I'll gain more than a pound from this cake..

Here goes a super late Happy Birthday shout to my big bad dad. Yup so pop's is another year older, a little bit crankier and thanks to the cake I made him, I'm a little bit fatter..lol ok, so he's not a little bit crankier - thank goodness!! but I swear I couldn't help but be a little bit fatter, after indulging in all those sinfully delicious calories.. It doesn't matter how many different types of cakes I bake, no matter what flavors or fancy new recipes I find, my dad always says.."why can't you just bake something normal, like a pound cake?" Normal?? Yup, I guess growing up a southern boy, pound cake was normal..Pound cake is definitely a traditional dessert in the south, a culinary staple even. But yanno what? Pound cakes aren't the easiest thing to make. Yes the recipes are pretty straight-forward, there aren't alot of complicated steps or special ingredients, but the outcome is what's tricky. It's not uncommon for a pound cake to sort of colapse in the middle, resulting in what my grandfather always called a "sad streak", ironically in our family, those sad streaks were usually our favorite part of the cake. It certainly doesn't ruin the taste of the cake, it just doesn't look very pretty. Luckily there were no sad streaks to be found in my big bad dad's birthday pound cake. For me, a pound cake should be moist with a dense crumb. This cake came close, but wasn't quite as dense as I think a pound cake should be. The batter was pretty thick, so I actually expected the cake to be dry, but much to my surprise it wasn't. Would I make this cake again?? Definitely! I'm still on the look out for a lemon pound cake with lemon glaze like my grandma used to make. So if anyone has a recipe you recommend let me know! The Bag Lady's Favorite Chocolate Pound Cake 3 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 5 tablespoons cocoa 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 3 cups sugar 5 eggs 1 cup buttermilk 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. 2. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa and set aside. 3. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, shortening, and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Add flour and buttermilk alternately to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and mix well. 4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 3/4 hours, or until cake is done. Remove from oven and allow cake to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto cake plate and serve. Chocolate Ganache 4 oz bittersweet chocolate 4 oz semisweet chocolate 1 cup heavy cream 2 tsp vanilla extract 1. Break chocolate into small pieces and put in a medium sized bowl, set aside. 2. In small saucepan, heat heavy cream over medium-high heat, bringing just to a boil. 3. Remove cream from heat, and pour over chocolate. Allow to sit until chocolate has melted completely. 4. Add vanilla extract and stir using a whisk until completely combined. Pour over cake.