Monday, August 17, 2009

Mamaw's Chocolate Poundcake, and Jennifer's Cream Cheese



Another family recipe I picked up in Memphis. Mamaw is Prettyhead's mom; meaning, my great grandmother :) All of my mother's generation raves about this cake, though my mom insists it needs more chocolate.

The cool thing is that I was looking around for a good poundcake recipe before going to Memphis, and Jennifer gave me one with cream cheese that matches almost perfectly with this one, with the difference in flavorings. Combined, they equal the best poundcake in history (echoing through the hills)... but Jennifer gives much better directions because she doesnt assume I already know cooking techniques.

Despite the aBUNdance of food my parents loaded me up with before leaving, I didn't have any cream cheese in the fridge.* So this time around its chocolate. Next time, chocolate cream cheeseeeeee

* funny fridge story: I was taking out the SIX eggs to make the double recipe of this (ridiculous. oh poundcake...) and the refrigerator door started feeling funny on the hinge. I reopened it to get out the milk and the door fell completely off.

completely off.

It probably had a lot to do with the bolt that rolled across the kitchen floor at that point. But Quadrangle housing is good to me, and the repairman was in the area. Sadly I didn't yet have any cake to give him as a thank you...

Mixing in this order:

3/4 c butter
and 4 oz cream cheese, both softened
1.5 c sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (you can play with this, adding other extracts)
1.5 c all purpose flour
3/4 c chocolate powder 
1/8 teaspoon salt (mamaw's says 1/2 teaspoon)

*Beat the butter and softened cream cheese on medium for about 2 minutes or until creamy. *Gradually add the sugar, beating for 5-7 minutes.
~if you want to stick your finger in it, this part is amazing. creamed butter and sugar? mmm
*Add the eggs one at a time, beating just until the yellow disappears.
~ I am unclear if this means beat the before adding them, but i didn't
*Sift together the flour, salt, and chocolate and gradually add them to the butter mixture.
~ Sifting is optional, but I've started to do it everytime I use flour. Prettyhead - though I
admit she has alzheimer and doesn't remember things well sometimes - said it makes things
less clumpy
*Beat on low just until blended after each addition
*Poundcake is a pretty thick batter... Pour the batter into a greased and floured loaf pan
*Fill a 2 c ovenproof measuring cup with water and place it in the oven with the cake.
~ makes a more moist cake!! I'm going to try this with some more recipes...
*Bake on 300 for 1 hour for a still goey center... its be best way(Jennifer cooks it for at least 30 minutes longer, but this must be for the bundt shape because 1:30 was almost too much for my half-recipe loaf) or according to Mamaw's recipe, on 325 for 1 hour 15 minutes.
~As my aunt Patty pointed out, this is a low temperature for cakes, which are usually on at
350, which means its forgiving in the sense that it is hard to burn it. Maybe not hard to do,
but it happens less quickly.

Either way, you can use the toothpick/knife trick to check if its done by sticking it into the cake. If the knife/toothpick comes out with batter on it, the middle isn't done.
I would suggest just taking it out after one hour, though and enjoying the softness of it. I had a dinner party the other day and everyone loved that

This is a poundcake, so sometimes it is a little dry, though in the delicious way. For this reason, I suggest smothering each slice with mom's Cream Cheese Icing... 


1 comment:

  1. I tried it last night; it's absolutely delicious. It was a great dinner (home made pizza included), thanks Hannah! Maria-

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