Chocolate Pound Cake

8

August 14, 2012 by Dana

Ok.  I know that everyone makes mistakes.  I do.  You do.  We all do.  We are human, after all.

But sometimes, even though we know that, it’s just SO HARD to forgive other people’s mistakes.

Like, for example, the girl that shaped my eyebrows this weekend.  And made them look like two different people’s eyebrows.  With a hole in the middle of one.

Yes.  That, my friends, is what we call a mistake.  A big one. And, call me crazy, I’m having trouble… forgiving her.

But then, who I am I to say anything?  I, too, made a mistake this weekend.

I accidentally made a Chocolate Pound Cake when I was actually attempting to make a Chocolate Marble Pound Cake.

Her mistake resulted in a 26 year old woman throwing a tantrum on her car ride home.  My mistake resulted in a delicious pound cake with a light chocolate flavor.

That’s almost the same.

Anyway.

Let’s focus on the positive:  pound cake.  When you accidentally mix the vanilla batter with the chocolate batter when making a chocolate swirl pound cake, you still get pound cake.  And that’s a win in my book.

In fact, the result may even be better than marble pound cake.   Because it’s easier.  And just as tasty.  And, let’s be honest, once you take a bite you can’t tell if the cake is marbled or not.

So make this cake.  Marble it.  Don’t.  Just make sure you make it.  It may be just what you need to get past someone else’s mistake.

Chocolate Pound Cake
(adapted from Food & Wine)

Ingredients

Vegetable oil cooking spray
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup half and half
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan with vegetable oil cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Spray the paper.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

3.   In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to combine the softened butter with the granulated sugar. Beat for one minute.  Add the eggs, one by one, mixing for 30 seconds after each addition.   Add vanilla and continue to beat until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Add the cream and continue to mix until smooth.

4.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake the pound cake for 25 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 325° and bake for 25 minutes more. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes longer, or until the cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Let the pound cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then unmold and let cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

** This cake can be wrapped in foil and refrigerated for 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months.