Pound Cake Brownies

Pound Cake Brownies - made August 9, 2021 from Buttermilk by Sam

Pound Cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

3/4 cup cake flour

2 tablespoons sour cream, heavy cream or milk

Brownies

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Pound cake: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the egg and beat for another 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl and beat for another 2 minutes.
4. Over the bowl, sift in the flour and add the sour cream. Mix on low speed to combine. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl to keep batter even-textured. Set aside.
5. Brownies: Melt butter in microwave (usually takes 1 minute). Stir in the sugar and cocoa and microwave 1 minute. Whisk briskly for 1 minute. Let cool for 3 minutes.
6. Whisk in the eggs, salt and vanilla for 1 minute until batter is smooth. Whisk in the flour until just combined; fold in chocolate.
7. Pour half the brownie batter into prepared pan. Dollop pound cake batter onto the brownie batter. Spoon the remaining brownie batter over the pound batter and gently swirl them together with a butter knife or offset spatula.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Whenever I see a new baking idea like these pound cake brownies, I wish I was more original and creative. It seems like such a simple idea but I'd probably never think of it on my own. Swirl pound cake and brownie batters together to make a pound cake brownie? Brilliant.

The pound cake batter was more stiff than the brownie batter, which isn't surprising. But it did make swirling a bit of a challenge. I always err on the side of underswirling because I don't want to mix the two batters too much and risk too much co-mingling and not enough distinct brownie and pound cake portions.

When I first made these, I followed the instructions to place half the brownie batter on the bottom of the pan, dollop the pound cake batter over it and cover it with the remaining brownie batter then swirl. But because the pound cake batter is a bit too stiff for easy swirling, next time I'm going to place a third of the brownie batter on the bottom instead of half, dollop half the pound cake batter, dollop the second third of the brownie batter, dollop the remaining pound cake batter then cover with the last third of the brownie batter. 

That way you don't have to swirl as much and you get slightly more even distribution between the two batters.

But regardless of how you do it, this was delicious. I'm partial to the pound cake part in both texture and taste, so much so that I want to make the pound cake recipe as a stand alone pound cake. 

But it's also good swirled with the brownie and is a nice change of pace to dress up a normal brownie.