This is the only chocolate pound cake recipe you need. Trust me on this. Moist, rich, and fudgy, this homemade pound cake is basically my mom's recipe with just a couple of tweaks.
Prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan with oil and flour or with a flour spray such as Baker's Joy. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 325F and set a rack in lower third of the oven.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugars, salt, espresso powder, cayenne (if using), and vanilla, increase speed to medium-high and beat until lightened in color and fluffy, about 7-10 minutes. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
Beat the eggs together in a small bowl, and with the mixer on medium low, drizzle them into the creamed butter and sugar mixture a bit at a time over about 5 minutes. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder. If your cocoa powder is lumpy, sift all dry ingredients together. Set aside.
Measure out the buttermilk and set aside.
Add the dry ingredients to the batter in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry. Mix for only a few seconds between additions.
Once the last amount of dry ingredients are in the bowl, mix until barely combined and then finish by hand, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to fully incorporate all the ingredients.
The batter will be thick and billowy.
Scrape the batter evenly into your prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven until done, about 1 hour to 1 hour and ten minutes. The internal temperature you're looking for is between 195-200F.
Let cool on a rack for 30 minutes before turning out to cool completely.
Glaze and garnish as desired. (See Notes for Glaze Suggestions)
Video
Notes
Glaze Suggestions:
cream cheese glaze: 2 oz cream cheese and 1 oz butter, melted. Whisk in a pinch of salt, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, 3 cups powdered sugar and 2 1/2 tablespoons half and half until smooth. This will give you a very thick glaze to generously cover you cake.
Ganache: to cover the whole cake with ganache, heat 1 cup heavy cream just to a boil. Pour over 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips. Let sit for a minute and then slowly whisk until cool. If you just need enough to make "stripes" like I did," 1/2 cup each heavy cream and chocolate chips will do just fine.
"Plain White Glaze:" mix 3 cups powdered sugar with a pinch of salt, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and enough milk or half and half to make a drizzling consistency.
Hot Fudge Sauce: Not necessarily for glazing but for serving with. Use the pound cake as a base for a "brownie sundae," and top a warmed slice with a scoop of ice cream and then drench the whole thing in my best hot fudge sauce.
Please note the recipe says it makes 24 slices. If you're my Aunt Charlotte who was notorious for being stingy with this cake, you can get at least 32 if not about 160 slices!For the moistest possible cake, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap once you remove it from the pan and allow to cool that way. The plastic wrap ensures all the moisture stays in your cake instead of evaporating out as it cools.VIDEO NOTE: This is an old video I made with an actual camcorder! The sound is not great but the information is useful!