Chocolate Pound Cake and Some Cake Baking Basics

In addition to the recipe for this delicious chocolate pound cake, this video contains some basic baking tips that I use when preparing to make a cake. For those of you who are experienced bakers, these tips may seem routine, but some viewers who have not spent a lot of time baking asked me to show some of my preparation in the kitchen, so I included it here.

The chocolate pound cake is a wonderful partner with ice cream or on its own. It can be topped many different ways, including a simple dusting of powdered sugar and cocoa, as I demonstrate in the video.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 sticks butter (unsalted, softened)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tsp instant coffee
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or a 12-cup Bundt pan and set aside.

Using a double boiler, melt baking chocolate and add instant coffee to chocolate and stir in to dissolve. Take chocolate off the heat so it can cool down (don't add it to batter when it is still hot).

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer (if you have one), cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add melted chocolate mixture and beat in until combined. Scrape down the side of the bowl as needed.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down side of bowl as needed.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and slowly combine. Once combined (scrape side of bowl as needed) add 1/2 of the milk and combine well. Add another 1/3 of flour mixture and combine, then add the other 1/2 of the milk and combine, and finally add the last 1/3 of the flour mixture. Scrape side of bowl as needed.

Transfer batter to prepared tube or Bundt pan and level the top of the batter. Place in middle of 325 degree oven and bake for 90-105 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Remove cake from oven to a cooling rack and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then invert cake out of pan and on to the cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Dust top of cake with a powdered sugar/cocoa mix (2 parts sugar to 1 part cocoa) or with a chocolate glaze or any other topping you prefer. This is wonderful served with vanilla ice cream of fresh whipped cream.

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[hankschrader]

Bundt, A timeless classic! Hope everyone had a great 4th!

[marcberm]

I keep extra butter in the freezer for baking, and as a shortcut to thawing it I usually cut it up into pieces just like you do, but I go a step further and place them into the metal work bowl of my mixer and kind of tile them broad side down against the metal. The bowl acts as a heat sink and helps get them softened more quickly. I usually dump then sugar right on top then come back in 20-30 minutes to start creaming.

[denisej]

Ian't it wonderful that not only can someone from the plains join you in your MI studio kitchen, but can also listen to your radio show? How exciting! The cake turned out beautifully! Is this a family recipe? Thanks to you and to Mary Ann!😊

[IngDebo]

See you Saturday, on the Radio! So glad you're back on the air!

[kathleenpalmer]

Thank you for doing this lovely chocolate pound cake video. I’m a chocoholic so the recipe was MUCH appreciated. 😄 🍫 💗

I was hoping you’d show the transfer of the cake from the wire cooling rack onto the cake plate as that gives me a little trouble sometimes when it’s not a flat topped cake (which I flip twice - I lay waxed paper on top of the cake, lay my hand over that and flip the whole wire rack of cake onto my paper covered hand, then I flip it once more onto a cake plate). With the Bundt cake I was usually try picking it up with my hands and transferring it. When I try sliding an extra wide metal spatula under it as it sits on the wire rack I’ve have the cake crumble/break apart somewhat on the bottom as they often settle lower, past the wires.

Please share your method of transfer.

[Bluehill]

Wonderful idea to show preparation!! Seeing someone cook gives a person a lot of courage to try. That cake looks special--I have some great grandchildren who love chocolate.
Thank you, Kevin and Mary Ann.

[russ]

For years (decades) I did not sift the flour before measuring, I would just stir the flour with a whisk and measure by volume. I now sift once and weigh the dry ingredients. My results are now consistent. The use of cake flour & all-purpose flour makes a difference too. I have friends that can detect coffee in my chocolate baked goods, I can't fool them! They like chocolate & hate coffee! Melting chocolate is tricky business! I managed to scorch chocolate once, using a double boiler and it did not boil dry! Excellent recipe! This is a variation of the infamous 1, 2, 3, 4 Cake formula using soda & buttermilk instead of baking powder and whole milk. Thank you Kevin & Marianne again for an excellent baking lesson video!

[judyp.]

Hi Kevin and MaryAnn! I’m an experienced baker (at least I think so😉) and I still learned something new! Thanks! Happy Independence Day everyone 🇺🇸

[ElaineMarieHill]

Hi Kevin ! Growing up we called it a Bunt Cake. I recall its popularity with a pudding mix added. Always a promo attached and a brand of course …. I imagine you have a Bunt Pan Recipe Cook Book?
Also, we made the Helmann’s Mayonnaise Chocolate…. Make that next ?
Love your shows !!

[bonniepeterman]

Hi Kevin
Looks delicious. Excellent baking advice. I think the best advice you gave was to read the recipe twice. So important. Thank you for a very informative video. Hi to Maryann and Ralph.😊

[adamjameshumphreys]

Informative, entertaining, hunger-inducing. As always.👨🏼‍🍳

[TeamTrumpUSA]

And you could also cut that cake in half and mail it to me. I'll pay the postage.
My cousin, who passed away prematurely, baked chocolate pound cakes and every Christmas she would send me a small cake. It was great with vanilla ice-cream. My aunt would bake regular pound cakes that would on occasion fall. They were so good that way, but my aunt would scoff because she thought it a failure and a complete waste of time, but we liked it.
Thanks for the recipe and bringing back fond memories of long ago.
Cheers from Coastal South Carolina

[fumblebunny]

Hi, Kevin! I will try this pound cake this weekend! So good to see you back! If you ever come to Nashville, I would be proud to cook you a meal or take you to the Loveless Cafe (look it up 😊)
Yes, pound cake is popular in the South...we use it in a vanilla flavor for short cake recipes. We LOVE it for breakfast or bunch, with a good cup of coffee. We love a lemon poundcake. I've been cooking for 50 years and I have never had a chocolate one!
Good advice from you on cooking from a recipe. It is so important to get everything together before you begin. It is also good to clean as you go to prevent confusion.
If you are a beginning cook, you are going to make mistakes! Laugh it off and try it again another day. Oh, be thankful for Youtube and cooking channels like Kevin's. They are priceless!
Thank you, Mary Ann, for running the camera ❤❤😽😽🐰🐰

[trudybednarek]

Looking forward to “Golden age of Vinyl”!!! Ps perfect pound cake for sure🎉

[andreaberryhill]

You're braver than am I! I always crack my eggs into a bowl before adding to anything, making sure there are no shells.

[trudybednarek]

My first chocolate pound cake, love this. Thankyou soo much
😊can’t wait to try

[donnaclinton]

Thank you Kevin. Thank you MaryAnn. This was helpful. I didn’t realize a pound cake could be baked in a bundt pan. I like the tip about having a damp cloth near the work area. It looks very good!

[bethbrec]

Hi Kevin and Mary Ann! That does look moist! I've never made it in a bundt pan before as I was taught to use a tube pan, but this looks prettier in my opinion. I'll have to add it to my to do list!

[trudybednarek]

This lesson really helped me I’m inexperienced cook!!!

[bbymks]

Love chocolate pound cake eaten like strawberry shortcake!

Couple other tips for new bakers.

When using glass or dark bakeware, decrease that baking temperature by 25°. Yes, sometimes it increases the bake time, but it also substantially decreases the chances of burning!

You can also get a buttermilk powder to mix with milk if, for whatever reason you don't think you can stomach the look of sour milk.

If you keep your sugar and flour in the freezer, you're going to want to let those ingredients come to room temp as well.

If a recipe states 2 cups sifted flour, you need to sift the flour then measure using the spoon and level method. If it says 2 cups sifted, you measure then sift, still using all the flour you pre measured.