Sunday, April 20, 2008

Chocolate Pound cake

Yes, tomorrow is the big day. The day I turn 30. To celebrate, I am bring one of my favorite cakes to work. And, totally ripping off the style of the pioneer woman, I am going to share the recipe (and if your lucky enough to work with me, a slice). So here goes.

Warning...not the least bit healthy, but should any cake really be?

My Mum's Chocolate pound cake (modify to be gluten-free)

First the dry team:

Sift together 2 cups of "nearly-normal" flour, 1 cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (gluten-free)


Sifting is too much work so I just take my trusty whisk and mix it around a bit

Next the wet team:
3 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups butter (yup the picture lies), 5 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
* remember this is for my birthday, so enjoy all of those eggs and butter!


Start by creaming the butter and sugar together, until light and creamy
next add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition
add the vanilla and mix in. Be sure to use the real vanilla not the fake stuff. That is made from tree extracts, I should know. If you ever want to know how they get those out of the tree I'll tell you, but that is for another time.
This should now be a thick lovely mass and tastes pretty good by itself
lastly, add in the dry team alternating it with the buttermilk (always end with the buttermilk)
Scoop the chocolate goodness (you won't really be able to pour it) into a greased 10 cup bundt pan.
I use a nordicware chrysanthemum bundt . Isn't it pretty, I once made this cake using Special Dark Hershey's cocoa and the cake looked like a giant black ju-ju fruit.

slide your spatula through the batter and tap the pan on the counter to release any big air bubbles
Bake at 325F for 1 hour and 20 minutes or so, until either a skewer comes out with just some moist crumbs or an instant read thermometer reads at least 212F. (I can never wait that long and it turns out a little gooey)
Let cool in the pan for 20+ minutes before removing cake. Allow it to cool completely before slicing. With all of that butter, the cake will stay moist for quite a while and freezes well. Of course, it usually doesn't last that long.

5 comments:

Anneathema said...

I remember the juju fruit! People were scared to cut it. So Tom and I got to eat the whole thing!! :-) It' was AWESOME!

Anonymous said...

Yummy!!! Happy Birthday! Welcome to the 30's :)

Anneathema said...

Ok, I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow morning to make for a baby shower. (not gluten free)
Wish me luck! :-)

Zilla said...

Good luck!
you should be able to sub the same amount of wheat flour for the gluten-free stuff. If you have any questions feel free to give me a call. It makes a lot of batter, so be sure your pan is big enough (it barely all fits in my pan). If not, you can make it in multiple pans.
Have Fun!

Anonymous said...

Although the cake baking was deferred for the baby shower (they had too many desserts already), we are about to be the beneficiaries of this fine recipe this evening... can't... wait... for... cooling.