Cinnamon Loaf

I once told my roommate my theory of the “unit:” making things where the size of “one” is bigger is best. For example, when you make muffins, you have a dozen little units. This is one pound cake. Which means that taking a fraction of the whole sounds better… at least in my mind.I absolutely love to make quickbreads. I love having something sweet to snack on during the week, and while I often make muffins, breads made in a loaf pan like this one have a special place in my heart. Maybe it’s because it’s so easy to take tiny, thin slices… because we all know that they don’t have any calories.

This particular bread really appealed to me, but I hesitated in making it because I know that, in general, the French don’t share our American love for cinnamon. To them, it often seems too spicy in a dish, and because this cinnamon loaf uses so much, it made me nervous. In the end, I had to try it, but I improvised a little bit: instead of all cinnamon, I used about a half and half combination of cinnamon and quatre épices, which contains cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and nutmeg.

It went over well: it was a little bit too spicy for one in my audience, but the rest of them loved the combination of spices with the sweet cake that holds it all together. As for me, I adored it, especially the texture: I often find that quickbreads can be so moist as to become gummy, but this one is light and fluffy.

And it’s very easy to take lots of little no-calorie tastes.