Chocolate Swirl Pound Cake
Fri, Jan 15, 2010
When I was a child swirled pound cake was an utter mystery to me.
I wondered how they were able to get the chocolate batter to make such intricate designs in the finished cake. Now that I am older I understand that the oven does nearly all the swirling because as the cake bakes the batter shifts and swirls naturally. Just like snow flakes, they are all unique. So, maybe the mystery is solved, but I must admit I still get a little excited when I slice a swirl pound cake and see what design was created.
This pound cake is baked in a 10″ pan and makes a long, somewhat short loaf. I tried to bake this in a smaller pan but I was not happy with the results. The finished cake is rich and buttery with a nice balance of vanilla and chocolate. Nothing is overpowering. Maybe the best part of this cake is that the edges become delightfully brown and a little crisp adding a lovely contrast to the tender cake.
Chocolate Swirl Pound Cake Serves 12
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tablespoon water
Heat the oven to 325 F and prepare a 10″ loaf pan with non-stick spray.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy, about five minutes. Add the vanilla and mix well.
Add the eggs one at at time, mixing for one minute after each addition.
In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour. Do not over-mix.
In a medium bowl add 1/3 of the prepared cake batter along with the cocoa powder and water. Mix until well blended.
Pour 1/2 of the remaining vanilla pound cake batter into the prepared pan. Pour the chocolate batter carefully over the top and gently spread until it is 1/4″ away from the edge of the pan. Pour over the last of the vanilla batter and cover the chocolate layer completely.
Bake for 50 – 60 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Slice and enjoy.
Tags: Butter Cake, Cake, Chocolate, loaf cake, marble, marble loaf cake, marble pound cake, Pound Cake, swirl, swirl loaf cake, swirl poud cake, vanilla
That chocolate swirl looks irresistable!
Oooh, I wish I had some right now!
nothing beats a simple good ole chocolate swirl pound cake. it is my “childhood” cake too!:)
had a giggle at the mystery of “swirling.”I must say there is nothing like a pound cake on a cold winter day’s – yours is mouthwatering. Grand photos! Hungry now.
How beautiful!
Very nice! Bet it would be delicious in a fruit shortcake.
I love pound cake. I remember used to buy the sara lee brand once a week when I was in high school. I need to try making it myself for once. It’s been way too long since I’ve had it.
The chocolate swirl is gorgeous!
just what I was craving, thank you!
just goregous, great pics
so lovely, a piece of art .. and that’s called having your cake and eating it too – nice recipe
Delicious. Wonder how I could make chocolate swirl crepes. You’ve inspired me!
For the chocolate swirl crepes, you could make a batch of chocolate crepe batter in addition to the plain batter.
Then when you’re cooking the plain, add some chocolate batter in whatever pattern you want.
Haven’t tried it yet, but it’s an idea!
Looks beautiful and tasty.
My heart rate just sped up 50 notches, especially on that close up pic. I know this recipe of yours has got to be evil-good.
Love the pound cake! It looks fantastic. I love the pretty swirls.
Man, that cake brings back some memories. It looks so good. Thank you for sharing.
I love marbled cakes – they look so pretty and you get two flavors at the same time.
Yours looks really tender – Yum!
This looks so moist – and what a beautiful crumb too.
Oh this is my favorite kind of pound cake! Can’t wait to try this recipe! This is my first time visiting your blog. I will be back!
Beautiful! Looks delicious, too (of course).
I came back to look at the pound cake….again.
I tried this recipe on last Friday (29 Jan 2010) and it turned out great. Just thought that I should have used vanilla bean paste instead of extract for a more pronounced vanilla flavor.
This looks really mouth-watering! Just a lil question though, when you said “Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour”, what do you mean exactly? [sorry if you think it's a dumb question]
Is it like flour>dry>buttermilk>dry>buttermilk….>flour?
Like so? Sorry, I just wanted to make sure and to get it right before baking it.