Chocolate Velvet Pound Cake

It’s sometimes all in the name. Even I, the vanilla lover (and sometime chocolate basher), couldn’t turn down making a pound cake described as chocolate velvet. All that was missing after this beauty baked and cooled was for it to wrap itself around me and make me feel like those people in the super cheesy snuggie commercials.

A couple of things were at play here to make this vanilla lovin chica fall for this chocolate treat. First off – coffee.

In case you didn’t know, a lil coffee in chocolate confections really, really brings out the chocolate flavor. It won’t taste like a coffee flavored chocolate cake (this chica doesn’t like coffee either). It will just taste like an out of this world chocolate cake. And because you get what you put in, you’ve just gotta use really good cocoa.

There’s just no other way around it. You don’t need a whole lot of it. But if it’s not the best, you will have a hard time converting vanilla lovers like me to the darker side.

This cake is great on it’s own. It’s not too sweet but packs in the chocolate flavor. At first glance, it looks like a big ol’ dense brownie. But after your first bite, the light texture and tight crumb will make your heart flutter. (At least mine did.) The only thing that would take this chocolate pound cake over the top, is a big scoop of, well, vanilla ice cream of course.

Ingredients:

Yield: One Loaf

• 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature;
• 1 1/4 cup (8 3/4 ounces) sugar;
• 1 teaspoon water, at room temperature;
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder;
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature;
• 1 cup (5 ounces) all purpose flour;
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder;
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder;
• Pinch of Salt;
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) buttermilk, at room temperature.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a loaf pan with butter, oil or nonstick cooking spray.
2. Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until light, fluffy and almost white in color – roughly 6-7 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. In a small bowl, combine water and espresso powder until smooth. Crack the eggs into the same bowl and mix to blend. At medium speed, add the egg mixture to the butter mixture a couple tablespoons at a time. Allow each addition to completely blend before adding the next and make sure to scrape down the bowl after each addition.
3. Pass the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt through a sift into a medium bowl and lightly whisk to combine. With the mixer on its slowest speed, add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, begining and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated finishing with a rubber spatula by hand.
4. Scrape the batter onto the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes – until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely over a rack before slicing and serving.