Rich Marble Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Rich Marble Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze - made January 9, 2013 from Chocolatier magazine, October 2006 edition

This is another recipe I've had for years that I've never made before but filed away in case I ever needed to use up milk one day.  The day came so I finally made this.  It's a standard marble bundt cake and it came out pretty well.  The cake is moist and has the hearty denseness of a typical pound cake without being overly heavy.  The glaze in the original Chocolatier recipe was a ganache (heavy cream, chocolate and a little vanilla) but I don't care for ganache so I made up my own glaze.  It sets well so you don't have  to worry about sticky frosting.  Use the best quality cocoa you have for both the cake and the glaze as that's what determines the chocolate flavor.  I used my regular standby of Pernigotti cocoa from Williams Sonoma for that dark cocoa taste.

I ate a thin slice for the taste test piece and brought the rest into work.  I'm temporarily in a new office building while my old floor gets renovated.  On my old floor, I could put a cake like this out and it'd gradually get eaten throughout the day but there might be a few pieces left by the end of the day.  In my new office building, there are either a lot more people on my floor or a lot more people with a sweet tooth.  I put this out in the communal kitchen when I got into the office at 8 am and an hour later, I was pleasantly surprised to find there were only 4 pieces left. Glaze marble pound cake - apparently it was what's for breakfast.

Marble pound cake

3 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups granulated sugar, divided

½ cup natural (not Dutch-processed) cocoa powder

6 tablespoons water

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

5 large eggs

½ cup whole milk

Chocolate glaze

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2-3 tablespoons of milk, adjust based on desired consistency

1.     Make cake; Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 325 F.  Grease inside of a 10” Bundt pan.  Dust pan with flour.

2.     Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.  Set aside.

3.     In a medium bowl, whisk together ½ cup sugar, cocoa powder, and water until smooth; set aside.

4.     In bowl of electric mixer, using paddle attachment, beat butter at medium speed until very creamy, about 2 minutes.  Gradually beat in remaining 2 cups sugar.  Increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is well blended and light, about 4 minutes.  At medium speed, beat in vanilla, then beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  At low speed, add dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with milk in two additions and mixing just until blended.

5.     Add 3 cups of batter to cocoa mixture and stir until blended.  Spoon one-third of remaining plain batter into prepared pan and smooth into an even layer.  Spoon one-third of chocolate batter over plain batter and smooth into an even layer.  Spoon over another third of plain batter, then another third of chocolate batter, smoothing both layers.  Repeat with remaining batters, ending with chocolate batter.

6.     Bake cake for 60 to 70 minutes, until cake tester inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.

7.     Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.

8.     Make glaze: Whisk cocoa and confectioners' sugar.  Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking smooth, until desired consistency.  Pour over lukewarm or cooled cake.