Chocolate Pound Cake

It's spring break for my boys this week which means I am knee deep in power ranger battles and the  near constant discussion of birthday plans for my almost 5 year old.

 First we were planning a Power Ranger party...then it was dinosaur week at school last week and it had to be a Power Ranger AND dinosaur party. I love dinosaur week because I desperately wanted to be a paleontologist when I was 7 (still do, to be honest) so we read lots of dinosaur stories and went to the Natural History Museum in Norman, OK last weekend. A few goofy pictures in front of fossils later and now I'm planning a dinosaur party!

This cake was not in the running for the birthday cake since it's a pound cake. Instead I was made it to drop off for a friend but when we tried it I knew I had to make this again and soon! I'm pretty sure it's going on the menu as an extra dessert at the party no matter what.

It's got a deep chocolate flavor, with the extra hit of melty chocolate sprinkled throughout by the chocolate chips. It's not too rich that you can't finish a slice, and I think it would be amazing with a mint flavored whipped cream. This would have been a perfect St. Patrick's day dessert...darn it, I was off by a week! I'm still getting used to blogging about food for upcoming holidays rather than what I made for the holiday. Let's just consider this planning ahead for next year, shall we?

Chocolate Pound Cake

adapted from A Dash of Sass originally Dorie Greenspan's Cocoa Pound Cake.

1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup dutch process or unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips plus a teaspoon more for sprinkling on top

Preheat over to 325 and prep a loaf pan by spraying with non-stick spray.

Whisk together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.

In a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure they are completely mixed together before adding the next one. Scrape the sides of the bowl down and add in the vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients in two batches, and mix until it's almost all combined. Fold in the remaining flour and the chocolate chips.

Pour batter into pan and sprinkle a teaspoon or two of chocolate chips down the center of the loaf. Bake for 65-70 minutes, checking at 45 minutes to see if the top is browning too much. If it is, just place a foil tent over it for the remaining time.

Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then let it finish on a cooling rack. Enjoy right out of the oven or after it cools.