amazing. What can I use instead of eggs?
Thanks! You could try applesauce or flax eggs, but I’ve never tried them so I don’t know if they would actually work. 🙂 Please let me know if you try it!