If chocolate rocks your world, this is the cake for you.
It is decadently bittersweet with a poundcake texture. The frosting is to die for. For this recipe, I used Callebaut Bittersweet Chocolate and Double Dutch Cocoa; both were purchased from King Arthur Baking.
This recipe if from David Lebovitz’ newly revised cookbook, The Great Book of Chocolate. You can buy this cookbook through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.
Lebovitz is the author of a number of great cookbooks including My Paris Kitchen, The Perfect Scoop, Ready for Dessert and Drinking in French. He was a pastry chef at the famed Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley. He currently lives and bakes in Paris and writes a wonderful newsletter you can find on Substack here.
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Chocolate-Chocolate Pound Cake
Ingredients
- For the Cake:
- 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
- 6 T. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3/4 C. heavy cream
- 2 t. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 11 T. unsalted butter (cubed, room temperature)
- 1 1/4 C. sugar
- 3 large eggs (room temperature)
- For the Frosting:
- 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
- 2 T. water
- 2 T. heavy cream
- 4 T. unsalted butter (cubed, room temperature)
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Use a 9 inch loaf pan. Butter the pan and dust it with cocoa. Line the pan with parchment, leaving two sides long to use as handles to assist you in removing the cake from the pan.
- Step 2 Put 4 oz. chocolate and the cocoa powder in a medium heat-proof bowl. Set aside.
- Step 3 Heat the 3/4 C. heavy cream in a small saucepan to a boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and cocoa powder. Let this sit for a couple of minutes. Whisk until smooth.Stir in vanilla Set aside.
- Step 4 Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Step 5 Using your stand mixer and the paddle attachment, mix 11 T. room-temperature butter cut into chunks with the sugar. Mix for about 3 minutes until the butter mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time to the butter mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl after the addition of each egg.
- Step 6 Remove the bowl from the stand mixer stand. Using a spatula, fold in half the dry ingredients. Then, add the melted chocolate and stir. Then, add the remaining dry ingredients. Give the mixture a good stir to be sure there are no dry spots of flour in the mixture. Spoon this batter into your prepared pan.
- Step 7 Bake your poundcake for about 55 minutes. Your cake is done when it is firm on the top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let it cool on your counter for about 20 minutes.
- Step 8 While your cake is cooling, prepare the frosting. Use a medium-sized heatproof bowl. Position the bowl over a pan of shimmering hot water. Add the water and 2 T. cream and stir until the mixture has melted. Once it has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and bit by bit stir in the room-temperature butter. You want the butter to be completely incorporated into the frosting but you don’t want to beat or whisk it too vigorously. Doing so would cause you to lose the beautiful glossy sheen. Let the frosting sit for a few minutes to thicken to a spreading consistency. Once it is at the right consistency, frost your cake using an offset spatula.
