While the rest of the world was making New Year's resolutions regarding health, making better choices and maintaining a workout regimen, my mind was in a different place.
I already workout 6 days a week.. how else would I stay under 400 pounds with all these sweets?? so no need to go there. And as far as health is concerned, despite what it may appear, we eat pretty healthy in our house as far as actual meals are concerned.
So what was my New Years resolution? I went with something that I knew I could keep: getting through all my cookbooks.
After receiving over 10 cookbooks for Christmas, in addition to the shelves I already have full, something needed to be done.
It's difficult to get through you books sometimes.. I always begin with good intentions, marking various recipes, flagging techniques I want to try, but then I start browsing the internet and it all goes out the window. It's so easy to get caught up in all the goodies on foodbuzz, foodgawker or tastespotting and before I know it, I'm recreating something that I've seen on one of the wonderful blogs I so eagerly follow or taking the easy way out with a recipe from a site like allrecipes.com that already has rave reviews.
But this year is going to be different; I'm going to start using the recipes that adorn the vast pages of my cookbook collection waiting so patiently on the shelves for me.
So that brings us to this delicious recipe for a Chocolate Pound Cake from All Cakes Considered. When I found this book at a local library sale I fell in love with the story behind it. For one year, the author, Melissa Gray, brought in a new cake every Monday for her colleagues at NPR, where she is a producer for the show All Things Considered. Her year long adventure left her with over 50 cakes, tips, tricks and techniques that she now shares with her readers.
A while back I had a reader ask if I had a good chocolate pound cake recipe for them to try. At the time, I did not and although it is long overdue, I hope they're still out there and I hope they'll give this cake a try.
Chocolate Pound Cake
recipe from All Cakes Considered
Fills a 10-inch bundt pan
Oven: 325 Bake time: 1 1/2 hours
3 cups AP flour
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup shortening
1 1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
5 eggs
Preheat oven to 325. Spray bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, and cocoa.
Gradually add butter, shortening, and milk and beat on medium speed until smooth.
Add baking powder and salt, beating until incorporated.
Add vanilla and then add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until thin knife comes out clean.
Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes before removing by flipping onto a plate.
Optional: Pour mocha glaze generously over cake
Mocha Glaze
1/2 cup hot water
2 TBS instant espresso or coffee
1 TBS unsweetened cocoa
1 cup powdered sugar
Prepare right before serving.
In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar and cocoa.
In a mug or measuring cup mix 1/2 cup hot water and instant coffee/espresso until dissolved.
Slowly add instant coffee to sugar/cocoa mixture, adding just enough coffee to make a thin glaze and whisking smooth (You will probably not use all the instant coffee that you made)
Pour generously over top cake.
Happy Baking!!