Thursday, August 20, 2015

Chocolate Raspberry Pound Cake : Bake-Along #85

This week at Bake-Along #85, Lena has selected to bake Chocolate Raspberry Pound Cake together with Zoe, myself and anyone who wishes to bake along with us.

It is a marble cake where the plain batter is flavoured with some raspberry jam. The baked cake is then brushed with some raspberry jam and coated with melted chocolate. I could not find any raspberry jam without seeds and there's no raspberry jelly in the supermarket shelves either. So I grabbed one jar of raspberry jam with seeds. 

I made half a recipe, and reduce the sugar slightly more. The cake is baked in a 7 x 4-inch loaf pan and took about 40 minutes to bake.


I did not wait for the chocolate glaze to really set, and use it when it was still a little loose. See the chocolate glaze collected in the plate around the cake! And the seeds of the raspberry are visible, which is not to my preference.



My cake turned out a little too dense, though the texture is moist. I must have overmixed the batter! Taste-wise, this cake is just OK for me, could not really taste the raspberry jam in it and if I were to bake this again, I would probably just omit the raspberry jam altogether. 


Chocolate Raspberry Pound Cake
(adapted from "Cake Keeper Cakes", Lauren Chattman)
Serves 8 to 10
For the cake :
3 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup raspberry jam

For the glaze :
1/4 cup raspberry jam
6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon raspberry liqueur

Make the Cake :

  1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan and dust with flour.
  2. Put 1 inch of water in the bottom of a double boiler or a small saucepan and bring to a bare simmer. Place the chocolate in the top of the double boiler or in a stainless steel bowl big enough to rest on top of the saucepan, and set the bowl on top of the simmering water, making sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Heat, whisking occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted, 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  3. Combine the eggs and vanilla in a glass measuring cup and lightly beat. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
  4. Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.
  5. With the mixer on medium low speed, pour the egg mixture into the bowl in a slow stream, stopping the mixer once or twice or scrape down the bowl.
  6. Turn the mixer on low speed and add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. After the last addition, mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.
  7. Scrape half the batter into a medium mixing bowl and whisk in the raspberry jam. Whisk the melted chocolate into the batter remaining in the mixer.
  8. Scrape 1/2 the raspberry batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top, then add 1/2 of the chocolate batter. Repeat the layers with the remaining batters. Run a butter knife blade through the batter to create marbling. Do not overmix.
  9. Bake the pound cake until it is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, invert it onto a wire rack, and then turn it right side up on a rack to cool completely.
Make the Glaze :
  1. Heat 1/4 cup raspberry jam until loose, and use a pastry brush to brush the warm jam all over the cake. Combine the heavy cream, corn syrup, and chocolate in a small pot and heat over medium, whisking until smooth. Stir in the raspberry liqueur. Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes. Spoon the glaze over the cake, smoothing it over the top and sides with a small metal spatula to cover. Let stand until the glaze firms up about 1 hour. Slice and serve.
  2. Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper at room temperature, or wrap loosely in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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Do stop by Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids, and all our friends who has baked along with us in the linky below :

For our next Bake-Along, we will be baking "Theme : Pretzels (Yeasted)". Please do join us, and link your post to our linky which will open from  3rd till 12th September. Everyone is welcome to join us! Only current post please.


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A friendly reminder when linking to our linky :
1. Please mention Bake-Along event in your own post linking direct to any of the hosts' post (JoyceLena or Zoe)
2. Please link only new and current post, PLEASE FOLLOW THE BAKE OR THEME provided by us. Unrelated post will be deleted.
3. Feel free to display our Bake-Along badge in your post.



and I'm sharing this post with :
Cook-Your-Books #26 @ kitchen flavours
 photo 77951578-1914-4b72-8eda-9e40a91183ac_zps331eb4b4.jpg




11 comments:

  1. Joyce! Your cake looks super rich. But I like it :P
    You are reading Amy Tan's book! It's nice!

    I have noted the closing date for this and have all the ingredient ready to bake.

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  2. Hi Joyce,
    A little too dense? ... it looks delicious to me ... a slice with a cuppa for my afternoon coffee break would be nice ^-^

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  3. Hi Joyce,

    Nevermind that your chocolate glaze is still semi-drippy or slight dense... I think the very buttery taste can make the cake tasting ok! That's the beauty of baking a buttery pound cake :D

    Are you going to bake this recipe again?

    Zoe

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  4. It looks super duper moist and delicious!

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  5. yummm, looks so nice and moist!!

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  6. eat it with ice cream, i think that way you will forget about the dense-ness of the cake...:))

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  7. Joyce, it looks delicious! Raspberry and chocolate were made for each other!

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  8. The title of the recipe sounds so wonderful. What a shame it didn't meet your expectations, Joyce! It certainly looks delicious.

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  9. Another delicious cake! I think you can just close your eyes now while baking haha... enjoy the day!. Btw the cake looks ok to me :-)

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  10. I think the pound cake looks alright...and that reminds me of my Cake Keeper Cakes book...its been awhile...anf perhaps i shld bucked up... :p

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  11. Joyce, I just want to take a spoon and scoop all the chocolate glaze! Sometimes, I do enjoy dense cakes.

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