Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake

This chocolate sour cream pound cake is a riff of the classic buttery pound cake, but loaded up with chocolate flavor and drenched in even more chocolate! My version doesn't actually have a pound of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar, but it definitely is heavy on the butter and sugar. Since this cake is meant to be dense in nature, it can be difficult to nail that perfect balance of dense texture and moist & flavorful. But this recipe, oh man. It's dense, fudgy, chocolatey, and moist. It's the most perfect chocolate pound cake on the block. And trust me, it's totally worth the chocolate coma. 

For more chocolate cake recipes, try Ultimate Chocolate Fudge Cake, Chocolate Tiramisu Cake, Fudgy Chocolate Espresso Bundt Cake, and Dairy Free Chocolate Cake. 

Ingredient Notes

• All-Purpose Flour: You'll need just one cup of flour. I strongly encourage you to weigh your flour to avoid adding too much, which would result in a dry pound cake.
• Cocoa Powder: I use a combination of dutch process and black cocoa powders, but you can use just dutch process if you'd like. 
• Leavener: All you need is baking powder for this recipe. 
• Butter: No, there isn't a whole of butter in this recipe, but there's still enough to get that classic buttery pound cake flavor!
• Sugar: You'll need just granulated sugar. 
• Eggs: To achieve that signature dense pound cake texture, you'll need 4 whole eggs. 
• Sour Cream: Use full fat sour cream for optimum flavor and texture.
• Heavy Cream: For the chocolate glaze, you'll need a half cup of heavy cream. 
• Chocolate: Use semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks for the chocolate glaze.

See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.

Step by Step Instructions

This chocolate sour cream pound cake recipe is incredibly easy as it only requires a basic creaming method of butter and sugar, and alternating dry & wet ingredients at the end. Once the batter is made, sit back and relax as it bakes! Before you know it, you'll be enjoying a thick slice of chocolate heaven.

STEP 1: Combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powders, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt. 

STEP 2: Cream butter & sugar; Alternate dry & wet ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed until light & fluffy. Add vanilla extract and one egg at a time, mixing to fully incorporate before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl, add mix in half of the flour mixture on low speed. Mix in the sour cream until mostly combined. Then, add the rest of the dry ingredients until everything is fully combined. Do not over-mix. 

STEP 3: Pour batter into pan. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula, then spoon the batter into the prepared pan and tap the pan on the counter a few times to release air bubbles. 

STEP 4: Bake. Bake the pound cake for about 1 hour 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Use a knife to loosen the cake, then remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before topping with glaze and cutting.

STEP 5: Make the chocolate ganache & drizzle on cake. In a large measuring cup or heat proof bowl, warm the heavy cream in the microwave for about 1 minute. Add the chocolate to the hot heavy cream and stir until completely smooth. Allow to cool for a few minutes to thicken up, then pour over cooled pound cake.

STEP 6: Serve. Slice & enjoy!

Expert Baking Tips

• If you do not have black cocoa powder on hand, you can sub for an additional 2 tablespoon of dutch process cocoa powder. 
• Use full fat sour cream for best flavor and texture! You can also sub for whole milk plain greek yogurt. 
• Store this pound cake in an air-tight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can also wrap individual slices in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag to store in the freezer for up to to 3 months.

All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale. 

If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.

But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!

Happy baking! x

Other chocolate related recipes to try