Chocolate Pound Cake and Ganache

My favorite chocolate cake!

We have been married for 3 years now, but I first made this cake for our 6 month wedding anniversary.

CHOCOLATE VELVET POUND CAKE
This recipe is from the Southern Living cookbook.

Ingredients
1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate, melted
½ cup butter, softened
16 ounces light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
8 ounces sour cream
1 cup hot water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
In one bowl, beat butter and brown sugar at medium speed in an electric mixer for 5 minutes, or until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate. Beat just until blended.

In a second bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture into chocolate mixture alternatively with sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Gradually add 1 cup hot water in a slow, steady stream, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla.

Pour batter into a greased tube pan. Pan at 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted in the center and comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Tip
After the pound cake has cooled, drizzle chocolate ganache over it. I also like to serve sliced strawberries and vanilla bean ice cream with this cake. Another option is to skip the ganache and sprinkle powdered sugar over the cake just prior to serving.

Furthermore, in the picture there are white chocolate hearts and the word, love, spelled out in white chocolate. I made this cake for an anniversary party. I will post details on how to create the white chocolate details soon.


CHOCOLATE GANACHE
This recipe is from the Southern Living cookbook.

Ingredients
12 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels
½ cup heavy whipping cream
3 Tablespoons butter

Directions
Microwave chocolate morsels and whipping cream in a glass bowl for 2 ½ minutes or until the morsels melt. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in butter and let stand 30 minutes. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer for 3 to 4 minutes.

Yields 1 ½ cups

Tip
This recipe is great to serve as a chocolate sauce over the cake. But it is also nice when drizzled over the cake, allowed to harden in the refrigerator and then served.

This recipe for ganache is also great to use for making chocolate truffles!

This post was originally published in 2010 on my Flour Girl blog.