Chocolate Pound Cake - Part One

The very nature of baking lends itself to minor mishaps and mistakes.  The fact is, that it's a science and sometimes, the results of the experiment don't turn out the way that I had hoped.   I've definitely had my fair share of minor fails and mistakes when it comes to baking but rarely do I have a baking disaster that qualifies as an epic fail.  I recently tried my hand at chocolate pound cake and I would classify this attempt as an epic fail.  It was a disaster.

Don't be fooled by the pictures.  (Great lighting does wonders for even the worst subject matter.)  Trust me when I tell you that this cake was riddled with problems.

Chocolate Pound Cake
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup boiling water
3/4 cup cocoa
2 ounces milk chocolate, chopped (I used a Hershey bar)
16 Tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 eggs





Combine flour and salt.








Combine cocoa and chocolate.

 

Pour water over chocolate.  Stir until melted.








Beat butter, sugar, chocolate mixture, brown sugar and vanilla on medium high speed for 3 minutes.  So far so good - the batter was delicious.

Add eggs, one at a time.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture.
Scrape batter into greased 9x5 inch pan.  The recipe said that they used a smaller loaf pan to bake this cake to I got out my small loaf pan (8 1/2 x 5) and filled it with batter.  It was filled right to the top which should have been my first clue that this cake was not going to fit in this pan.

 

Bake 60 minutes at 325. This is where the problems first began.

Luckily, I had put a baking pan underneath the cake to catch any overflowing batter but that didn't stop the oven from smoking while the batter burned on the baking sheet.  (Picture me fanning the smoke detectors as smoke poured out of the oven and filled the house.) 

I had to cook the cake an extra 15 minutes to get the middle to set.  When I finally took it out of the oven, I cut off the overflowed batter and turned the pan around so that I could get a picture.  Looks pretty good, right? (That's because you can't see the other side.)  I was still trying my best to salvage this cake.

After 10 minutes, I used a knife to gently loosen the edges of the cake from the sides and I was able to remove it from the pan onto a wire rack to cool. 

A portion of the top of the cake came off while I was removing the cake from the pan but I was able to replace it for the picture.  

Once the cake was completely cool, I started to slice it.  (Huge mistake)  The cake was so overbaked that it just started to crumble.  I managed to piece a couple of slices together for the photograph but is was pretty much a crumbly mess. 

 

 

So what do you do when your cake falls apart?  You set up a picture to look like you actually took a bite out of the slice.

 

I wish that I could tell you that despite the textural problems, the cake tasted delicious but the truth is, it was just as dry and crumbly as you might imagine.  I so wanted this cake to be moist and delicious but all of my good intentions were lost when I foolishly put it in a pan that was too small.

I am too much of a perfectionist to let a bad cake stay on my record so you better believe that I am going to give this cake another try.   I will redeem my culinary name by successfully remaking this Chocolate Pound Cake.

Make sure you check out tomorrow's blog for a complete summary of chocolate pound cake - attempt 2. 

Ciao!
 

Chocolate Pound Cake
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup boiling water
3/4 cup cocoa
2 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
16 Tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 eggs

Combine flour and salt.  Combine cocoa and chocolate.  Pour water over chocolate.  Stir until melted.  Beat butter, sugar, chocolate mixture, brown sugar and vanilla on medium high speed for 3 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture.  Scrape batter into greased 8/5x5 inch pan.  Bake 60 minutes at 325.  Cool cake in pan 0 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.