This chocolate sour cream pound cake is decadent, fudgy, and delightfully dense. And best of all, it's incredibly easy to make!
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This chocolate sour cream pound cake is a riff of the classic buttery pound cake, but loaded up with chocolate 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.
Ingredients
- 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 for the chocolate glaze.
Instructions
This 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.
FAQ
Dutch process cocoa powder is THE best cocoa powder for baking. Because it's neutralized with an alkalizing agent, it has a smoother flavor and creates the most fudgy and chocolatey baked goods! Black cocoa powder is similar to dutch process, but richer in flavor and darker in color. It is typically used in small amounts alongside another cocoa powder to enhance the color and flavor of the baked good. It smells like actual chocolate cake and is just magical to bake with!
This chocolate glaze is a simple ganache made with heavy cream and chocolate. Typically, ganache is made by bringing the heavy cream to a simmer and then pouring over the chocolate. But since this is such a small amount, I find that it's easier to just heat the heavy cream in the microwave for about 30 seconds, then adding the chocolate and stirring until smooth. Be wary of over-heating the cream or chocolate or the ganache might split. When ganache splits, the fat solids separate and it appears grainy. If this happens, sometimes it can be fixed by adding a splash of cold heavy cream or small amount of butter.
- Loaf pan: This recipe is made for a 9x5 loaf pan.
- Electric mixer: A stand mixer or a hand-held electric mixer is needed to properly cream the butter and sugar together.
- Kitchen scale: You'll need a kitchen scale to weigh all of your ingredients (read why below)!
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 3 months.
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Baking in grams
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed to create incredibly delicious baked goods that you can easily recreate in your own kitchen with success. The only way this is possible is to standardize the way ingredients are measured - by weight. 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), I can ensure that you can make the recipe 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
Print📖 Recipe
Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 9x5 loaf 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This chocolate sour cream pound cake is decadent, fudgy, and delightfully dense. And best of all, it's incredibly easy to make!
Ingredients
For the chocolate sour cream pound cake:
- 120g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
- 42g (¼ cup) dutch process cocoa powder
- 21g (2 tbsp) black cocoa powder*
- 1 ½ tsp espresso powder (optional)
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 198g (14 tbsp) unsalted butter (room temp)
- 250g (1 ¼ cup) granulated sugar
- 4 eggs (room temp)
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
- 227g (1 cup) sour cream (room temp)*
For the chocolate glaze:
- 113g (½ cup) heavy cream
- 85g (½ cup) semi-sweet chocolate
Instructions
For the chocolate sour cream pound cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powders, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes until light & fluffy.
- Add vanilla and one egg at a time, mixing to fully incorporate before adding the next.
- Scrape down the bowl, add mix in half of the dry ingredients 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.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and tap the pan on the counter a few times to release air bubbles.
- Bake the pound cake for about 1 hour 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow the pound cake to cool before topping with glaze and cutting.
For the chocolate glaze:
- 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.
- Pour over cooled pound cake, slice, and enjoy!
Notes
- 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.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 562
- Sugar: 38.4 g
- Sodium: 210.2 mg
- Fat: 35.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 57.5 g
- Protein: 9.5 g
- Cholesterol: 172.1 mg
Keywords: chocolate sour cream pound cake, chocolate pound cake with sour cream, chocolate loaf cake, double chocolate pound cake, chocolate pound cake recipe
Natalie says
Hands down the most moist chocolate pound cake I’ve ever had! Love how easy it is to make too!
★★★★★
Pam McWaters says
Can you make this in a Bundt pan or is there not enough batter to do so?
Sloane says
I would not recommend baking this recipe in a bundt pan. There would not be enough batter, and I'm not sure what the correct quantities would be to make it as a bundt cake. Hope you get to try it as a loaf!
Margaret says
This is a really lovely cake, so easy to make and such great results. This will be my standard recipe from now on! Thank you!
★★★★★
Babs says
Delicious ! Nice chocolate flavor ! Did not glaze , but wonderful without the glaze. Will definitely make again . Thanks !!
★★★★★
Cambrea says
This chocolate pound cake was everything my chocolate craving asked for and more!! I can't recommend this recipe enough, it's super moist and has a rich chocolate flavor without being too sweet.
★★★★★
Libby says
This pound cake was delicious! So chocolatey and moist
★★★★★
Luiselena says
I just baked this cake with my sister to a party, but it just smelled so delicious that we keep it, and baked anotherone!! Is just the perfect chocolate cake!!
★★★★★