Chocolate Pound Cake

This recipe for chocolate pound cake was my first endeavor into the baking world about twenty years ago. I was introduced to it by a lady named Debbie Morris whom I worked with when I was a college student. I've made it numerous times over the years, usually for my little brother who admits to an addiction to chocolate. I've even frosted it but that's really overkill if you ask me. This cake needs nothing but a plate and a quiet spot where it can be savored.


Chocolate Pound Cake

1 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. shortening
3 c. sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 c. milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream butter and shortening; add sugar one cup at a time, mixing well after each cup. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla. Combine dry ingredients in a different bowl. Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the milk to the creamed mixture. Beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Bake in a greased 10" tube pan for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

First, I got this cake plate at a church thrift sale yesterday and I felt that it needed something. Like a cake... But, not just any cake. A cake that was dense and majestic, and...chocolate.

I start the pound cake-making process by greasing and flouring the tube pan. I inherited this tube pan in 1987 when one of my favorite cousins and my great-grandmother passed away. I was given this pan, and while it wasn't certain which one of them it belonged to, I knew that it did belong to one of them and I have cherished it since then. It is well-used, well-worn, and blessed.

After I prepare the pan, I like to go ahead and get the dry ingredients mixed together. This is flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa. Set aside for now.

Cream the butter and shortening together.

I add the sugar one cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions.

The next step is to add the eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.

I always crack my eggs into a small bowl to make sure they're good.

Add the vanilla flavoring to the creamed mixture.

Time to add the dry mixture alternatively with the milk. I start with the dry ingredients, adding one third of the mixture.

Add a half cup of the milk. After blending in the milk, repeat the 1/3 of the dry mixture, and then the other half of the milk. End with the final 1/3 of the dry mixture.

The batter will be thick and luscious. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to make sure that the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.

You will not be able to pour this batter into the pan. Spoon it evenly around the pan and smooth down before placing in the oven. Bake at 325 degrees for an hour and 20 minutes. I don't even check on it for the first hour or so. Then, I carefully rotate it once when there's about ten minutes left on the clock. Check with a toothpick for doneness.

Old faithful came through again! Let cool for about ten minutes before transferring to a plate. Invert the cake on to a plate, then invert again so that the buttery, crusty top is exposed for all to see.

And, now the hard part. A pound cake is at its best the next day. I know it will be hard, but you should wait overnight to cut the cake.

Simple, dense, delicious!

If you're lucky enough to have someone bake a pound cake for you, have no doubt that you are loved!