Chocolate Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze
The Best Chocolate Pound Cake Recipe – This tender and tangy chocolate sour cream pound cake is baked in a Bundt pan and coated with a luscious homemade chocolate glaze for a rich, decadent, and utterly delicious dessert.
Why We Love this Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe
Pound cake is one of the most glorious desserts on the planet, in my humble opinion. Its unique dense texture and fine crumb set it apart from all other cakes. It’s the perfect base for cool or hot toppings because it can stand up to sauces and berries with a lot of moisture.
We have several delicious pound cakes on our site, including our super popular cream cheese pound cake and pecan praline pound cake. Today we’re sharing a chocolate sour cream variation. This irresistible Chocolate Sour Cream Poundcake is dense and tight in texture, yet moist and rich, with intense chocolate and butter flavor.
Like our sweet potato pound cake, we make this recipe in a Bundt pan. It helps to cook the cake evenly throughout, and makes the dessert look lovely for slicing and sharing! And, similar to our mint chocolate chip pound cake, we also add a fabulous rich chocolate glaze on top of this sour cream poundcake for a delicious balance between sweet and tangy flavors.
Ingredients You Need
- Butter – unsalted, softened
- Granulated sugar – or coconut sugar
- Sour cream – or greek yogurt
- Eggs – room temperature is best for baking
- Vanilla extract – an essential ingredient for sweet baked goods
- All-purpose flour – or your favorite gluten-free alternative
- Unsweetened cocoa powder – use high-quality cocoa for the best taste
- Baking powder – to give the cake its soft, light texture
- Salt – a pinch to balance the sweetness
- Instant espresso powder – optional, but suggested to bring out the richness of the chocolate
For the Glaze –
- Powdered sugar – necessary for the perfect glaze consistency
- Unsweetened cocoa powder – the same cocoa as used for the cake
- Butter – unsalted, melted
- Hot water – “blooms” the cocoa, and keeps the glaze liquid-y until it dries and thickens a bit
How to Make Chocolate Pound Cake
Set out the butter, eggs, and sour cream to bring to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Move one oven rack to the center of the oven and remove any racks above it.
Set out a standard 12-cup Bundt pan. Grease the Bundt pan with extra butter or shortening. Then scoop out ¼ cup of sugar and sprinkle it in the pan. Shake the sugar all around the pan to coat the fat well. Then dump out any excess sugar.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, place the softened butter and sugar. Beat on high to cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add in the sour cream, remaining 2 ¾ cups of sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined. Then scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula once again.
In a separate bowl, measure and combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder. Mix well to ensure NO CLUMPS of cocoa powder or baking powder exist. (Sift the mixture if needed to break up clumps.)
Turn the mixer on low and slowly scoop the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Beat until the batter is smooth, then immediately turn off the mixer and scrape the bowl.
Scoop the chocolate cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center rack for 80 to 85 minutes.
After 80 minutes, test the cake by inserting a toothpick deep into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, take the pound cake out of the oven.
Let the Bundt cake cool and rest in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes. Then carefully flip the cake out onto a platter or baking rack.
Get the Complete (Printable) Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze Below. Enjoy!
Once the cake has cooled to room temperature make the glaze. Set out a small mixing bowl. Combine the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, melted butter, 1 tablespoon of hot water, and vanilla extract. Whisk well until smooth. If the glaze is too thick add an additional tablespoon of hot water and mix again.
Pour the glaze into a large squirt bottle or piping bag. Drizzle the chocolate glaze over the top of the cake. Allow the glaze to set and dry for at least one hour before covering the cake.
Tips & Tricks
- Don’t over mix the batter! Once you add the flour to the pound cake batter, make sure you don’t over mix it. This can cause a dry and tough cake.
- Grease the bundt cake pan well! You definitely don’t want the cake to stick. Bundt cake pans can be a bit more difficult to grease than a regular cake tin, since it has some nooks and crannies! Make sure to grease every part with butter or shortening.
- Use high quality cocoa powder! For the best chocolate pound cake, use a high quality cocoa powder. You will get a deep, chocolatey flavor and color!
Serving Suggestions
This chocolate pound cake recipe is deliciously decadent with the thick glaze – but you don’t need to stop there! Ice cream, summer berries, salted caramel, and nut toppings are also perfect to complement the Bundt cake. I love to drizzle on blackberry sauce or warm blueberry sauce between the ribbons of ganache.
Add a scoop of ice cream for a delicious balance with the warm, tender sour cream cake. Try our homemade favorites like whiskey and spiced walnut, no-churn mocha mint, lavender dark chocolate chip, or classic vanilla ice cream recipes.
Frequently Asked Questions
The richness of the sour cream makes the cake crumb ultra moist. It also adds a nice bit of tangy flavor, which is delightful with the stout chocolate taste.
Well, this marvelous treat happens to be tender and moist right out of the oven. The chocolate glaze on top of the Bundt cake makes every bite even more scrumptious! The key to a moist pound cake is to make sure not to overbake it!
The original pound cake recipe included 1 pound each of butter, flour, sugar, and eggs. While the ingredients have changed over the years, the batter still has a high amount of fat compared to other cake recipes. This makes the crumb tighter and more dense with a delicious buttery taste.
Keep it covered at room temperature for up to 4 days, or refrigerate for up to a week. Cakes taste best at room temperature, so if refrigerating, allow the cake to warm on the counter before serving.
Absolutely! I do recommend freezing without the glaze, however. Wrap the cooled cake tightly in plastic wrap and a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the cake in the fridge overnight or on the countertop for an hour or so. I suggest warming the cake for a few minutes in the oven before adding the chocolate glaze on the Bundt cake.
Looking for More Decadent Dessert Recipes? Be Sure to Also Try:
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart
- White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
- Nutty Cardamom Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze
- Chocolate Banana Cake with Coconut
- Magic Chocolate Eclair Cake
Chocolate Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 cups granulated sugar divided
- 1 cup sour cream
- 6 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all- purpose flour
- ¾ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder optional
Chocolate Glaze for Bundt Cake –
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
- 1-2 tablespoons hot water
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Set out the butter, eggs, and sour cream to bring to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Move one oven rack to the center of the oven and remove any racks above it.
- Set out a standard 12-cup Bundt pan. Grease the Bundt pan with extra butter or shortening. Then scoop out ¼ cup of sugar and sprinkle it in the pan. Shake the sugar all around the pan to coat the fat well. Then dump out any excess sugar.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, place the softened butter and sugar. Beat on high to cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add in the sour cream, remaining 2 ¾ cups of sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined. Then scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula once again.
- In a separate bowl, measure and combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder. Mix well to ensure NO CLUMPS of cocoa powder or baking powder exist. (Sift the mixture if needed to break up clumps.)
- Turn the mixer on low and slowly scoop the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Beat until the batter is smooth, then immediately turn off the mixer and scrape the bowl.
- Scoop the chocolate cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center rack for 80 to 85 minutes. After 80 minutes, test the cake by inserting a toothpick deep into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, take the pound cake out of the oven.
- Let the Bundt cake cool and rest in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes. Then carefully flip the cake out onto a platter or baking rack.
- Chocolate Glaze for Bundt Cake: Once the cake has cooled to room temperature make the glaze. Set out a small mixing bowl. Combine the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, melted butter, 1 tablespoon of hot water, and vanilla extract. Whisk well until smooth. If the glaze is too thick add an additional tablespoon of hot water and mix again.
- Pour the glaze into a large squirt bottle or piping bag. Drizzle the chocolate glaze over the top of the cake. Allow the glaze to set and dry for at least one hour before covering the cake.
What’s interesting about this cake is it’s easy and still turned out so delicious! It’s the kids favorite cake. I even recommended this to my friends!
This cake was so good and it was so simple to make.
I have been craving some chocolate cake something fierce lately – boy did this cake hit the spot! SO GOOD.