My co-worker made this and I made the lemon-poppy seed version (very good) to bring to work last week. The chocolate bread was okay but very bland; not chocolately tasting at all, so I'm not sure why so many reviewers claim it's like chocolate cake or even fudge brownies! (Makes me wonder if they've ever had *real* chocolate cake before! LOL) Meanwhile, I think the recipe can be salvaged by using chocolate *fudge* pudding and/or adding cocoa to the mix. It could also really benefit from chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, Andes mint chips (loved that suggestion, folks!), and/or nuts. Or another suggestion is to make the bread as is but serve it with a spread made with peanut butter or Nutella, cream cheese and powdered sugar.

I used half applesauce and half oil instead of all oil. I split the batter in half. Then in one batter I added Andes Candy mint chocolate bars crushed up about 1/2 cup of the candy. If you can find andes candy mint chips that works well also. In the other batter I added 2 tblsps. of chunky peanut butter and 1/2 cup of Reeses peanut butter chips. The breads came out wonderful and both tasted great!

came out like a think, dense, fudgy brownie crossed with a moist gourmet chocolate cake without frosting. i made it in a bundt pan, and used Jell-O Brand Chocolate Fudge pudding mix. also used applesauce instead of oil, and subbed half the flour with whole-wheat flour. i also added finely chopped zucchini - you cant even see it in there AT ALL! nobody knew i put wheat, applesauce, or zucchini in it - they thought it was the BEST chocolate cake they have ever tasted! oh, i also sprinkled chopped walnuts on top of the mix once i put it in the bundt pan and pressed them down some, so when it came out there were nuts on the bottom of the cake. i also left out the vanilla on accident - whoops! still the best ever - i will make this again and again

My family loved this! My husband doesn't usually eat bread like this. He ate half the loaf before going to bed. I added half a bag of milk chocolate chips and baked for 5 extra minutes. I am waiting for my starter dough to be ready for another round.

I made this recipe and was utterly unimpressed. In fact, I was disappointed...it was dry, didn't taste like much of anything, and it got dark before the suggested time. I had high hopes for it, too.

Very good!! I always add a teaspoon of cinnamon into the flour mix, as well as one cup of frozen chocolate chips just before baking for an extra punch of chocolate.

This is really good. I only gave it 4 stars because I modified it. First,I mixed 1/3 cup cocoa powder and 1 tsp cinnamon with the dry ingredients. Next, I used 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce instead of a whole cup of oil. Last, I folded in a 12 ounce bag of semi sweet chocolate chips. I made one loaf and 12 muffins. The muffins baked for 20 mins and the loaf baked for 60 mins. They both came out perfect! I can't wait to try other variations on the Amish Friendship starter!

My favourite kind of Amish bread! People thought it was cake but it tastes good so it didn't matter. I added some golden raisins to the bread. Will definitely make again!

I added chocolate chips one time, and Andes Crème de Menthe Baking Chips the next - excellent! A recipe you can keep experimenting with!

This was my 1st experience w/ the Friendship Bread starter and this is a great recipe. Not quite chocolaty enough for me so will add cocoa next time. I did add craisins & chocolate chips and they were nicely distributed through out instead of sinking to the bottom. Overall 4.5 ****

I baked my cake in a bundt pan at 350 degrees for 1 hr and 15 minutes. The only variation I made was to put a can of pecan coconut frosting in the bottom of the pan before I added the batter. This is absolutely delicious!! Just like a German Chocolate Cake. The frosting coated the whole top of the cake.

I made this recipe as was written and was disappointed. I thought the flavor was lackluster for what had the texture of a chocolate cake. Next time, I'll just make chocolate cake...

Yummy! It is a nice, new recipe to use with my Friendship Bread starter. I've passed this along to my friends who are tired of the same bread receipe for the starter. I didn't have the Chocolate Instant pudding on hand so I substituted a small box of White Chocolate Instant pudding, a box of Vanilla Instant pudding and a T. of cocoa powder and it tasted great.

Update: just checked breads and they were not done in center...but toothpick came out clean!!! Must have been the high fat content..should bake them 40 minutes at 325 probably. I made this with the following changes: I only used 1/2 teaspoon salt since regular recipe only calls for a 1/2, I always only use 3/4 cup sugar (less sugar lets you taste the chocolate), added 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa to dry mixture, used 1/2 cup cream instead of milk and heated cream 30 seconds and then disolved 1 teaspoon instant dry decaf in it, (milk or half & half would have worked too) and added 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips. Baked in two loaf pans at 325 for about 35 minutes, came out tasting and looking like a cakey brownie and the center fell-but tasted very chocolatey. Still, might not go through this trouble again to make a brownie. The regular cinnamon (or you can make it maple flavored by omitting the vanilla and adding maple flavoring) amish bread can't be beat...

I had a very weird experience with this chocolate bread, and I am wondering if this has happened to anyone else. When done, I cut a slice of the bread and the top 1/3 was chocolate colored (like a brownie) and the bottom 2/3 was GREEN. It was the exact tone of green as a Florist's styrofoam block that they stick flowers into. Needless to say, it was not appealing. Also, the texture of the top was cakelike, but the bottom was overly moist (almost mushy). Maybe I didn't bake it long enough. I am thinking that it was from the coloring in the Chocolate Pudding I used. I threw it away as it was too scary looking to eat. I did try a taste and it seemed okay. Curious to see if this has happened to anyone else?

We loved this. I did not want to make 4 new starters b/c I am tired of Friendship Breads,so I just scooped out 3/4 cup of starter and added 1/3 c of flour, sugar, and milk. That made about a cup of starter that was ready to add to this recipe. It is not overly chocolatey. But really good, nevertheless.

this recipe is dry try this add 2 small boxes chocolate pudding, 1 cup milk, one cup applesauce. 1/2 cup chocolate chips sprinkles on top of each loaf awesome!!!