Chocolate Pound Cake

Chocolate Pound Cake

This past weekend was the birthday of a dear friend and said friend apparently loves her mother-in-law's chocolate pound cake. Her hubby got me the recipe so that I could make it to surprise her. This cake turned out great. I was quite temped to top it with a glaze, ice cream, whipped cream or strawberries but my friend's husband assured me that his mom serves it plain, as is. Apparently she does dust it with powdered sugar sometimes, which would add to a pretty presentation, but is completely unnecessary for flavor purposes.

-1 1/2 cups butter, softened
-3 cups sugar
-5 eggs
-1 cup milk
-1/2 cup cocoa powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-3 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1 Tbsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Sift the dry ingredients 3 times (I cheated and just whisked them together in a bowl). Add the dry ingredient mixture to the butter/ sugar/ eggs mixture about a cup at a time, alternating with half of the milk. Once everything is combined mix on low for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and mix to incorporate. Pour into a greased and floured bundt or tube pan and bake at 325 for 80 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (I had to bake it for at least an extra 10 minutes). Allow cake to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.