Guess what mama brought to the party.
Ew I don’t even know why I said that.
Oh wait! Yes I do, I’m a nerd.
Anyway, guess who has a 3rd dessert on her blog?! Meeee! Weeee! Yaaaay! Hooraaay! Confettiiii! But maybe pick it up after you’ve thrown it all on the floor? Especially if any gets behind that chair in the corner because it’s just a flippin’ pain to clean later on. See what I mean? Yeah. Maybe I should put the chair somewhere else but ehhh, whatever. It’s not like I’m Nate Berkus or something, HAAAA. I’ll grab the vacuum in a sec.
The point is, I baked a cake!
AND, okay - I don’t wanna toot my own horn, buuuuut this is totally my own creation. As in, no recipe adaptation. As in, completely made it up. As in, had no idea what I was doing with baking powder and eggs and flour and liquid ratios and it made me sweaty and it actually worked and I cried for 13 hours.
Toot toot?
What I DID do was Wiki the origin and meaning of the beloved pound cake, and it told me that back in the olden days it meant a pound of everything. Like, a pound of flour, a pound of sugar, blah blah blorb. BUT if you kept the ratios at 1:1:1:1 it should totally work out. Ummmm okay, Wiki wizard.
So I scaled it way back, added some strong coffee and a dash of cayenne, parted its hair down the middle, kissed its forehead (what is she even talking about?) aaaaaand . . .
Red Rover, Red Rover, send the whole dang thing over.
Every time I look at that photo I can’t help but think of the scene in Superman when Lois Lane’s car gets sucked down into the earthquake. Do you know what I mean? Except my mouth wants to get sucked down into this cakequake and never be rescued. Ever.
I took this pound cake to a party one evening and used my friends as my focus group. But I kept calling them my focus group so they pretty much wanted to stab me by minute three.
Their comments:
“I love how this is light AND dense at the same time. It’s like science or magic or something.”
“Hey this cake just goosed me!”
“So this cake is for me, what are the rest of you having?”
“Can I sew a slice onto my tongue so it can live there forever?”
Let’s eat some cake already.
Spicy Mocha Pound Cake:
What it took for a 9.25 x 5.25 loaf pan:
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 stick butter, cut into pieces
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/2 cup strong coffee
* 1 tsp real vanilla extract
* 1 cup flour
* 1/2 cup cocoa powder
* 1 tsp cayenne
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1 pinch salt
Preheat oven to 375.
In a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Once creamed, add each egg, one at a time, until creamy and silky.
Pour the milk, coffee and vanilla extract into the mixture and give her one more good whirl, just to get it all good and mixed.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, cayenne, baking powder, and the small pinch of salt. For the heck of it, sift it a couple more times, just to be the good little baker that you are.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold fold fold and whisk whisk whisk until combined and smooth like a dream.
Pour mixture into a lightly greased and floured loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Start checking at the 40-minute mark.
Let cool about 10 minutes. HAAHAHAH, right.
Garnish with a nice chocolate sauce or powdered sugar. Slice and inhale all of it at once and never look back.
Okay now let’s throw some more confetti!
Yeah, this is way awesome!
Oh hi. You’re my hero. The end.
I’ve been so afraid to make my own recipes from scratch, so thank you for proving that it can be done and that it can come out so wonderfully
. This looks absolutely delicious, I’m ready to make it right now!
Wow, check out that cake! Looks so dense, flavorful and delicious. Seriously impressed that you made this up all by yourself. Love the addition of spice and coffee…coffee in cake means you can eat it for breakfast, right?!?!?
Well that’s a perfect looking cake!
Yeah!! I love chocolate and I love pound cake!
wow– need this in my life ASAP
I recently tried to make a peanut butter pound cake from scratch and it wasn’t bad, but not so poundy cake-y tasting…can you make one of those up for me??
Ohh I’m so down for this spicy/cake combo!
Your “focus group” comments kind of just made my entire life.
Bev congrats on baking a cake totally your own, no ‘adapted from’ and that it turned out this amazing! And I’ve always wanted to bake a true pound cake 1:1:1:1 but I never have. I don’t need 4 pounds of anything
I need to scale things back – or just make this!
Looks moist and yummy!! Will have to try!
I’m totally like you I am the worst at baking desserts (is it two “s” or one? who cares) but will have to try this one!
I’m a new reader and love your blog already. Check out mine at http://www.saytheblessing.com
That looks so moist and perfect!
Or as my Paul would say, “This bite wasn’t that good. Better try another one…” until the entire loaf is gone. YUM-O.
You were dropping some of this by my house, right? See you soon!
I’d eat that thing straight out of the loaf pan. With a spoon. It works, try it sometime.
Perfect texture… Drool.
I can only imagine how wonderful your house must have smelled when you baked this. Looks so delicious.
I love it!
this looks so moist and caffeinated! LOVE
You really need to bake more often. Like every day!
Ok. OK. Okay. I’m going goo-goo over this spicy mocha cake right now. Seriously, there is nothing that sounds more delicious to me right now. I’m making this. Pronto. Okay… This weekend.
Thanks
Katie
Yesssssssss I want THIS cake. So badly.
Your friends are a crack up! I’d like to sew a piece of it on my tongue especially since it’s light and dense at the same time! This looks delicious. Love everything about it! You’re a hoot, Bev!
A pound cake! On Bev Cooks! I never thought I’d see the day. I’m a terrible baker, myself. Save me a slice?
LOL, “cakequake”, I love it. This sounds incredible.
Must.Have.Now.Please.
Ummm, chocolate pound cake is the best thing I’ve ever heard of. If this tastes anything like Mexican hot chocolate, I am SO in.
You are so funny, I’m going to start calling my friends “the focus group” from now on… that’s hysterical.
coffee, spicy, chocolate… yum!
…not sure why you’re not baking more often….
Definitely a reason to celebrate! This cake looks and sounds amazing!
Yum! I love diffrerent desserts like this!
Whoa…. I just tried to make this and …. First, let me say, I’m newish to baking things from scratch in the kitchen. So, I’m guessing I did something wrong. But, I’m wondering what happened…?
I creamed the one cup sugar and one stick of butter, which I cut up. Next, I added the two eggs, one at a time. Finally, I added the milk (exp. 3/12 and it’s 3/10), coffee (cold) and vanilla. It curdled. For a second, I thought I’d done something weird and added lemon. No. Or, … I wondered if it should curdle. I’m guessing not.
Is there any reason this could have curdled or should have curdled? OH! In addition, I’d left the butter out to come to room temp. Could that have been it? Could the butter have gone bad or something?
Of course, I followed that up with pouring it in my sink! Holy curdled concoction. It made a plug of curdled goo, which made me so happy I decided not to finish and bake it anyway … something I actually considered.
Oy! At any rate, if you or anyone has any ideas for what I did wrong, I’d appreciate it! Thanks!