chocolate pound cake

If you are wondering why the bowl of sliced cake that you see in the photograph above seems to be resting on a warehousing carton, it is because this photograph was taken in the office.

I had baked a chocolate pound cake for my wonderful team in the office who had been hard at work on a big project. I brought the whole cake to the office and passed it to my secretary to slice and distribute.

INGREDIENTS

300g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
300g butter (softened)
200g castor sugar
100g brown sugar
6 eggs
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used a mixture of chopped walnuts, chopped pecans and chopped pumpkin seeds)
85ml milk

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees celsius.

2. Grease and line a 9" round springform pan with baking paper.

3. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa powder and ground cinnamon in a bowl. Set aside.

4. Mix the butter, castor sugar and brown sugar using an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute.

5. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, each time mixing at medium speed until blended. When all the eggs have been added, mix at medium speed until smooth.

6. Add the chopped nuts and mix well.

7. Gradually add the milk and blend well at low speed.

8. Pour the batter into the springform pan and bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.