Do you remember your grandmother's chocolate pound cake? Was it dense, rich, and fragrant with chocolate? Do you remember that the cake almost melted in your mouth? I have the recipe! Unfortunately, the directions for grandmother's chocolate pound cake include a large amount of butter and Crisco shortening, plus about a pound of sugar. It is a pound cake, after all. It involves not only pounds of ingredients but pounds on your hips. With that in mind, I've done some adjustments to come up with a pound cake that's tasty but won't do in your diet (as long as you don't have too many slices). This version also won't do in your bank balance. The recipe includes ingredients that aren't too pricey, are readily available, and that turn out a cake that's rich tasting but not cloyingly sweet or greasy. The cake is moist, full of chocolate flavor, and perfect alone--perhaps dusted with a little powdered sugar--or topped with low-fat whipped topping or ice cream. Plus, you can mix up the pound cake in about the same time it would take you to make a boxed cake mix. I recommend making the cake while your dinner is cooking and popping the batter in the oven while you sit down to eat your meal. The cake needs about an hour to cook, so you can savor dessert later after the supper cleanup is done. Enjoy!
Easy, Economical Chocolate Pound Cake -- Serves 12+
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
3/4 cup of plain, fat-free Greek yogurt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of chocolate extract or flavoring
1/4 cup of strong brewed coffee (or instant), cooled to room temperature
3/4 cup of white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup of flour
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Confectioner's sugar (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat a large tube pan with nonstick cooking spray, preferably the kind that has flour in it (or use regular spray and shake a teaspoon or so of flour or cocoa powder in the pan, tapping out the excess). Combine the canola oil, sugars, yogurt, eggs, vanilla, chocolate extract, and coffee in a large bowl and whisk them well. Combine the flours, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, whisking just until you have a smooth batter. Pour the batter into the greased tube pan and bake the cake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes in the pan before trying to remove it. Dust the top of the cake with a little powdered/confectioner's sugar, if you'd like.