Aunt Lela's Chocolate Pound Cake

It has been a been a fun couple of days cooking up a storm in my mom's kitchen!  On Tuesday we whipped up Ida Mae's Low Country Biscuits (which I will be posting about soon) and yesterday we made my Great-Great-Aunt Lela's Famous Chocolate Pound Cake!

Lela was my grandmother's aunt.  She lived in Richmond, Virginia and was known for her chocolate pound cake.  (I really wish I had a picture of her!)  I never had the chance to meet my great-great aunt but I have always heard such wonderful stories about her.   Lela was a nurse in the early 1900s until she left her career to take care of her brother's two sons after their mother died.  My mom remembers her as typical Southern woman of that era, a little hard and stern on the outside but tender at heart.  Lela never married or had any children of her own but she was a "mother" to many of her nieces and nephews.  

Aunt Lela's Chocolate Pound Cake recipe is infamous is my family.  (No kidding... my father's mouth started watering when I told him we were making it!)  It is a buttery, dense cake with a wonderful chocolate taste without being too sweet.  She would make it for special occasions and anytime she went to visit someone.  Aunt Lela passed away in 1988 but her recipe for this decadent dessert lives on!

AUNT LELA'S CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups of sugar
• 3 cups of flour
• 6 tablespoons of good quality cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 eggs
• 1 cup of whole milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Grease and flour a bundt pan and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a hand blender or in a standing mixer.  Add in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated.
4. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder.  With the mixer on low, slowly add flour mixture to egg-butter mixture, alternating with milk and vanilla extract.  
5. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 75 to 90 minutes (cooking time varies with different cake pans and ovens... mine took 90 minutes) until a skewer is inserted in the cake and comes out clean.  Allow cake to cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Using an offset spatula or a knife, gently loosen to release cake from pan.  Enjoy!!

Note: My family enjoys this cake without icing however I think a nice chocolate ganache or creamy glaze would be a wonderful topper!

LIKE THIS RECIPE??

LIKE 'WENDY SEE WENDY DO' ON FACEBOOK HERE!!