This chocolate pound cake recipe has been in the family for years. I understand that my great grandmother used to make it. I have changed it a little bit since I started making it but it is still mostly the same. I am lucky to have my great grandmother's cast iron bundt pan to cook it in. It is quite heavy to put in and out of the oven but it is worth it!
Chocolate Pound Cake - basic recipe
3 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa (I use 1/4 cup Dutch-processed and 1/4 cup black cocoa)
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs.
Mix dry ingredients together.
Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to butter and egg mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for one and a half hours or until toothpick tester comes out clean. When I use the cast iron pan, I preheat the pan and cook for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.
Variations to add:
mashed banana
grated zuccini
raspberry sauce
chocolate chips
frosting (only added for birthdays)
(Some members of my family make a meal of this cake. They put a slice on the plate and put peanut butter on it, then a banana cut in half, lastly they smother it in vanilla yogurt. Now THAT is a breakfast. I prefer the cake with just vanilla yogurt.)
P wanted a pink cake for her birthday. We made the basic recipe plus a mashed banana and sprinkled chocolate chips on the cake before baking. It is frosted with pink frosting and sprinkled with mini m & m baking pieces. She likes the frosted donut with sprinkles look.
Happy Birthday P.
Three years ago, at 11:11 on 6/6/05, we heard the delivery nurse and the anesthesiologist argue across me as to what time would be the official birth time. The anesthesiologists laptop said 11:10; the wall clock said 11:11. The nurse insisted that 11:11 was a much better birth time. She won.
edit: a stick of butter is 8 tablespoons, 1/2 cup, or 1/4 pound.
