Dark Chocolate Pound Cake

 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July.  We had a great time eating, swimming lighting off fireworks and of course eating some more.  By the time I got home last night I was literally sick from eating so much delicious food.  In fact, we had so much food left over we are having another BBQ today to finish it all up.  The fireworks were a lot of fun.  The husbands I think enjoy it more than the kids.  Every year they gather all of the cheap McDonalds happy meal toys and attach fireworks to them with duct tape.   I have to say, happy meal toys are extremely flammable.  The guys are like kids they are almost giddy when a toy catches fire and melts into a plastic puddle.  All in all it was a great night.

I decided to make a delicious dark chocolate pound cake with a sour cream glaze for our potluck BBQ last night.  It turned out so delicious despite the smoke filled house that it created.  The recipe I used was made for a 12 cup bundt pan, which mine is, but for some reason it spilled over the edges and dripped all over the oven floor.  The drippings became burnt puddles of sugar and chocolate.  There was so much smoke that I can't believe my fire alarms weren't going off.  So, I pulled the cake from the oven, turned the oven off and cleaned it all out.  then I put the cake back into the oven, crossed my fingers and hoped that at least it would be edible.  The cake of course sunk while it was sitting out and I knew that it wouldn't rise again so imagine my surprise when the cake turned out beautifully and delicious despite the fact that it was a little sunken on the underside.  The cake turned out richly chocolately with a chewy exterior and a brownie like texture inside.  The glaze was sweet and a little tangy and was a great contrast to the sweet chewy cake on the inside.  This was a great recipe despite all of the mishaps that took place while making it.  I might just make it again the same way, letting it spill out onto a pan and letting it sink down a little before baking it the rest of the way.

Dark Chocolate Pound Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1 cup dark dutch processed cocoa powder

1 Tbs. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 3/4 cup milk or half-and-half

1. Preheat the oven to 325° and grease a 12 cup bundt pan.   Cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix to combine.

2.  Add the eggs, one at a time, to the creamed butter and sugar, mixing well after each addition.  Add both of the extracts and mix to combine.

3.  Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk, starting and ending with flour.  Mix until just combined.  Pour the mixture into prepared bundt pan filling only 3/4 of the way full.  (You may have a little extra batter.)  Bake for 90-95 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for 10 minutes in pan then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Sour Cream Glaze

1 lb (16 oz) powdered sugar

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 tsp almond extract

about 2 Tbs. milk or half-and-half

1.  Mix all of the ingredients together with a whisk until smooth.  Add additional milk to thin to desired consistency.  Pour glaze over cake.