The Sandpoint Eater: Snackpack

By Marcia Pilgeram
Reader Columnist

Spring has arrived (I think). It’s time to roll down the car windows, grab a map or two (yes, paper maps, please) and follow the two-lane highways stitching together the small towns from Idaho to Montana. Nowadays my road trips usually include a grandkid or two (or more). I’m always ready for a road trip, and it takes me no time at all to pack up some homemade goodies to savor as the days, miles and stories unfold. 

But before we hit the summer highways, we’re counting the days until we embark on a rail journey. Daughters Ryanne and Casey, and the three youngest grandchildren, will join me on a 14-hour train trip to Williston, N.D. From there we’ll head straight to Savage, Mont. for granddaughter Miley’s (along with her nine classmates’), high school graduation. 

I never arrive in Savage without split pea soup for my oldest grandson, Zane, and before the kids even had a chance to nibble off the ears of their chocolate bunnies, the remnants of our Easter ham were already put to good use. The soup is ready, in the freezer, in Ziploc bags, awaiting our eastward journey. I’ll layer cooler snacks and sandwiches atop the frozen soup, which will cleverly pull double duty as ice packs. 

There’s a particular kind of jollity that comes with planning trips, and mine always start in the kitchen — and not just rail and road trips, either! A couple of years ago, to prepare for a long flight, I packed an entire carry-on with snack boxes for 10 of us on a long-haul flight to Maui. The grandkids were a little mortified as I walked the aisle, calling out names and handing out their personalized meals. 

Mortified — or maybe just impressed. Either way, the boxes were a hit. I’m fairly certain I could have sold a few to the hungry passengers nearby.

Travel food has its own rules. It should be sturdy and appealing, a little indulgent but not messy, something that can sit in a bag and still feel like a special treat hours later. I love loaf cakes for that reason. No need for refrigeration, they slice cleanly and carry a sense of home nostalgia with them. 

Banana bread and lemon loaf are classics and family favorites, but when you want something more dessert-like, a rich chocolate loaf becomes the obvious choice. I’ll make one for the trip and hopefully a couple more will make it all the way to Montana.

I rely on a recipe of my mom’s. It’s an old-school recipe that used to appear on the back of the metal can of Hershey’s dark cocoa. Mostly Mom used cocoa powder for the loaf cake and brownies, but occasionally she used the little bars of unsweetened chocolate that she melted in a double boiler. It was bitter, and was not meant to be eaten as candy (ask me how I know — a just reward for a candy pincher).

Hershey’s also made cocoa butter bars. They were solid, faintly chocolate-scented and somehow at home both in the kitchen and the bathroom drawer. Officially for baking, unofficially for everything else: dry skin, stretch marks and, in those optimistic days of youth, even as a tanning aid (which worked right up until it melted in the sun). They were part ingredient, part ritual, part memory.

The chocolate traveling cake is all that to me, too. It’s perfect for a long journey, like a 14-hour train ride, when you need something that holds up. Something that slices neatly, doesn’t crumble into your lap and tastes just as good at the tail end of the trip as it did in the beginning. 

It’s more than a recipe, and has earned a permanent spot in my travel bag. I hope it will earn a spot in yours, too!

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Chocolate loaf cake

This cake is a winner. Feel free to add a few more chips or nuts or whatever! Yields one standard loaf pan, but recipe easily doubles.