by Welcome to Eat, Little Bird!
And what better way to celebrate my first post than with a celebratory chocolate cake! And this is not just any ordinary chocolate cake … it is a rich, moist and dense Chocolate Pound Cake adapted from a recipe by Marlene Matar from “Marlene’s Best Recipes From East and West”.
I first came across this recipe on a food forum from another avid foodie who calls herself “SamIam”, who swore that this recipe was one of her absolute favourites when it came to chocolate cake.
Prior to trying this recipe, I was a rather faithful follower of Nigella Lawson’s Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake from Feast and also her Chocolate Fudge Cake from Nigella Bites. Both recipes produce a two-tier chocolate cake covered in a rich and thick chocolate icing, and which (for me) have been the ultimate in chocolate cakes.
So I was hesitant to try a new chocolate cake recipe, but this Chocolate Pound Cake is gorgeous for being au natural. Un-iced and un-adorned, this cake is just beautiful on its own. But served with some homemade custard with vanilla and rum – and also raspberries alongside – it makes for the perfect pudding.
And whilst the recipe itself is a clear contender for the Chocolate Cake Hall of Fame, I must admit that my fancy cake tin (though much neglected in recent years) did most of the hard work in transforming a plain chocolate cake into something more elegant.
So welcome to my blog!
Chocolate Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 1 tablespoon boiling water
- 150 g (1 cup) plain flour, (all-purpose flour)
- 85 g (⅔ cup) cocoa powder, sifted
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 170 g (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 300 g (1 ⅓ cup) caster sugar, (superfine sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ eggs, see Kitchen Notes
- ⅔ cup natural yoghurt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 165°C/330°F (without fan).
- Dissolve the instant coffee powder in the hot water.
- Measure the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl and whisk everything together to aerate the mixture. Alternatively, sift these ingredients.
- Using the KitchenAid, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and doubled in volume. Beat in the vanilla extract and coffee.
- Add one egg at a time, together with a tablespoon of the dry ingredients. Beat until well incorporated before adding the next egg.
- Add the rest of the dry ingredients together with the natural yoghurt. Beat until you have a thick and smooth mixture and everything is well incorporated.
- Butter and flour a cake tin. If you are using a bundt tin, I recommend using a non-stick baking spray, followed by a light dusting of flour.
- Fill the tin with the batter and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes before carefully removing the cake from the tin.
- Leave the cake on the wire rack to cool completely.
Kitchen Notes
- HALF AN EGG
For half an egg, simply beat a whole egg in a small bowl or cup and only use half of the beaten egg in the recipe. - STORAGE TIPS
This cake keeps really well for several days. In fact, it seems to improve the longer it stands! I keep it on a cake stand with a glass lid. - RECIPE CREDIT
Recipe adapted from “Marlene’s Best Recipes from East and West” by Marlene Matar - OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Absolutely beautiful photo Thanh! That cake looks to die for! And its a perfect opening post to what promises to be an exciting new blog in the foodie world! Enjoy and good luck!
Thank you Carrie!!! I really appreciate your support 🙂
As always Thanh, your photography never fails to astound me and your prose is beautifully written! I thought I didn’t need another food blog in my life – how wrong was I… I will be an avid follower of this blog that’s for sure.
Well done, Claudine xx
Claudine – Thank you for your lovely comments! I thought the world didn’t need another food blog either, but I thought I would bite the bullet anyway 😉 I am working on improving my photography so I always value your feedback!
what a beautiful and professional looking blog,hope to see lots of photos and recipes as in the past i’ve tried many new recipes after viewing one of your pictures 🙂
Great to see you here, Lorna!! Thank you so much 🙂 I’m so glad to hear that I’ve been able to persuade you with my photos! You will definitely be seeing lots here!
Beautiful! Cant wait to see more!
Super-looking cake! What were your thoughts on it? Haven’t made it myself, but have obviously heard a lot about it!
Hi Pamela! Thanks for visiting my blog 🙂 This is a great chocolate cake recipe, though I halved it and used a smaller tin than specified. Even then, it was a pretty big cake! But, as a chocolate cake, it doesn’t disappoint and has the advantage of improving after a few days! I think this cake is perfect if you want to make a plain chocolate cake. Please let me know if you happen to try it!
The most gorgeous cake ever!
Hello. very pretty. Where is the recipe???
I discovered your blog via Anita’s, and what a wonderful work of art you have here! I have bookmarked this recipe. We are all in need of a great chocolate cake recipe, and this one is as uncomplicated as it gets! Beautiful photo. Will be visiting regularly now!
Hi Meenakshi! How wonderful that you have found my blog 🙂 And especially via Anita’s wonderful food blog! I really, really love this chocolate cake and highly recommend it.
I made this 2 days ago for a child’s birthday and it was wonderful!!! So soft and rich. I am going to bake it again!!! Yummy. I can now safely say that I have found my foolproof chocolate cake recipe.
I’m so happy to hear that you tried this cake and that it was successful! I think it’s a wonderful chocolate cake if you prefer something simple and without frosting, but it also happens to work well if you wish to decorate with frosting. I should make this myself again soon!
Hi great and lovely photo! I just wanted to ask if i can use hersheys unsweetened cocoa powder? Thank you!!
Of course, any good quality cocoa powder will be good in this recipe, as long as it is unsweetened. I have never tried Hersheys brand but I’m sure it will work perfectly in this recipe. Good luck!
Hi is it ok to use hersheys unsweetened cocoa powder? Thanks!
Hi Thanh!
I am an avid reader of yours and my husband and I regard you as a trusted source for great recipes. I have to say I feel completely responsible for most of the traffic on your chocolate pound cake page as I revisit it at least twice a month to make this devine cake. My favorite to date!
I have a question.. I have visitors who dont drink coffee and I wonder if the recipe would turn out the same without it?
Thanks again a million times for your charming blog and outstanding food 🙂
Abby
Hi Abby,
I’m so flattered that you and your husband enjoy the recipes on my site! Feedback like yours makes it all worth it 🙂
And I’m doubly flattered that you love this chocolate pound cake recipe. It’s also one that I make regularly as I find that it keeps so well.
I think you could certainly leave out the coffee powder from this recipe with not too much effect on the taste. I think the coffee powder is there to provide a hint of bitterness and which somehow highlights the chocolate taste more. The last time I made this cake, I used the same quantity of instant espresso powder (instead of instant coffee powder) for a somewhat darker taste.
So if you have guests who don’t or can’t have coffee, I would simply omit the coffee from the recipe. The recipe calls for a fairly small quantity so I suppose it shouldn’t have any effect on the presentation of the cake itself. If you do try this cake without the coffee, please let me know how it turns out. Good luck and happy baking!
Hello again,
Great news! We made the cake without the coffee powder and decided to add chunks of dark chocolate scattered throughout. It turned out really well ( with gooey chocolate pockets here and there from the chopped chocolate bar) and of course it only improved with each day. It was a huge hit! no one could leave it alone. I myself missed the coffee in it that adds the subtle highlight but the recipe held as a great base for a new thing!
Im going to move onto your flourless chocolate cake next.. thanks again Thanh for your help and for enriching my life with your recipes and stories.
Abby
Oh wow! You’ve really made this cake your own now 🙂 I will have to try it myself with chopped dark chocolate next time – sounds fabulous!
Thank you again for your lovely feedback. I love sharing my favourite recipes and it’s really only worthwhile when there is someone else to enjoy them 🙂 Have fun with the next recipe.
I love the photos of this cake and I will try it soon. Where can I find/buy a lovely cake pan like the one used? Thank you.
Hi Carla,
I bought the cake tin from E. Dehillerin in Paris. Whenever I see interesting cake tins on my travels, I try to buy them as a souvenir and hope there is enough space in my luggage! I’m not sure if they still have this cake tin at E. Dehillerin but it’s always worth checking specialty cake or kitchen shops to see what interesting cake tins they might have. Good luck!
Wow, this Chocolate Pound Cake looks so cute! It really impresses! I definitely want to try it. Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
You said 150g flour is 1 cup. I think 1 cup is about 125 gm. Not so?
It depends on the flour, the size of the measuring cup, and how you fill that measuring cup 😉 I use weight measurements when cooking and baking, but I also give cup measurements for people who are not familiar with using kitchen scales. With my scales, 1 cup of flour equals 150 g. I hope this helps.
My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing Guys, Thanks For sharing this Great Recipe. this recipe and this website with my friend. Hope they also love it. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe.
My Bundt tin has a hole in the middle. Is this ok?
Hi Norma,
Yes, that’s fine if your bundt tin has a hole in the centre. It might need less time to bake, so I recommend checking around the 35/40 minute mark. Hope you will enjoy this recipe!
I want to make this dairy free. Can I substitute canned pumpkin for the yogurt?
How many inches have the baking forms?
It looks delicious. Thank you for sharing this recipe.