Death by Chocolate Pound Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Rich chocolate cake combines with chocolate chips and a decadent chocolate ganache to create an incredible Death by Chocolate Pound Cake.

Welcome to all chocolate lovers! If you are looking for a delicious cake with rich chocolate flavor, you have come to the right place. This is such a delightful homemade chocolate cake.

What is #Choctober Fest?

I originally developed this chocolate pound cake recipe for an event I was participating in called #Choctoberfest. #Choctoberfest was an October event focused squarely on chocolate lovers. Participating food bloggers linked together great recipe after great recipe showcasing their best chocolate desserts as well as savory dishes using chocolate or cocoa powder for those eager chocolate lovers.

I thought the chocolate pound cake recipe I developed for the event was pretty good, so I put it into my own rotation here at Lisa’s Dinnertime Dish. I want to make sure I have something for those chocolate lovers out there!

Going Back to My Pound Cake Roots

This chocolate cake recipe has its roots in my Classic Old Fashioned Pound Cake recipe. It’s a very moist cake with a delicious moist crumb, and minimal ingredients need to be swapped out to create that rich chocolate flavor. Add some cocoa powder to the mix, replace the baking powder with baking soda and you have a chocolate cake recipe!

The chocolate ganache is also a very easy, very great recipe using a few simple ingredients. Some heavy cream, chocolate chips, salt and a few minutes of heating and stirring. Not only does the rich chocolate flavor compliment the chocolate pound cake recipe, but it can also can go well with things like strawberries, apples and angel food cake.

Bundt Pan Substitution

As for baking a pound cake recipe (or a bundt cake recipe), I do get a lot of comments regarding a bundt pan substitution. This is something I mention in other cake recipes here at Lisa’s Dinnertime Dish and will also touch on here.

Maybe you don’t do a lot of baking and you don’t have a bundt pan laying around the house all ready for some yummy cake batter. In that case, traditional bread loaf pans are a great substitute for a bundt pan.

You will probably need to use two loaf pans for all the cake batter, but you still get dense cakes at the end. But alas, no decorative hole in the center of the cake!

Now, let’s say you are not part of the crazy chocolate lovers team and get overloaded with that rich chocolate flavor between the decadent chocolate pound cake itself, the chocolate ganache and the chocolate chips. No worries!

As a substitute for the chocolate ganache, you can use a variety of toppings. Cream cheese frosting with this great chocolate pound cake recipe still makes for a delicious cake. Fruits such as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries also make for a great (and healthier!) subsitute.

All I know is I find this to be a delicious cake. So much so, that I love just eating the rest of the batter right out of a large bowl – making sure I scrape the sides of the bowl to get every last bit of that cake batter!

Tips and Tricks to Make the Perfect Death by Chocolate Pound Cake:

• For best results, allow your butter to come to room temperature before you start. This will make it much easier to cream the butter and sugar together to make your final butter mixture.
• It’s important that the eggs are well beaten into the butter/sugar mixture. There should be no lumps.
• Sifting the dry ingredients together will insure that they’re uniformly mixed into the cake batter.
• While you can mix this cake by hand, I wouldn’t recommend that. You’ll end up with a more consistent cake batter using a hand mixer or a stand-up electric mixer.
• Even if your bundt pan is non-stick, you’re still going to want to coat the pan with nonstick cooking spray and flour your pan. This will insure that the cake won’t stick.
• The cake turns out perfectly by starting it in a cold (room temperature) oven and letting it heat up gradually to 350 degrees.
• Cool the pound cake in the bundt pan for 15 minutes to insure that it comes out of the bundt pan in one piece. If the cake is too hot, you risk it breaking apart when you invert it onto a cake plate or wire rack.
• Pound cake freezes very well. See below for the best way to freeze a cooled pound cake.
• If you don’t have a bundt pan, you can substitute two loaf pans.

How to Freeze Pound Cake:

• Make sure cake is cooled completely. Putting it on a wire rack will help move this process along.
• Do not put the chocolate ganache on the cooled cake before freezing. You’ll want to add that after the cake has been defrosted.
• You can freeze the entire pound cake or individual slices.
• For best results, wrap tightly first with plastic wrap and then with aluminum foil.
• Freeze for up to 3 months.

What Makes Death by Chocolate Pound Cake So Decadent and Delicious? 

• It starts with a chocolate pound cake based on my tried and true pound cake recipe.
• The cake is then studded with chocolate chips.
• Finally it’s covered in a decadent, yet easy, 2-ingredient chocolate ganache.
• It’s a chocolate lovers delight!

Ingredients Needed to Make Death by Chocolate Pound Cake:

• Softened unsalted butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Vanilla extract
• All purpose flour
• Cocoa powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Half and half
• Semi sweet chocolate chips
• Heavy cream
• Salt

How to Make This Death by Chocolate Pound Cake:

• You do not want to use a preheated oven, so no need to touch the oven until you are ready to bake the pound cake batter.
• Grease and flour a bundt pan.
• Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated.
• In a separate large bowl, add the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder and salt and sift together.
• Alternate beating in flour mixture and half and half, little at a time, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
• Gently stir in 1 cup chocolate chips.
• Pour cake batter into prepared bundt pan, smoothing until cake batter is even.
• Place pan in cold (room temperature) oven and set temperature to 350 degrees.
• Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Remove cake from oven and cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
• Gently run a knife around the bundt pan (or loaf pans), invert cake onto a cake plate or wire rack and cool completely.
• While cake is cooling make the chocolate ganache.
• Heat heavy cream and salt in a sauce pan over medium low heat until it comes to a simmer.
• Turn off heat.
• For best results, stir chocolate chips, cover and let sit for about 5 minutes, until chocolate has melted.
• Stir until cream and chocolate are well mixed.
• Drizzle over cake.

More Decadent Pound Cakes to Try:

• Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
• Delicious Glazed Lemon Pound Cake
• The Best Classic Old Fashioned Pound Cake
• Chocolate Macaroon Tunnel Cake
• Orange Pound Cake

ENJOY!