Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake

Another Saturday night and it's time for another pound cake! This time I went for a chocolate sour cream pound cake -- something I've not made before. I trust my vintage Southern Living magazine recipes (this one is from 1992) and this one is another winner. I tweaked the recipe just a tiny bit and added a glaze. Here's what I did:

For the cake:
1 c. unsalted butter, softened, plus additional to prepare pan
2 c. granulated sugar
1 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed
6 lg. eggs, at room temperature
2 c. all purpose flour (plus additional to prepare pan)
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 c. cocoa
8 oz. dairy sour cream
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the glaze:
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10" Bundt or tube pan and set aside. Sift together flour, cocoa, and baking soda and set aside.

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugars and continue to beat for 5-7 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, just until the yellow disappears. With mixer on low, add flour/cocoa mix alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour/cocoa. Remove from mixer and stir in vanilla.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, 20 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a serving plate. Cool completely before glazing.

Whisk together powdered sugar and cocoa to combine and remove lumps. Add vanilla and just enough milk to achieve a drizzling consistency. Transfer glaze to a plastic zip-top baggie, snip off corner to create a tiny opening, and pipe glaze over cake in ribbons. Allow to set before serving, preferably overnight.

Serve at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream. You could garnish with toasted nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pecans) for even more pizzaz, or just slice and eat because, well, it's chocolate. YUM!

Afterthoughts and confessions: I misread the recipe as I was mixing. The original recipe called for 2 1/2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of cocoa (3 c. total). I used 2 c. flour and 1 c. cocoa and got great, chocolatey flavor -- not too much, not too little. So, either way works and the texture is fine. Pound cakes are very forgiving. If you want a deeper chocolate taste, use a dutch processed cocoa (I would have if I had some in the house). If you want to enhance the flavor even more, add some espresso powder for a mocha touch (I don't do coffee so don't ask me how much). All these options would work and be delicious!