This easy recipe for chocolate coffee pound cake is flavoured with espresso powder, cinnamon, and cardamom. It makes a great snack, but also you can serve slices of this chocolate pound cake topped with berries for a pretty dessert!
The batter for this chocolate pound cake comes together quickly and calls for ingredients you have in your pantry and fridge. This is a chocolate cake recipe with no frills, so no sour cream, no boiling water, no milk, and no buttermilk. But that doesn't mean it's boring. It's not quite a pound cake in that the ratio is a little off from the typical 1:1:1:1 recipe, but it's close enough and the texture is fantastic!
If you prefer a play on vanilla and chocolate, you can also make this classic chocolate marble loaf cake or this big chocolate chip bundt cake made with sour cream.
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Pound Cake 101
Pound cakes like this chocolate pound cake get their rich texture and flavour from a high amount of butter and a lot of eggs, which are whipped with the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy.
Historically, they don't contain any chemical leavening and depend on the air incorporated into the eggs, butter, and sugar. However, modern bakers may add a small amount of baking powder to ensure a cake with an open crumb and a good lift. They also don't generally have liquids (so no milk, buttermilk, or sour cream).
Pound cakes, by definition, are essentially equal parts of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. The traditional pound cake doesn't require a recipe because the pound cake ratio is 1:1:1:1 of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs, by weight, so 1 pound of butter, 1 pound of sugar, 1 pound of flour, and 1 pound of eggs. Since the weight of eggs can vary, many will weigh the eggs they are using, then measure out the same weight in butter, sugar, and flour.
The French refer to the pound cake as a "quatre quarts," meaning "four quarters." This means their pound cake is one quarter butter, one quarter sugar, one quarter flour, and one quarter eggs, by weight.
What You Need to Make This Chocolate Coffee Pound Cake
- butter—this recipe was developed with unsalted butter. If you are baking with salted, you may want to adjust the amount of salt you add
- sugar—I used both dark brown and granulated sugar, but you can either
- eggs—this recipe was developed with large eggs. Don't use eggs that are larger or smaller as this may throw off the recipe ratios
- vanilla—I bake with pure vanilla extract. If using artificial, you may want to add a little less as it tends to be more potent
- flour—this recipe was tested with bleached all-purpose flour. It will probably work fine with unbleached flour as well
- cocoa powder—I tested this recipe with Dutch-processed cocoa powder from Cacao Barry, specifically the product called Extra Brute, which has a reddish tinge
- espresso powder—this is dry instant espresso powder. It adds a lot of coffee flavour in a small amount (this is the same ingredient I used to create this coffee-flavoured cheesecake)
- salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal Fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, you may want to add half the amount to avoid the cake being too salty
- spices—I love the combination of cinnamon with chocolate and also coffee and cardamom (like Turkish coffee!), so I added both spices to this chocolate cake (though they are entirely optional).
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
How to Make a Chocolate Pound Cake With Cocoa Powder
Step 1—I prefer to sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl using a sieve (image 1), and then I like to also use a Danish dough whisk to ensure the dry ingredients are evenly dispersed (image 2).
Note: Diamond Crystal Kosher salt is quite coarse and so won't pass through the sieve, so either add it after or dump it out of the sieve into the bowl if it gets left behind.
Step 2—Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (image 3). Once creamed together, you can start adding the eggs one at a time, along with the vanilla (image 4). Make sure to whip the mixture until very light and fluffy (image 5).
Step 3—Add the sifted dry ingredients to the bowl (image 6) and stir them in until they disappear, creating a fluffy chocolate cake batter (image 7). You may want to use a large spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure that none of the dry ingredients are stuck on the bottom.
Step 4—Transfer the chocolate pound cake batter to the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the surface with a mini offset spatula (image 8). You can insert an oiled bench scraper through the loaf cake down the middle (image 9) to force the loaf to crack there (image 10). Bake until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean (image 11).
Note: I baked this chocolate loaf cake in an OXO non-stick loaf cake pan that is slightly smaller than the usual 9x5-inch loaf pan. This pan is closer to 8.5x4.5 inches. The gold finish is non-stick which makes unmoulding loaf cakes less stressful, but the finish isn't so dark that cakes bake too quickly on the edges.
Note: the chocolate pound cake is light on flour and very rich with butter and eggs, so it will likely collapse as it cools.
Pound Cake Baking Tip
Pound cake recipes like this chocolate version have a lot of eggs. And even if you work with room-temperature eggs, I have noticed the emulsion breaks down with the last two eggs, leading to a lumpy cake batter (image 12). Usually, the lumps are caused by hardened bits of butter.
In order to bake a pound cake with the best moist texture and an even crumb, it's very important to create a smooth, fluffy batter with lots of air in it, which is impossible if the emulsion breaks.
If the batter breaks after adding all the eggs, you can use a hairdryer set to hot and blow hot air on the outside of the mixer bowl (image 14) to melt a portion of the butter to get the emulsion back. Once a portion of the butter is melted, you can re-whip the mixture for several minutes. It will go from looking curdled to light and fluffy (image 13).
Troubleshooting Chocolate Pound Cake Sinking
When I tested this chocolate pound cake recipe, I noticed the cake sank in the middle. There are many reasons why a cake sinks in the middle and it could be too much air incorporated into the batter or not enough dry ingredients. For example, adding more flour created a cake with a flat surface that didn't sink. However, I found this version a little dry, so I preferred to keep the flour at 130 grams and add slightly more cocoa powder instead.
You can camouflage where the loaf cake sank by frosting the top with a layer of 1:1 dark chocolate ganache made with 90 grams of dark chocolate and 90 grams of hot 35 % cream. Or a small batch of this chocolate fudge frosting.
Serving Suggestions
Pound cake doesn't have to be fancy or elaborate and it shouldn't require hours of your time, but that doesn't mean it should be boring. Slices of pound cake served with coffee or tea in the afternoon are perfect. The slices of cake make a great snack or dessert to pack in a lunch box too. For dinner and dinner parties, you can serve slices of pound cake with lightly sweetened whipped cream and fresh berries or even roasted rhubarb!
Other Loaf Cake Recipes
Loaf cake recipes are so handy to make on the weekend for weekday snacks. Here are a few others to try:
If you tried this recipe for the best chocolate coffee pound cake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Coffee Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 130 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 45 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
- 30 mL instant espresso powder
- 5 mL ground cinnamon
- 3.75 mL baking powder
- 3.75 mL ground cardamom
- 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 230 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
- 150 grams granulated sugar
- 100 grams light brown sugar
- 4 large egg(s)
- 5 mL pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (165 °C). Lightly grease a 9×5-inch (23x12.5 cm) loaf pan. Line with parchment, then grease and dust with cocoa powder.
- In a medium bowl, sift/whisk together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, spices, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until it is smooth and creamy.
- Gradually add in the eggs and vanilla, mixing well between each addition. Scrape the bowl as needed with a spatula. Whip the mixture really well for several minutes until very fluffy and light.
- Add in the dry ingredients and stir them in,
- Drop the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.
- Bake until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. This takes about 1 hour–1 hour 10 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- Let the loaf cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack before unmoulding and serving.
Notes
- This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
- If the batter looks curdled after adding the eggs, use a hair dryer to heat the outside of the mixer bowl to melt a portion of the butter. Then whip the batter again until very light and fluffy.
- I flavoured this chocolate coffee pound cake with cinnamon and cardamom, but the spices are entirely optional and you can make this recipe without them (and even without the coffee) without any significant impact on texture.
- When I tested this chocolate pound cake recipe, I noticed the cake sank in the middle. There are many reasons why a cake sinks in the middle and it could be too much air incorporated into the batter or not enough dry ingredients. For example, adding more flour created a cake with a flat surface that didn't sink. However, I found this version a little dry, so I preferred to keep the flour at 130 grams and add slightly more cocoa powder instead.
- You can camouflage where the loaf cake sank by frosting the top with a layer of 1:1 dark chocolate ganache made with 90 grams of dark chocolate and 90 grams of hot 35 % cream.
Nutrition
Marcellina says
Wow this cake includes my favorite flavours - chocolate and coffee! Can’t wait to try it.
Sarah says
Hi! This is a really nice recipe and my cake turned out really good. One thing to note though, is that you are missing butter from your list of ingredients. I found the amount of butter needed by going to the original recipe, but just figured I should inform you on this. Thanks for a great recipe!
Janice says
Sarah, thank you so much for commenting and catching that mistake! Much appreciated! And I'm glad the cake turned out well (after you did a little investigating to find the butter).
Nina says
Wow. At first I thought, "how did I miss this one in that issue of BA?" I never miss a good pound cake. Then I realized the recipe is not one I would have made. Your adaptation is perfect and my kind of cake. Cocoa + Espresso = poundcake heaven.
The Mom Chef says
Well, I don't like chocolate, but I did laugh out loud at the serving size; and the story. Bravo to you for figuring it out!
Joy says
That looks wonderful.
Angela@RecipesFromMyMom says
There are no problems that can't be made better with chocolate poundcake.
briarrose says
Beautiful job! This looks so tasty.
thehungryartist says
Yes, I don't deal with light bulbs either! lol.Love that you added cocoa and omitted the other stuff, so that it didn't get in between you and the cocoa flavor!
Victor says
This looks heavenly delicious!
RavieNomNoms says
That looks incredible!