Chocolate Pound Cake {with a cheesecake inside}

Last month was really tough for me due to several issues on the family front, and things are yet to be solved or will take the time to get back to normal. In between all this, I got an amazing gift from my Aunt who stays in the USA. It’s a Nordicware Heritage Bundt Pan, a baker’s dream. I’m very much thankful to Pishi for this and I was dying to use the pan but didn’t get enough scope to use it in the past few days. In fact, I missed to bake a cake for my Mom’s birthday, and I felt really bad about it because after many years Mom was here with me on her birthday and I got the chance to celebrate her Birthday with a homemade cake but couldn’t able to make one on that very day. But late better than never, I was eyeing this recipe from quite long after I saw it first time on Pinterest and finally tried it especially for my Mom. This Chocolate Pound Cake was special for so many reasons and I’m glad that it turned out so good that we ended up eating half of a 2.4 kg Cake in one go, can you Imagine!! 😀

I’ve adapted the recipe from here and changed a few things while making the cake according to my understanding of baking. Availability of the ingredients is another thing, most of you would agree with me that we don’t get all the baking stuff easily in India, either we’ve to buy them from a gourmet store or have to look out for them online. Due to this reason, I replaced a few ingredients here from the original recipe so that you too can bake this cake with easy ingredients. There is no difference between eating a piece of dark chocolate and having this cake, with a hint of coffee the indulgence is, even more, better. The moist, tangy layer of hidden cheesecake acts as a surprise to whomever you’re going to serve it, you’ll be delighted to see the happiness in their eyes and I was flooded with so much appreciation that I’m already tempted to bake this once again. Go for it and I would love to hear your experience.

Chocolate Pound Cake {with a cheesecake inside}

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• All-purpose flour – 1¾  cups
• Brown/White caster sugar (powdered sugar)- 2 cups
• Unsweetened cocoa powder- ¾ cup
• Dark chocolate- ¾ cup  chopped (Use Lindt with 60% cocoa or Compound chocolate)
• Unsalted butter- ¾ cup
• Thick yogurt- 1 cup
• Instant coffee powder- 1 tbsp
• Boiling water- 3/4 cup
• Salt- 1 tsp
• Baking soda- 1 tsp
• Vanilla extract- 1 tbsp
• Eggs- 5

For the Cheesecake filling:

• Cream cheese- 1 pack/8 ounces (I used ¾ of this)
• Brown/White caster sugar (powdered sugar)- ½ cup
• All-purpose flour – 2 tsp
• Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
• Egg- 1
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:

• Fresh cream- ¾ cup (I used Amul’s)
• Dark Chocolate- ½ cup (chopped)

Method for Cheesecake filling

In a bowl, add cream cheese, 2 tsp flour, egg, vanilla extract, and sugar. Whisk well and keep aside.

Method for Cake batter

Before I start all the ingredients were at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 176 degrees C. Grease a 2.4 litre Bundt cake pan (I used my Nordic ware Heritage Bundt pan here) using a pastry brush with melted butter. Or, use a lecithin free baking spray. Make it sure to coat all the nooks in the pan, this ensures an easy release for the cake with the sharp design intact. If you’re not using a Bundt pan, then use a 10” cake pan by greasing with butter and place a piece of baking paper at the bottom of the pan.

In a bowl, sift all-purpose flour and baking powder. Add salt, mix well and keep aside.

In a bowl, add chopped chocolate, coffee powder, and cocoa powder. Add boiling water into this, don’t stir. Cover the bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. After that whisk the chocolate mixture until lump-free. Let it be cooled completely, now add yogurt, whisk well and keep aside.

In another bowl, cream butter and sugar using your electronic hand mixer or stand mixer whatever you have. In this add the eggs one by one. Add one at a time and keep whisking. Next to add vanilla extract, whisk well. Now add chocolate mixture and flour mixture into this alternately, start and end with the flour mixture. Whisk the batter until smooth.

Pour the Chocolate Pound Cake batter into the prepared cake pan, add a bit more than half of the batter at first. Tap the cake pan gently on the kitchen counter a couple of times to release the air bubbles. Now add the cheesecake filling in such a manner so that it doesn’t touch the edges of the chocolate batter, try to keep it in the centre, this part is tricky.

Now pour the rest of the cake batter. Tap the cake pan gently again for 2-3 times. Bake for 50 minutes. Insert a sharp knife in the middle of the cake. The cake is ready if the knife comes out clean. If not, bake for some more time, and then check again. Cool the Chocolate Pound Cake in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert the cake gently onto a cooling rack. Let the cake cooled completely, in between start making the glaze.

Method for glaze

Add cream in a bowl, simmer and stir until completely smooth (no need to boil the cream). Remove from the heat, add dark chocolate pieces into this, wait for 10 minutes. Mix and stir until a lump-free glaze forms.

Pour this glaze on the cooled cake, allow to set at room temperature for some time. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Notes:

• Baking time may vary a little bit for different ovens and different sizes of baking pans.
• Halve the ingredients if you want to bake a smaller cake.
• Store the Chocolate Pound Cake slices in an airtight container and keep refrigerated, consume within a week.
• The original recipe called for 1 full pack of cream cheese (8 ounces), but I felt it would be difficult to layer the cheesecake batter in the centre position if we use a full pack, so I’ve reduced the amount and the batter was easy to manage.