The Best Chocolate Pound Cake | My Mom's Recipe (2024)

Watch my chocolate pound cake web story here.

Chocolate Pound Cake, At a Glance

And here’s a photo of Susan’s cake, used with permission. Look how beautiful!

What Makes This Recipe So Great

This was my Aunt Charlotte’s favorite cake. Mom used to make her one every year, and every year, this sainted woman hoarded it, only sharing see-through thin pieces with special friends and only when asked.

That alone should be enough of an endorsem*nt, but since you didn’t know my sainted Aunt Charlotte, here are some more reasons:

• Using brown sugar deepens the flavor and also makes this cake moister so that it gets fudgy after a few days on the counter. If it lasts that long
• It has just enough instant coffee in it to bolster the chocolate without being mocha. (If you want a more coffee-forward pound cake, try my chocolate espresso pound cake)
• Adding acidic dairy (in the form of sour cream or buttermilk) makes the crumb nice and tender
• Using enough salt to bring all the flavors into focus and counteract any bitterness that might be lurking from the cocoa powder
• Taking the time to whip all the eggs together to add them a bit at a time makes for a very stable, thick, and billowy batter that bakes up with a lovely, tight, velvety crumb

If this cake sounds like your cup of tea, you can jump straight to the recipe.

If you decide to make this cake, I have a favor to ask:

How To Make Chocolate Pound Cake

Ingredients (and Substitutions)

Here’s a rundown of everything you’ll need so you can make your shopping list. You probably own a lot of ingredients already, especially if you do a lot of baking.

• unsalted butter: Carries the flavor and helps with browning, tenderness, and leavening (the creaming process). I prefer unsalted because I can better control the amount of salt in the recipe by simply adding my own measured amount
• salt: brings out the flavor. Counteracts any bitterness from the cocoa powder or instant coffee
• brown sugar: provides sweetness, tenderness, and the molasses in the brown sugar adds to the depth of flavor
• granulated sugar: provides the sweetness and assists with leavening (the creaming process). My mom originally made this cake with all white sugar, and you can too if you don’t have any brown sugar
• vanilla: rounds out the flavors. You could sub with chocolate extract or coffee extract if you’d rather
• eggs: helps with leavening, structure, tenderness. I use large eggs
• espresso powder: substitute instant coffee if you don’t have espresso powder. If your instant coffee is in big crystals (like mine) powder it using a mortar and pestle so it will easily incorporate with the batter
• all purpose flour: flour provides bulk and structure. If you prefer, you may use the same amount of cake flour rather than all-purpose. Your cake will be slightly more tender if you use cake flour. Mom always used all purpose, so either will work beautifully. Substitute cake flour for a finer texture
• cocoa powder: substitutes for part of the flour to bring dark chocolate flavor. Use “standard” un-alkalized cocoa powder, not Dutch process. I use regular, “grocery store cocoa powder.” When I have some, I use Ghirardelli.
• baking powder: emits gases to assist with leavening, once when it gets wet and again when it heats up in the oven (hence “double acting”)
• baking soda: neutralizes the acidic buttermilk and molasses so the batter has a balanced pH and bakes correctly. (Too acidic and your batter bakes up too quickly, too basic, and it may never actually set)
• buttermilk: acidic buttermilk tenderizes the crumb and provides liquid to make the batter light enough to rise well in the oven. You can use whole buttermilk, low-fat, or non-fat here. You may also choose to swap out up to half of the buttermilk for some plain yogurt or sour cream

How to Make It: Basic Rules for The Creaming Method

1. Beat butter until smooth and creamy.
2. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 8 minutes.
3. Beat the eggs together in a bowl and drizzle them slowly into the batter over about five minutes or so. This results in the most stable emulsion possible.
4. Alternate adding the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients dry->wet->dry->wet->dry.
5. Pan and bake.
   

Equipment Recommendations

For best results, make chocolate pound cake using a stand mixer or a hand mixer.

This cake is scaled to fit in a 12-cup Bundt pan. You can also bake in 2 loaf pans or 2 9″ round pans.

Check out my brown sugar cinnamon pound cake recipe. That recipe has the same proportions as this cake, and I baked some of the batter in a loaf pan, some in an 8″ round pan, and I also made 11 cupcakes.

Pro Tip

For the moistest cake, after unmolding, wrap the cake in plastic wrap before letting it cool completely. All the moisture will stay inside the cake rather than evaporating out.

Videos

There is a video embedded in the recipe card below that shows in detail how to perform the creaming method.

The auto-play video for this post is of a whipping cream pound cake which uses the same method.

If you are interested in watching a real-time video, I made this cake on Facebook live, and you can find that live chocolate pound cake video on Facebook.

How to Make the Two-Tone Glaze

I think the glaze is so pretty! It’s also really easy to achieve.

The white layer is just my regular old glaze (and I never measure for this glaze):

• powdered sugar
• a pinch of salt
• a splash of vanilla and
• just enough half and half to make a thick, barely pourable glaze

You can also consider making a cream cheese glaze. For that, you’ll need:

• 2 oz cream cheese
• 1 oz butter, melted
• pinch of salt
• a touch of vanilla
• 12 oz (3 cups) sifted powdered sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons half and half

The chocolate glaze is 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup heavy cream. In other words, a simple ganache.

Pipe it on with a pastry bag and a reusable #2 tip or just snip off a tiny corner of a zip top bag and use that.

Freezing Instructions

This guy freezes really well for a good 3-4 months. Make sure it is well wrapped in both plastic wrap and then heavy-duty foil.

For ease of serving, I suggest slicing it before freezing. That way when you want a piece of cake, you can just take out what you need.

If you are planning to freeze the whole cake, wait until you thaw it out to glaze it. Then let the glaze set up for 2-3 hours before slicing and serving.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.

Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.

If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.

A Note About Measurements

It will help me and other readers so much if you take a moment to rate and leave a review for this recipe.

You can use the stars to rate 1-5 (5 is best), and leave a review in the comments. It helps me make adjustments if any are needed, and comments help others decide whether the recipe is worth making.

Other ways to share include pinning, and/or sharing on your favorite social media platform.

Thank you so much for taking the time!

See Also

Easy Protein Rice Krispie Treats Recipe - Basics with Bails

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