Christmas Cake

Some years, I'll make this easy chocolate pound cake for Christmas Eve (and then we eat it on Christmas Day, too, of course).  Usually I make the full recipe in a bundt pan, but this year I didn't want to be inundated with cake (after partaking of so many other holiday sweets this season), so I halved the recipe and baked it in a loaf pan.  (If doing this, start checking for done-ness at 45 minutes).  To halve the recipe, go to Allrecipes, and where it says "Servings", scale the recipe to 8.  It will call for 2 1/2 eggs, so I used 2 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk.  We don't drink coffee, and don't keep it around either, so when the recipe calls for coffee, I just use extra buttermilk.

I tried to make up my own white chocolate glaze for this, but the chocolate separated pretty badly, so I just slopped it on the top.  It ended up looking ok, but I won't be including that "recipe".  Ha ha.

Chocolate Pound Cake
adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
3 cups white sugar
5 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3.Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

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