short&SWEET: Day 16 - Marble Pound Cake & Chocolate Croissants

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Today I am making chocolate-marble pound cake [from Food and Wine Magazine]. Pound cake is one of those classic sweets that has been around forever so I figured I better try it out! Pound cake comes in so many varieties so there is something out there for everyone. I decided on the chocolate marble pound cake because it is a combination of the classic white pound cake with a chocolate twist [literally!]

For this recipe, you make the batter in two parts. First you create the classic white pound cake batter using the usual suspects [flour, baking powder, salt, butter, eggs, vanilla, milk and sugar]. The dry and wet ingredients are mixed separately then are combined slowly until a smooth batter forms. In a separate bowl, I mixed melted butter with unsweetened cocoa powder to create a smooth, shiny glaze. One cup of the batter is mixed with the chocolate mixture to create the chocolate batter that will run through the cake.

Mixing some of the white batter with the chocolate mixture

To put the pound cake together you first spread a layer of the white batter on the bottom of the loaf pan. That is then topped with the entire chocolate mixture and then finished off with the rest of the white batter. Right before you are ready to put it into the oven, you create large swirls in the batter using a butter knife. The cake bakes for about an hour which feels like forever since it smells so amazing!

Layering the white batter over the chocolate batter

Almost ready to go into the oven!

Swirl on top!

So the pound cake finally came out of the oven and after it cooled for about 10 minutes I flipped it out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. Then for a final touch I dusted the top of the cake with powdered sugar. It looked divine but now I needed to taste it!

The cake was DELICIOUS!!! One of the best things I've made so far I think. It was moist and the combination of vanilla and chocolate cake was amazing. It wasn't too sweet, it was just right. I am definitely going to make this again and I highly suggest you try it!!

Just out of the oven

Powdered sugar to top it off

Ready to eat!

Joanne came over later tonight and we made the easiest chocolate croissants ever! The only ingredients you need are the Pillsbury crescent rolls and semi sweet chocolate chips!! To start, we separated the dough into 8 triangles and all you do is lay them out on a cookie sheet. Then you sprinkle semi sweet chocolate chips in the bottom part of the triangle and roll them up. Thats it! Can it get any easier? The crescents bake to golden perfection in about 12 minutes and they are ready to enjoy. Oh, and we can't forget the last minute touch we added - powdered sugar dusted over the top to make it look beautiful!

We can admit, maybe this was too easy [and maybe one day we will attempt the dough from scratch] but they are so delicious, especially when they are enjoyed warm! The dough is flaky and light and the chocolate is smooth and sweet - it doesn't get much better than that!