Chocolate Ombre Pound Cake

 

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (softened)

1/2 cup caster sugar (if you prefer sweeter add up to 1 cup)

4 large eggs

2 cups plain flour (sifted)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder (sifted)

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup milk (room temperature)

For the Chocolate Paste:

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup caster sugar (if you prefer sweeter add up to 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 tsp. baking soda (sifted)

Methods:

1. Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan.  Tap the pan to remove excess flour.  I don't have the required sized pan, so I use a square 7x7" pan instead.
2. In a mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy and creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl.  Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl.  Beat until just incorporated.  Add half of the milk.  Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat until combined.  Add the remaining milk.  Beat and add the remaining flour mixture.  Beat just until the mixture is smooth.  Set aside.
4. To make the chocolate paste, stir together the cocoa powder, sugar, boiling water and baking soda in a mixing bowl until smooth and combined.
5. Scoop out approximately 1/3 of the white mixture in (2) and stir it to the bowl with the chocolate paste until the color is uniform.  Now scoop out about 70% of this chocolate mixture and pour it into the prepared pan.  Spread using a spatula to smooth out mixture.  To the remaining 30% of the chocolate batter, add another 1/3 of the white batter.  Stir until incorporated.  Scoop this batter on top of the chocolate batter on the pan.  Again, spread it out using a spatula.  Finally, scoop out the remaining 1/3 of the white batter into the pan.  Smooth it out once more.
6. Bake the cake in a preheated oven of 176 degree Celsius for 60-70 minutes, or until the cake has slightly cracked in the middle and a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  If the cake is browning too quickly before it is set, tent the top of the cake with foil.
7. Let the cake to cool down in the pan over a wire rack.  Slice only after the cake has cooled down.

I adapted this recipe from 'www.womanscribbles.net' with some adjustments to suit my baking preference.