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A chocolate cake on a white stand with a portion cut out.
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4.92 from 25 votes

Chocolate Pound Cake with Icing

This chocolate pound cake with icing is decadently rich, moist and fluffy and makes a perfect chocolate treat. It's super easy to make and comes with tin-size guides. Perfect for both beginners and pros!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Decorating time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour 45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 2 Seven inches round cakes / Six inches square cakes
Calories: 5533.4kcal
Author: Priya Maha

Ingredients

Chocolate Pound Cake

  • 330 g self raising flour
  • 30 g cocoa powder
  • 360 g granulated sugar
  • 360 g butter at room temperature
  • 6 eggs at room temperature
  • 90 ml milk
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Icing

  • 400 g dark chocolate (cooking chocolate with at least 70% cocoa butter)
  • 200 g butter
  • 400 g powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Baking the cakes

  • Measure the granulated sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add butter and beat until the mixture turns creamy, light and fluffy on medium to high speed. This should take about 2 minutes.
  • Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl at one minute interval.
  • Next, add the eggs, two at a time. Each time, beat until the traces of the eggs are no longer visible before adding more.
  • In another separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt with a whisk or spoon until well combined. Sift these dry ingredients into the creamed mixture in 3 batches.
  • Alternate each batch with the milk (in 2 batches). Start and end with the flour mixture.
  • Finally fold in the vanilla extract.
  • Divide the batter into 2 well greased and floured 7-inches round cake tins (with a height of at least 3 inches). Level the tops and bake in a 170 degrees Celsius preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer or cake tester inserted in the center of the cakes come out clean.
  • Remove the cakes from oven and let them cool in the tins for about 2 minutes before loosening the sides with a jam knife and turning them out onto wire rack. Position the cakes upright when cooling.
  • Baking time may vary slightly for larger cakes.
  • Cool the cakes completely before frosting.

Making the icing

  • Prepare a double boiler. If you don't have one, you can use a small saucepan and a heatproof bowl. Fill water into the saucepan (about a quarter of the saucepan high).
  • Place the heat proof bowl on the saucepan. Make sure the bowl is larger than the saucepan so that it sits on the pan and not inside. The bowl should not be touching the water underneath.
  • Add chocolate into the bowl. If using a chocolate bar, chop the chocolate into small, uniform pieces for easy melting. If using chocolate buttons or melts, no need to chop them.
  • Turn on the heat to a medium flame and let the stim from the water heat up the bowl and the chocolate. Stir to expedite the melting.
  • As soon as the chocolate is almost completely melted, add the butter. Again, for quicky melting, cut the butter into small cubes.
  • Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat immediately after adding the butter and let the butter melt in the heat of the chocolate. Stir to mix. Let the chocolate mixture cool down to room temperature.
  • In a separate bowl, measure and sift the powdered sugar.
  • Pour the cooled chocolate mixture into the powdered sugar.
  • Add the vanilla extract.
  • Mix until the sugar is well combined and the chocolate icing comes together.
  • If the icing is too stiff, add some cream to it and beat it until smooth. Add the cream in small increments of one tablespoon at a time to avoid the icing from becoming too thin.
  • The icing can be used immediately.

Frosting the cake

  • Make sure the cakes are at room temperature when frosting them. If the cakes are refrigerated, bring them out and let them warm up to room temperature before unwrapping the plastic wraps.
  • Start by leveling the top of the cakes (if the cakes are domed). Use a cake leveler or a serrated knife.
  • Place the first layer (with the top facing up) on a cake stand .
  • Spread some chocolate icing on the top and level it.
  • Top the icing with the second cake layer, this time, place the cake facing down.
  • Next step is to crumb coat the cake so that the crumbs are locked in place and do not get mixed with the icing as you frost the cake. Use a palette knife to smooth the icing on the sides of the cake, in between the cake layers before covering the rest of the side area.
  • Use an icing scraper to smooth the icing to a thin coat.
  • Repeat the crumb coat for the top of the cake as well.
  • Next, apply the remaining icing generously on the sides of the cake. Use the spatula to make waves on the icing as you cover the sides of the cake. Once the sides are done, cover the top. Use the back of a spoon to create the wavy pattern on the icing to complete the cake.
  • The frosting is sufficient to generously fill and coat the cake.

Notes

  1. Self raising flour can be substituted with all purpose flour. To make 360g of self raising flour (for the measurement in the recipe card above), add two and a half teaspoons of baking powder (in addition to the amount of baking powder indicated in the recipe) to make 360g of all purpose flour. Mix well and sift at least 3 times before using.
  2. To make the chocolate pound cake in a loaf pan, half the recipe and bake the cake in an 8 inches by 4 inches loaf tin.
  3. To make a chocolate bundt cake, half the recipe and bake the cake in a 6 cups capacity bundt pan at 160 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. Make sure to not fill the cake tin full. Leave about one third of the tin height to allow sufficient space for the cake to rise without overflowing.
  4. Chocolate icing can be replaced with other chocolate based frostings like chocolate buttercream or chocolate ganache.
  5. Heavy cream for the frosting can be replaced with milk.
  6. Larger cakes may take a longer time to bake.
  7. Use cake tins that are at least 3 inches high.
 

Calculated Tin Sizes

6 inches round/ 5 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 240 g butter
  • 240 g granulated sugar
  • 220 g self-raising flour
  • 20 g cocoa powder
  • 4 eggs
  • 60 ml milk
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
 
8 inches round/ 7 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 480 g butter
  • 480 g granulated sugar
  • 440 g self-raising flour
  • 40 g cocoa powder
  • 8 eggs
  • 120 ml milk
  • ⅓ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
 
9 inches round/ 8 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 600 g butter
  • 600 g granulated sugar
  • 550 g self-raising flour
  • 50 g cocoa powder
  • 10 eggs
  • 150 ml milk
  • ⅓ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
 
10 inches round/ 9 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 720 g butter
  • 720 g granulated sugar
  • 660 g self-raising flour
  • 60 g cocoa powder
  • 12 eggs
  • 180 ml milk
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
 
11 inches round/ 10 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 840 g butter
  • 840 g granulated sugar
  • 770 g self-raising flour
  • 70 g cocoa powder
  • 14 eggs
  • 210 ml milk
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
 
12 inches round/ 11 inches square (makes 2 layers of approximately 2 inch high cakes)
  • 960 g butter
  • 960 g granulated sugar
  • 880 g self-raising flour
  • 80 g cocoa powder
  • 16 eggs
  • 240 ml milk
  • ⅔ tsp salt
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract