My Mother’s Chocolate Pound Cake: Oh, So Good!
This chocolate pound cake recipe brings back so many memories. When I start cooking it I’m right back in the pine paneled kitchen with my mother, standing by her side in a kitchen chair as she mixes a cake and lets me “help.” The feelings and the love of those memories are so close and real at that moment that I find myself lost in the thoughts.
A Tribute to My Mother
This post is written as a tribute to my mother. She taught me so much in my lifetime about cooking, loving my family and others, and living a good life. The photo shows her recipe written in her handwriting. I asked her for this recipe and she wrote it down for me soon after I married. How I cherish her recipes!
My mother was an amazing cook. It was one way she showed her love for us as we were growing up. Many of my favorite memories are of her in the kitchen or all of us around the table together eating delicious food that she had prepared. Read on for her chocolate pound cake recipe.
Chocolate Pound Cake Ingredients and Tips
- This cake can be done as a plain pound cake or as a chocolate pound cake. You cannot go wrong with either one. They are both delicious!
- You can use Crisco or butter. I use Crisco since that is the one she used.
- Be sure to sift the flour and have it ready in a bowl.
- I like to measure all the ingredients into separate bowls, put them close at hand and ready to add as I go through the recipe. It’s so much easier!
- Use a stand mixer, not a hand mixer to mix this cake. Trust me on this!
The Batter
- If your batter is too thick to pour then add a little more milk just a spoonful at a time to make it pourable. You don’t want it too thick or too thin.
- Your batter will be the color of a Wendy’s Chocolate Frosty. Don’t worry it will get darker in baking.
- Use a large tube pan like this one from Amazon or you can use a bundt pan and not use all the batter (or put the remainder in a 9 x 5 loaf pan sprayed well with baking spray and cook for one hour after your cake is done).
To Do: Very Important!
- Be sure to grease and flour your pan or use a baking spray like Pam Baking or Baker’s Joy. Use it all over the inside of your pan. To me this stuff is so much easier than having to grease and flour your pan. However, some bakers swear by greasing and flouring, so it’s just up to you.
- Be sure to leave over 1 inch to 1 and 1/2 inches at the top of the pan for the cake to rise so it doesn’t run over.
- Sit your cake pan on a baking sheet just in case it does run over.
Baking Isn't Easy!
I will tell you that baking this cake or any baked good is not the easiest thing, and I am certainly not an expert. Sometimes it seems like the weather can be wrong, or the oven didn’t heat right, or someone slammed a door coming into the house. Who knows? With that in mind, click here for a few tips from Southern Living that are very helpful in making your cake turn out well. Truly, it is so satisfying when a cake comes out beautifully. Here’s hoping that all of yours turn out perfectly! Enjoy! ~ Karen
Old Fashioned Chocolate Pound Cake (or plain without cocoa)
Equipment
- 1 Stand mixer (Do not use a hand mixer)
- 1 Large tube cake pan (If smaller, you will not use all the batter.)
- 1 Baking sheet pan (To catch run over.)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup Crisco
- 3 cups sugar
- 5 eggs (will add one at a time)
- 3 cups plain flour sifted
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1 tsp vanilla extract/flavoring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Put all ingredients in separate bowls to have on hand.
- Mix salt, baking powder, and cocoa together in a bowl and set aside. (For a plain pound cake, leave out the cocoa.)
- Spray your cake pan well with Pam Baking Spray or Baker's Joy (or grease and flour well.) Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer, first cream Crisco and sugar together well.
- With mixer on a low speed, add eggs one at a time and then beat mixture for 5 minutes.
- Add milk and flour slowly a little at a time alternating till all added.
- Then add salt, baking powder, and cocoa mixture while continuing to mix. It will be about the color of a Wendy's frosty.
- Next, add vanilla and beat for about 10 minutes. If too thick add a small amount of milk a teaspoon at a time until it is pourable.
- Pour into the prepared cake pan and sit on a baking sheet to put in the oven.
- Bake 1 1/2 hours without opening oven door.
- Remove from oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
- Use a knife to go around the inside edge of the tube to separate it. You can also go around the outer edge if you need to. Now you can flip it over onto a wire rack to cool, and remove the cake pan.
- Transfer to a cake plate once it's cool. If you want the crusty part on top of the cake be sure it is cooled completely and then carefully flip it again onto the plate. It's tricky so be careful!
- Enjoy!
- www.whatagoodday.com
More Chocolatey Sweet Recipes!
Here are a few more delicious chocolatey recipes:
Looks delicious
It is so good! I reminds me of home everytime I make it! 🙂
This pound cake looks so moist. I find sometimes pound cakes are a bit dry. Not having a stand mixer (wink), I will have to visit someone who has and let her make it for me.
Anytime! I’m planning to make a cake soon! 😊❤️