poundcake II

i vaguely remember having promised to update you all on the longevity of the pound cake. i also vaguely remember having forgotten - ok, i very distinctly remember having forgotten to do so. so with respect to elvis' poundcake, i'd like to report that the texture improved over the next several hours or so. its crusty exterior stayed crusty, but as egg-ful things are wont to do, it tasted much less eggy after the cake cooled and set completely. i think it had about a week's shelf life?

and onto bigger, better things, or at least, more chocolatey things: chocolate pound cake. i can't remember why i made a chocolate pound cake; i guess just because. this is a recipe i'd made before, generally in loaf pans to make a pound cake for chocolate raspberry trifle. i also wanted to test the efficacy of beating the butter and sugar to provide the cake's structure, and i have to confess and bite my tongue - it really helps. in fact, it's pretty amazing how much it helps. the chocolate pound cake that i made relies heavily on the butter and sugar for its tight crumb, and cake flour for its tenderness, and brown sugar for spicy caramel overtones. i would recommend billington's dark brown sugar for the best spicy caramel overtones - i'm pretty sure that 95% of said overtones come from this particular brown sugar, which i've used before to great effect in brown sugar pudding. this particular cake is fantastic plain, but if you need to fancy it up, just drip a chocolate glaze over it. don't bother with powdered sugar, which i hate with a passion on cakes and tarts because you just end up inhaling it and choking, just as you're about to take a bite. it's annoying at your dinner table when you're with good friends, and embarrassing in social situations as you cough and hack.

this is one of the few cakes that i would recommend using good ingredients for: get the cake flour, the valrhona cocoa (sold in bulk for not too much more than regular cocoa at whole foods), the good brown sugar, etc. don't skimp on beating the sugar and butter or your pound cake won't have as soft and beautiful a texture as mine did.

chocolate pound cake
2 1/4c cake flour (not self-rising)
3/4c unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (i used valrhona from whole foods)
1/2t salt
1/4t baking soda
1c sour cream (8 1/2 oz)
2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2c sugar
1 1/2c dark brown sugar, packed
6 eggs

2T butter, melted
2T cocoa powder

1. Do not preheat oven. Mix together the melted butter and 2T cocoa powder, then brush on a 12-cup bundt pan, making sure the entire surface is covered well. You can also use a 10-cup bundt pan but the bottom of the cake will not be flat.

2. In a bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. In a small bowl, stir together baking soda and sour cream.

3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter until homogenous. Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl's sides with a rubber spatula each time.

4. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately in batches, beating until just combined.

5. Pour batter into the bundt pan, tap it a few times to get rid of the air bubbles, and put in the middle of cold oven. Set oven to 350F and bake cake 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 15 minutes and then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Pound cake keeps, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature 1 week. Alternatively, pound cake may be frozen, wrapped well in plastic wrap and foil, 3 months.

[makes 16-20 servings]