Chocolate Pound Cake

Chocolate Pound Cake
Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1999 ed.), pg. 163.

The cake is dense and not too sweet. The chocolate icing (made from 2 ingredients - semi-sweet chocolate and a ridiculous amount of butter) is and makes a nice contrast to the cake. The icing recipe made a ton of icing which ended up completely covering the cake. I don't mind that at all but if you just wanted a drizzle over the cake, I suppose you could half the icing recipe.

Cake

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 TBS. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) butter
1 TBS. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 TBS. plus 1 tsp. instant coffee
3 cups sugar
3 eggs 
1 cup strained, powdered, unsweetened cocoa (preferably Dutch process)
1 3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350. Adjust rack one-third up. Butter (or spray) a 10x4-inch tube pan, line the bottom with parchment paper and coat lightly with fine bread crumbs.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Beat the butter to soften.

Add the vanilla and almond extracts.

Add the instant coffee.

Gradually add the sugar.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until each is incorporated.

On lowest speed, gradually add the cocoa.

Alternately add the milk and dry ingredients in three additions (begin with the milk since the batter is heavy at this stage).

(Adding the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk, finishing with the flour mixture) Beat until smooth.

Pour batter into cake pan. Turn the pan briskly a few times to level the top.

Bake from 70-90 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched and the cake comes away from the sides of the pan.

After removing from oven, cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto a baking rack and let cool completely.

Icing

9 oz. sweet or semisweet chocolate
4 1/2 oz. (1 stick plus 1 TBS.) butter, at room tempeature

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water.

When the chocolate has melted, remove from the heat and add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, whisking until it melts in the chocolate.

Place strips of wax paper or parchment around the outer edges of the cake and spoon the icing over the cake. Allow the cake to sit while the icing hardens before serving.