Chocolate Strawberry Pound Cake

This recipe puts a nice twist on the classic pound cake. It has a deep chocolate flavor with a subtle strawberry hint.

A pound cake was called a pound cake because it used a pound each of butter, flour, sugar and eggs. It’s a simple cake that is great for snacking as is, but add a glaze or a sauce of some kind and you have a nice dessert. I wanted a little more than the normal vanilla for this cake and decided to play with chocolate and strawberry because the two flavors pair so well.

I played with the proportions a little bit. I initially did half and half with dark chocolate and found that the chocolate overpowered the strawberry even when I added strawberry extract to the strawberry batter.  (But it was a really good chocolate marbled pound cake). Second time around I did a 1/3 chocolate  with 2/3 strawberry and didn’t like that as much because the chocolate really makes the cake. My taste testers agreed with this. I tried with semi-sweet and that did it! It had that chocolaty flavor, but still allowed the strawberry to have a presence as well.

Notes:

• Cream that butter! Make sure you cream that butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy and no longer grainy, otherwise you will get a dense cake.
• If you want a stronger strawberry flavor, you can add a 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry extract to the strawberry batter.
• If you really like the chocolate flavor, use dark chocolate, but I prefer the semi-sweet as it allows the strawberries to shine as well. I tried semi-sweet chocolate chips as well as chocolate bars and both worked just great.
• You can omit the strawberries all together and have a chocolate marbled pound cake.
• After 45 minutes or so of baking, if the top seems to brown too quickly, take a piece of aluminum foil and cover the top loosely.

Chocolate Strawberry Pound Cake

Yields: 1 loaf
Prep time: 15 minutes
Bake time: 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup strawberry puree (3-4 medium strawberries)
1 (3.5 oz) chocolate – semi-sweet (preferable) or dark chocolate – melted
1 drop pink or red food coloring (optional)

• Preheat oven to 325F. Spray 9×5 loaf pan with cooking spray.
• In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• Using a stand mixer or hand mixer cream butter and sugar until it turns white and fluffy and no longer grainy. This could take several minutes. (This is a good time to puree strawberries and melt the chocolate). Add eggs, one at a time to the creamed butter. Don’t forget to scrape bowl. Then add vanilla extract and continue to beat until combine. Turn your mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture. Beat until well combined and smooth.
• Split the batter into halves. Gently fold the strawberry puree into one half. Add a drop of food coloring (if desired and mix well. Fold the melted chocolate into the other half. Drop random dollops of each batter into prepared pan.
• Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until tester comes out clean. After 45 minutes of baking, if the top appears to be browning too quickly, take a piece of aluminum foil, fold in half and tent the top of the cake.
• Allow to cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife or offset spatula around the edges. Turn onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Enjoy!