Chocolate Cream Pound Cake with No-Cream Chocolate Sauce

Hurray! We are baking a chocolate cake!

Another one? Yes, of course. Always!

I'm baking this chocolate cake with Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Lena from Frozen wings our bake-along. The recipe is from the the book, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

I usually have no doubt with chocolate and like to bake most chocolate cake recipes in their recommended amount or at least in the amount that uses about 1/2 cup of butter or fat. Strangely, I'm holding back a little this time after reading the description of this recipe...

The recipe says "This loaf cake is made exceptionally tender by the addition of some heavy cream. It has a delicate texture and melts in the mouth. Because the cake is so crumbly, a slice is probably not the ideal choice for a lunch box, but definitely a treat if you are staying home."

I usually bake cakes and cookies for our tea breaks at home and work. For this reason, I like to bake cakes that are usually lunch-box-friendly. Yes, friendly cakes, please... To me, friendly means having less crumbs and mess at home and work. To be honest, the word, "crumbly" had deterred me quite a bit on baking this. Eventually, to avoid any regret of not having enough of this chocolate cake, I have decided to proceed on baking the cake with its recommended amount. So...

Is the cake really crumbly?

Am I going to clean up mess after eating this cake? Let's see...

Is this chocolate cream pound cake crumbly? Yes, it is.

Exceptionally tender? - I like to stick to the recipe using cream to make this cocoa mixture.

Making the cake batter

Baking this cake is very straightforward.

Yes, this cake is indeed crumbly with tender crumbs but not really too messy to eat.

Honestly, we all agree that this crumbly kind of cake chocolate cake is more on the drier side. However, my husband is telling me that he is enjoying this cake a lot by dunking it into his coffee for his afternoon tea.

Whether the cake is crumbly or not? It is always nice to enjoy chocolate cakes with luxurious chocolate sauce. I would highly recommend eating this cake with this most ideal smooth and less guilty chocolate sauce. This chocolate sauce recipe by David Lebovitz uses no cream at all and yet, it is simply the best accessory for this cake. In fact, this sauce is so good that my son wants to drink it all... LOL!

This is how I made this less-guilty chocolate sauce...

Mixing the sauce ingredient with the help of microwave - easy!

This is the moment that is worth-waiting...

Tender crumbs + chocolate sauce = Nice! + NO mess! Yippee!!!

 
Here are the recipes.
(with my modification and notes in blue)

Chocolate Cream Pound Cake from the book, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

Serve 8-10
6 tbsp unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
 (I used Callebaut one)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup plus 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
(replaced with baking powder)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
(reduced to 200g)
3 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325°F or 150°C fan forced. Grease a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan and dust with flour - I lined my loaf pan with baking paper instead.

Sift the cocoa powder through a fine strainer and into a heatproof bowl. Place the cream in a microwave-safe measuring cup and heat until just boiling, 30 sec to 1 min depending on the power of your microwave. Pour the hot cream over the cocoa and stir and mash with a spoon to make a thick paste. Set aside to cool.

Combine the flour, baking soda (baking powder), and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 mins, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary. Beat in the cocoa powder paste until smooth.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. After the last addition, mix for 30 secs on medium speed.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake the cake until it is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hr and 10 mins (I baked mine for 1 hr). Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 mins, invert it onto a wire rack, and then turn it right side up on a rack to cool completely. Slice and serve.

Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

The Best Chocolate Sauce by David Lebovitz

about 2 1/2 cups

1 cup (250 ml) water
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1/2 cup (160 g) light corn syrup, agave nectar, or glucose
(I used light corn syrup)
3/4 cup (75 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
(preferably Dutch-processed - mine is)
2 ounces (55 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
(I used 70% cocoa Callebaut dark chocolate)

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the water, sugar, corn syrup (or agave or glucose), and cocoa powder.

Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once it’s just begun to simmer and boil, remove from heat and stir in the chopped chocolate until melted.

Serving: You should let the chocolate sauce stand for a few hours before serving, which will give it time to thicken a bit.

Storage: Store the chocolate sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Rewarm before serving.

Note: Using 1/5 of this recipe, I made my sauce by heating all ingredients (except dark chocolate) in a microwave until boiling. Then, I added the dark chocolate into the boiling sauce and stirred until the chocolate melt into the sauce. Allow sauce to stand in room temperature until it thicken.

Happy Baking
Please support me and like me at Facebook...

Please note that the linky tool for bake-along is no longer available.