Little Chocolate Pound Cake For Two Recipes

BEST CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.
• Cream shortening and butter until light and fluffy, gradually adding sugar. Beat well at medium speed of an electric mixer. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition.
• Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa and cinnamon together. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts.
• In a clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold carefully into cake batter, mixing only until no streaks remain. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, remove from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack.

CHOCOLATE CAKE FOR TWO

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-2-inch round cake pan with parchment paper, and spray with cooking spray.
• Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat together the buttermilk, egg and vanilla in a measuring cup. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and beat with a wooden spoon until well combined, scraping the side and bottom of the bowl once or twice with a rubber spatula. Stir in the hot water until it is all absorbed and the batter is smooth (it will be thin).
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake until the top is shiny, the cake is just beginning to pull away from the side of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a crumb or 2 attached, about 20 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. Turn the cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper and let the cake completely cool on the rack, right-side up, about 1 hour. (The cake will be thin, but don't worry-it will magically be OK once it's stacked with frosting.)
• For the frosting: Pulse the butter, cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar and salt in a food processor 10 times, stopping halfway through to scrape the bottom and side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the corn syrup and vanilla, and pulse 5 times. Scrape the bottom and side of the bowl, drizzle in the chocolate and pulse 5 more times to combine. Transfer the frosting to a small bowl.
• To assemble: Cut the cooled cake into 4 even quarters. Frost the top of each quarter with about 2 tablespoons of the frosting (an offset spatula helps spread the frosting evenly). Stack the frosted quarters directly on top of each other on a serving plate, resulting in a 4-layer wedge of cake with frosting between layers and on top. Frost all 3 sides of the cake with the remaining frosting until completely covered. Let sit for 30 minutes. Halve and serve.

CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and mist a 5-cup loaf pan with non-stick spray.
• Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, or until very pale and fluffy.
• Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add the first egg, mixing in on medium speed until completely incorporated.
• Continue to add eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl and allowing each one to fully incorporate before adding the next.
• Stir in the sour cream and vanilla on medium-low speed until well-blended.
• Add the flour, dark cocoa, regular cocoa, salt, and baking soda, folding together gently until just barely combined.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, and bake the cake until a skewer inserted in the thickest part comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs (approx. 75 to 85 minutes).
• Cool the cake in the pan for 30 minutes, then remove it from the pan and allow it to finish cooling on a wire rack.

SIMPLY PERFECT CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE LOAF

Steps:

• Take eggs out of the fridge to come to room temperature (25-30 minutes ahead).
• Preheat oven to 350F (not fan-assisted). with rack in centre of oven.
• Prepare an 8.5 x 4.5-inch or 4 x 9.5-inch loaf pan by spraying with cooking spray, then covering the bottom and sides with parchment paper, letting the parchment extend beyond the sides an inch or so. (If not using parchment, butter and flour the pan really well). *If you only have a 9x5-inch pan, it will work. Your loaf will be longer, wider and shorter, so expect that it will cook through more quickly and check it earlier.
• Measure out the milk. Add the lemon juice to the milk. Stir and let stand while you continue with the batter. (The lemon juice will cause the milk to curdle, so don't be alarmed later on when it's a bit chunky :)
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt (omit added salt if using salted butter). Set aside.
• Melt the 1/4 oz of chocolate, either in the microwave for about 30-40 seconds or alternately heat about 1/2-inch of water in a saucepan, remove from heat, then place the chocolate into a ramekin and place the ramekin to sit in the water to melt it. *Make sure no water gets into the ramekin or the chocolate will seize. Stir the chocolate until smooth, then set it aside to cool to tepid while you continue with the batter.
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cold butter cubes on medium-high until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in the sugar. Once all the sugar is added, add the vanilla. Beat the mixture until very light in colour and texture, scraping down the bowl occasionally, about 4 minutes. Gradually beat in the eggs. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Beat in the cooled chocolate.
• Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl between additions. (start with 1/3 of the flour, then 1/2 the milk, another 1/3 of the flour, remaining milk, then remaining flour).
• Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
• Bake loaf in preheated oven for about 50 minutes for a 4x10-inch pan. *Baking time will vary for the 8x4 or 9x5-inch pans, so check and test often after about 45 minutes of baking. Test with a skewer in the centre. The tester should come out fairly dry and clean, with maybe a dry crumb or two on it. The sides of the cake should have pulled away from the side of the pan and the top should be puffed and cracked. The top will spring back when gently pressed with your finger.
• Cool the cake in pan for 10 minutes, then lift out of the pan by grabbing the parchment paper sides. Set onto cooling rack and gently remove the parchment to allow the loaf to cool completely. Store at room temperature, wrapped, for up to 2 days. Cake will also freeze well.

LITTLE CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE FOR TWO

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour pan very well. I designed this to go in a petit loaf pan that measures about 5x3x2 but you can use 2 mini Bundts, 4 cupcake cups, 2 jumbo muffin cups or whatever small pan you like.
• When doubled it works nicely with either a 6 cup Bundt pan, 5 inch spring form pan, 4 mini Bundt pans or 7x4x3 loaf pan.
• Whisk together all of the flour, cocoa powder and sugar in small mixing bowl.
• In another small bowl, whisk together sour cream and baking soda. Add egg and vanilla extract; gently whisk to combine.
• Add the butter and 1/2 of the sour cream mixture to the flour mixture and mix with electric mixer until moistened. Beat on low for about 45 seconds.
• Add remaining sour cream mixture and beat on medium until well blended, 30 seconds. Do not over mix or you'll ruin the texture. Pour into prepared pan or pans.
• Bake until well browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes for the petit loaf pan. When recipe is doubled, bake 40 minutes in the small loaf pan.
• Baking times vary slightly depending on which pan you use. The important thing is that the cake is browned and toothpick comes out clean when inserted in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes on rack. Remove from pan and cool completely.