Road Food: Good food that travels well
Whether you’re heading across the country, across the world, or simply across town, this series of recipes is made for life on the move. They’re easy to make, easy to pack, and taste just as good hours later as they do fresh from the kitchen. Perfect for road trips, picnics, hikes, airplanes, potlucks, packed lunches, busy weeknights, and anywhere else you need to go.
This series of recipes is exclusively for members of The Lost Supper Club (paid subscribers).
Walnut Chocolate Chip Spice Cake
Road food notes: Stays soft and fresh for 3-4 days • Individually wrapped slices travel well • No mixer required • Not too sweet • Soft and hearty crumb with nibbles of walnuts and chocolate in every bite
We had two solid days of rain last week, which is honestly one of my favorite things in the whole world. I love rainy days. They are all the excuse I need to get a pot of soup going and bake something sweet. And is there anything better than tucking into bed with a good book and the gentle patter of rain on the roof? Especially with a belly full of soup and cake?
I had started working on this recipe a few weeks earlier and decided the rainy weather was the perfect excuse to fine-tune its rough edges. I wanted a soft, tender cake with tiny pieces of walnuts scattered evenly throughout.
As a general rule, I am not a fan of large pieces of nuts in my baked goods. I’d rather keep my banana bread, brownies, and carrot cake nut-free, and if nuts are to be involved, I don’t want them to interfere with a soft crumb or creamy texture.
That said, I love nuts of all kinds. I’m just picky about using them in baked goods. So for this cake, I ground the walnuts in the food processor with a bit of sugar to help break them into small pieces without turning them into a paste.
The ground walnuts are scattered evenly throughout the loaf, their delicate little crunch adding some contrast to the soft cake.
After cutting the cake and wrapping the slices individually, I brought one to a friend who lifted it to her nose and took a deep breath. Mmmmm, it smells like fall, she said.
And that is what we want from any kind of spice cake, isn’t it? There is something about the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves that announces the arrival of fall. Add to that the smell of butter, vanilla, walnuts, and chocolate, and you can practically hear the leaves crunching under your feet.
Ingredient notes
This cake uses a combination of cake flour and whole wheat flour. The whole wheat flour gives it a sturdy, hearty texture and intensifies the nutty flavor of the ground walnuts. The cake flour keeps it soft and tender.
Grinding up the walnuts and using mini chocolate chips give each bite a nutty, chocolaty crunch. So what we have here is a buttery spice cake that’s soft, tender, hearty, chocolaty, and nutty all at the same time.
A little bit of everything, that’s what this cake is. It feels good to have it all sometimes, doesn’t it?
Packing and serving tips
I like to cut the loaf into 6 to 8 slices and wrap each one individually in plastic wrap. The slices will keep well at room temperature for 3 or 4 days. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Pack individually wrapped slices into a ziptop bag or other airtight container before freezing. Remove the number of slices you need about four hours before you want to eat them to give the cake time to thaw.
By the way, having a few individually wrapped slices of loaf cake in the freezer is a very good thing. They are perfect for packing into sack lunches, picnic baskets, backpacks, or grabbing a slice you rush out the door.
This vanilla loaf cake is one of my favorite things to bake, slice, wrap, and freeze. The recipe includes several variations on the basic vanilla cake; choose from blueberry, chocolate chip, raspberry, or cinnamon swirl.
Another favorite is this lemon olive oil loaf cake .
More Road Food Recipes
Middle Eastern Meatball Wraps With Garlic and Lemon Yogurt Sauce
These meatballs are spiced with cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, and garlic, fried until crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside, then smothered with a garlicky lemon yogurt sauce and wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla. This is the kind of simple, no-fuss, handheld meal that you can wrap up and take with you anywhere.
Bourbon Vanilla Caramel Bars
Here’s what we’ve got going on here: Salty, sweet, bourbon and vanilla flavored shortbread bars, dripping with caramel and covered in bourbon glazed pecans, toasted coconut, and chocolate chips. They are seriously seductive, so you might want to be careful who you share them with. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
White Bean Pasta Salad with Sun Dried Tomatoes
Since adding a sailboat to our modes of transportation, I’ve learned that lunch in a jar is also the perfect meal while sailing. But honestly, this is the kind of salad that travels well in almost any situation—packed lunches, hikes, picnics, beach days… you get the picture.
Blueberry Pie Bars
These sweet, jammy little bars are much easier to transport than blueberry pie but still deliver plenty of bright blueberry flavor. Use your favorite can, or jar, of prepared blueberry pie filling, or make the filling from scratch. You'll find my favorite recipe below.
Roasted Eggplant Dip
This roasted eggplant dip is smoky, garlicky, just a little bit spicy, and exactly the kind of thing I want to eat with pita chips or warm buttered naan—and maybe a stash of cut vegetables and a handful of roasted nuts.
Paprika Chicken Bites
Tender, juicy paprika chicken bites made with just a handful of pantry ingredients, one pan, and ready in about 20 minutes. Delicious served hot, at room temperature, or cold, they're perfect for easy weeknight dinners, meal prep, packed lunches, road trips, picnics, and travel days.
Spicy White Bean Harissa Dip
This creamy, spicy, slightly smoky dip takes less than 15 minutes to prepare, will keep in the refrigerator for days, and in a cooler for many hours.