Featured Recipes | Begin with Butter

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pound Cake

Shani

-

November 9, 2022

To cookie or to cake? That USED to be the question. Because with this Chocolate Chip Cookie Pound Cake, you no longer have to make that awful decision.

This is a picture of a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pound Cake.

Welcome to Day 5 of the Twelve Days of Pound Cake, Friend!

This Chocolate Chip Cookie Pound Cake is the very best of both worlds; it’s molasses-y and satisfying like a highly-anticipated cookie, while also satisfying that craving for a pleasantly plump, buttery piece of pound cake.

It was also a surprise for my chocoholic baby girl, so it brought me great glee to see her face when she got her first slice.

The Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy is here! Check out our live classes and replays to help you get ready for holiday baking!

Want to purchase more than one class? Purchase a BwB Home Baking Academy bundle and save a bundle!

About this Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Last year, I made a Snickerdoodle Pound Cake for the Twelve Days of Pound Cake, and it was…a hit. Snickerdoodles are my son’s favorite cookies (and mine!), and we’ve enjoyed it several times since last year.

My daughter and my husband love chocolate chip cookies, so how could I not make a special cake based on their favorite for this fun event?

Friends, my family means the absolute world to me. I would do anything to make them happy. And this Chocolate Chip Pound Cake did just that. ????

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake Ingredients

All-Purpose Flour: I love the pleasantly plump texture of a good pound cake. In my experience (and with my cakes), that beautiful texture comes from all-purpose flour. In this cake, the all-purpose flour helped me achieve the texture that I really wanted.

Baking Soda: I used sour cream in this cake for a few reasons. Because of that sour cream is acidic, baking soda was the proper leavening to add to this cake.

Kosher Salt: Salt is very important in any dessert; it balances the sugar and keeps the dessert from becoming cloyingly sweet. If using table salt for this recipe, cut the amount in half.

Unsalted Butter: This cake has some heavy-duty ingredients, so I wanted to use butter instead of oil. The reason is surprising…butter helps this cake become lighter! Specifically, the process of creaming butter and sugar creates air pockets that assist with cake rise.

Full-Fat Cream Cheese: I love using cream cheese in this cake because of the additional density that it adds. It’s dense without being heavy, and I love that about this particular pound cake!

Granulated Sugar: In this cake, granulated sugar adds sweetness and caramelization. That beautiful crust on the outside of your pound cake? It is largely because of the amount of sugar in your recipe!

Dark Brown Sugar: I also added dark brown sugar to this cake, to give it that luxe, molasses taste!

Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor.

Pure Vanilla Extract: This cake calls for two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Make sure to use the good stuff, like Nielsen-Massey, for this incredible recipe! Whatever brand you use, make sure you use pure vanilla extract. It can be difficult to find this time of year, so make sure to stock up!

Full-Fat Sour Cream: You want to use full-fat sour cream in this recipe; fat = flavor and you don’t want to skimp on flavor! Sour cream also helps with the texture of the cake and I really, really wanted to get that right for my Cookie Monsters!

Chocolate Chips: Use the good stuff for this cake! You want to use semi-sweet chocolate chips for this one; milk chocolate will encourage this cake to go too sweet and we don’t want that!

Beginners Start Here

If you’re new to baking, or if you want to learn how to do some of the more tricky baking techniques, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Chocolate Chip Cookie Pound Cake.

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey. Happy Reading!

Important Tools Used in this Chocolate Chip Cookie Pound Cake

Below, you’ll find some tools that I used for this pound cake. These are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

**I get paid a small commission if you purchase directly from these links, but they are truly amazing products that you’ll find in my kitchen.**

If you have them already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

Cookie lovers, rejoice! You no longer have to choose between cookies or cake this holiday season. Now, you can have your cookie (and eat cake too)!

Enjoy the recipe, Friends! See you tomorrow for Day 6!

Here are the other cakes from the Twelve Days of Pound Cake 2022!

November 28, 2022Meet the Cakes from the Twelve Days of Pound Cake!

November 16, 2022Red Wine Black Forest Pound Cake

November 15, 2022Cosmopolitan Pound Cake

November 14, 2022Peach Cobbler Pound Cake

November 13, 2022Hummingbird Pound Cake (Without Nuts!)

November 11, 2022Candied Yam Pound Cake

November 10, 2022Cardamom Orange Pound Cake

November 8, 2022Sour Cream Pound Cake

November 7, 2022Egg Nog Pound Cake

November 6, 2022Pineapple Upside-Down Pound Cake

November 5, 2022Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake

Sour Cream Pound Cake

Shani

-

November 8, 2022

6

Every year for the Twelve Days of Pound Cake, I want to shout out the “plain” pound cake lovers. This year, Friends, I have for you the Sour Cream Pound Cake. It’s definitely one for those who don’t want a lot of rigamarole around their pound cakes, but it’s not boring AT ALL.

This is a picture of a sliced Sour Cream Pound Cake.

I’m chuckling because I’m saying “every year”…like this isn’t just the second year of the Twelve Days of Pound Cake’s existence.

But anyway…

This cake is quintessentially classic. Classic, like a little black dress. Classic, like a string of pearls that’s been handed from mother to daughter for generations. Classic, like beer and hot dogs at a summer baseball game. It’s just…timeless.

The Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy is here! Check out our live classes and replays to help you get ready for holiday baking!

Want to purchase more than one class? Purchase a BwB Home Baking Academy bundle and save a bundle!

About this Sour Cream Pound Cake

This pound cake is the one that kind of started my pound cake obsession as a child. My mother’s “plain” pound cake was, in fact, a Sour Cream pound cake, and the absolutely delightful sensory assault that that cake did to me every time she casually released one from a bundt pan imprinted on me firmly as a child.

It was the pound cake that taught me what pound cake should look and feel and smell like. It was the one that showed me that the unassuming pound cake had the ability to be a true showstopper on a holiday table.

In other words, it was the cake that stressed me out the most for this holiday event.

Let me explain.

This cake is so simple, Friend, that it’s very easy to overthink it. Also, since I didn’t have the chance to get my mother’s pound cake recipe before she passed, I was working on sensory memory to try and recreate it. And I was determined to honor her cake with my own.

So this one took a while. ????

Sour Cream Pound Cake Ingredients

All-Purpose Flour: I love the pleasantly plump texture of a good pound cake. In my experience (and with my cakes), that beautiful texture comes from all-purpose flour. In this cake, the all-purpose flour helped me achieve the texture that I really wanted.

Baking Soda: Sour cream is a kind of cultured dairy. Cultured = acidic, so baking soda was the proper leavening to add to this cake.

Kosher Salt: Salt is very important in any dessert; it balances the sugar and keeps the dessert from becoming cloyingly sweet. If using table salt for this recipe, cut the amount in half.

This is a picture of a sour cream pound cake.

Unsalted Butter: This cake has some heavy-duty ingredients, so I wanted to use butter instead of oil. The reason is surprising…butter helps this cake become lighter! Specifically, the process of creaming butter and sugar creates air pockets that assist with cake rise.

Granulated Sugar: In this cake, granulated sugar adds sweetness and caramelization. That beautiful crust on the outside of your pound cake? It is largely because of the amount of sugar in your recipe!

Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor.

Pure Vanilla Extract: This cake calls for two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Make sure to use the good stuff, like Nielsen-Massey, for this incredible recipe! Whatever brand you use, make sure you use pure vanilla extract. It can be difficult to find this time of year, so make sure to stock up!

Full-Fat Sour Cream: The sour cream in this recipe adds the slightest bit of tang. It also helps tremendously with the luscious final texture that makes the Sour Cream Pound Cake famous. You want to use full-fat sour cream in this recipe; fat = flavor and you don’t want to skimp on flavor!

Beginners Start Here

If you’re new to baking, or if you want to brush up on basics, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Sour Cream Pound Cake.

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey. Happy Reading!

Important Tools Used in this Sour Cream Pound Cake

Below, you’ll find some tools that I used for this pound cake. These are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

**I get paid a small commission if you purchase directly from these links, but they are truly amazing products that you’ll find in my kitchen.**

This is a picture of a sign. The sign reads "I just want to bake cookies & drink hot cocoa."

If you have them already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

This was the cake that made me fall in love with pound cake. And it’s even more special to me now because my son loves it. He’s not much for chocolate or “fancy” desserts, and he was all over this. one. It was a true full-circle moment for me.

Enjoy the recipe, Friends! See you tomorrow for Day 5!

See the other cakes from the Twelve Days of Pound Cake 2022!

November 28, 2022Meet the Cakes from the Twelve Days of Pound Cake!

November 16, 2022Red Wine Black Forest Pound Cake

November 15, 2022Cosmopolitan Pound Cake

November 14, 2022Peach Cobbler Pound Cake

November 13, 2022Hummingbird Pound Cake (Without Nuts!)

November 11, 2022Candied Yam Pound Cake

November 10, 2022Cardamom Orange Pound Cake

November 9, 2022Chocolate Chip Cookie Pound Cake

November 7, 2022Egg Nog Pound Cake

November 6, 2022Pineapple Upside-Down Pound Cake

November 5, 2022Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake

Egg Nog Pound Cake

Shani

-

November 7, 2022

8

Hello, my friends! And welcome to Day 3 of the Twelve Days of Pound Cake 2022! Today, we’re playing with a classic holiday cocktail and making it even better. Today, Egg Nog Pound Cake is on the menu, and it is truly AMAZING.

This is a picture of an Egg Nog Pound Cake.

**Alexa, play Bing Crosby’s “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”** Because this cake takes me straight to the December holiday season and that’s positively my favorite time of the whole year!

This cake is oh-so-deliciously dense in texture, and it’s a little nutmeggy and a little rummy, just like your favorite holiday drink.

But it’s cake so that’s better (and I shan’t debate the point). The calories will sneak into your body, but at least you’ll be able to drive home!

About this Egg Nog Pound Cake

When I was developing this cake, I wanted a classic pound cake texture. I call it “pleasantly plump” because it’s the dense pound cake texture that you can walk around with in a napkin and not drop a crumb (because you’ll want to eat every one).

You can make it more boozy if you’d like, but if you’re serving children, you can definitely make a version that has all the best elements of egg nog without the rum (yes, I use rum in my egg nog). Either way, this cake is an absolute winner that the whole family can enjoy!

Let’s talk about this cake, shall we?

The Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy is here! Check out our live classes and replays to help you get ready for holiday baking!

Want to purchase more than one class? Purchase a BwB Home Baking Academy bundle and save a bundle!

The Cake Ingredients

All-Purpose Flour: I love the pleasantly plump texture of a good pound cake. In my experience (and with my cakes), that beautiful texture comes from all-purpose flour. In this cake, the all-purpose flour helped me achieve the texture that I really wanted.

Baking Soda: Egg nog is surprisingly acidic! So I added baking soda to this cake to ensure proper rise.

Kosher Salt: The kosher salt in this recipe really helps ensure that the true egg nog flavor comes through, and that the cake doesn’t get cloyingly sweet. If using table salt, cut the amount in half.

Nutmeg: Nutmeg is a very dreamy spice to me. I use it when I want to add warm flavor to a dish that’s also slightly sweet (but not like sugar). It works perfectly in this dish, but a little goes a long way!

Unsalted Butter: I typically prefer butter-based pound cakes over oil-based pound cakes. For this cake, I chose butter over oil because I wanted the flavor, as well as the additional aeration that creaming butter and sugar would add.

Granulated Sugar: In this cake, granulated sugar adds sweetness and caramelization. That beautiful crust on the outside of your pound cake? It is largely because of the amount of sugar in your recipe!

Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor.

Rum or Rum Extract: I really wanted this cake to have the best of egg nog, so I had to add a teensy bit of rum to the batter. The rum warms up the flavor, but the alcohol evaporates during baking, so it is safe for the little ones! Don’t want to worry about this? Rum extract works too!

Pure Vanilla Extract: This cake calls for two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Make sure to use the good stuff, like Nielsen-Massey, for this incredible recipe! Whatever brand you use, make sure you use pure vanilla extract.

Egg Nog: I had to use egg nog! It’s the quintessential ingredient and it adds such tremendously perfect flavor to this cake! You can make your own or use store bought. Totally up to you.

Let’s get into this cake!

Beginners Start Here

If you’re new to baking, or if you want to brush up on basics, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Egg Nog Pound Cake.

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey. Happy Reading!

Important Tools Used in this Egg Nog Pound Cake

Below, you’ll find some tools that I used for this pound cake. These are the tools that I use in my kitchen for just about everything that I bake.

**I get paid a small commission if you purchase directly from these links, but they are truly amazing products that you’ll find in my kitchen.**

If you have them already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

This cake screams “Happy Holidays” to me and I just love it so much. It’s a hug from a long-lost relative. It’s a surprise visit from that friend that you haven’t seen in a while. (You should call them by the way. ????) This cake is the best of the holiday season in one perfect bite.

This gift is a blessing and a curse sometimes.

Enjoy the recipe, Friends! See you tomorrow for Day 4!

Meet the other cakes from the Twelve Days of Pound Cake 2022!

November 28, 2022Meet the Cakes from the Twelve Days of Pound Cake!

November 16, 2022Red Wine Black Forest Pound Cake

November 15, 2022Cosmopolitan Pound Cake

November 14, 2022Peach Cobbler Pound Cake

November 13, 2022Hummingbird Pound Cake (Without Nuts!)

November 11, 2022Candied Yam Pound Cake

November 10, 2022Cardamom Orange Pound Cake

November 9, 2022Chocolate Chip Cookie Pound Cake

November 8, 2022Sour Cream Pound Cake

November 6, 2022Pineapple Upside-Down Pound Cake

November 5, 2022Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake

Pineapple Upside-Down Pound Cake

Shani

-

November 6, 2022

25

Welcome to Day 2 of the Twelve Days of Pound Cake! Today, we have another reimagined classic: Pineapple Upside-Down Pound Cake.

This is a picture of a sliced pineapple upside-down pound cake.

FRIEND. Sometimes, when I’m ~~devouring~~ eating something exceptionally tasty, I get very sad when I see the last few bites on my plate. I actually start strategizing about how to make those bites last. Please tell me I’m not alone in this.

As a certified (????) lifetime pineapple and maraschino cherry fanatic, this cake is an absolute no-brainer for me. I was SO SAD when I saw the last couple of bites on that plate. I actually considered calling a friend (or two) that I’d gifted it to, and asking for those slices BACK.

About this Pineapple Upside-Down Pound Cake

Every time I start developing a cake, I begin with the end in mind. I think about the texture, the taste…everything. When I started working on this Pineapple Upside-Down Pound Cake, I wanted something SO rich and SO dense and so lovely that

I succeeded. This cake is everything that my pineapple-loving heart could have wanted. While it’s a timeless classic, I’m glad to call it mine.

Let’s talk about this cake, shall we?

The Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy is here! Check out our live classes and replays to help you get ready for holiday baking!

Want to purchase more than one class? Purchase a BwB Home Baking Academy bundle and save a bundle!

The Cake Ingredients

All-Purpose Flour: I love the pleasantly plump texture of a good pound cake. In my experience (and with my cakes), that beautiful texture comes from all-purpose flour. In this cake, with all of the heavy-duty ingredients, all-purpose flour is needed in order to make sure that the structure remains solid.

Vanilla Pudding: Vanilla pudding is a cake-maker’s secret ingredient! It’s often used to add moisture to a cake. I used it in this cake since I was determined to make this an experience. And it worked!

Baking Soda: Pineapple juice is highly acidic. So I added baking soda to this cake to ensure proper rise.

Kosher Salt: This is the kind of cake that can get very sweet very quickly. It’s so important to have a bit of salt to counteract the sugar.

Unsalted Butter: I typically prefer butter-based pound cakes over oil-based pound cakes. For this cake, I chose butter over oil because I wanted the flavor, as well as the additional aeration that creaming butter and sugar would add.

Dark Brown Sugar: I chose dark brown sugar for this cake because I wanted the additional “je ne sais quois” from the molasses. I’m always looking to add a special touch to my cakes…the dark brown sugar definitely adds that special element to this cake!

Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor.

Pure Vanilla Extract: This cake calls for two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Make sure to use the good stuff, like Nielsen-Massey, for this incredible recipe! Whatever brand you use, make sure you use pure vanilla extract.

Maraschino Cherry Juice: This cake gets a huge, puckering punch of flavor from pure pineapple juice. To help counter that punch, I added some of the maraschino cherry juice for just a bit of targeted sweetness.

Pineapple Juice: I chose to go all-in with the pineapple juice to satisfy my pineapple-loving heart. It adds a LOT of flavor to this cake, but because it’s also very acidic, I needed to bump up the baking soda as well.

Onto the cake!

Beginners Start Here

If you’re new to baking, or if you want to brush up on basics, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Pineapple Upside-Down Pound Cake.

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey. Happy Reading!

Important Tools Used in this Pineapple Upside-Down Pound Cake

Below, you’ll find some tools that I used for this pound cake. These are the tools that I use in my kitchen for just about everything that I bake.

**I get paid a small commission if you purchase directly from these links, but they are truly amazing products that you’ll find in my kitchen.**

If you have them already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

This is the kind of cake that you save for special occasions because it would get eaten immediately if you made it regularly! That being said, I feel like I’ll be making several of these this holiday season. For myself.

This gift is a blessing and a curse sometimes. ????

Enjoy the recipe, Friends! See you tomorrow for Day 3!

Check out the other pound cakes from the Twelve Days of Pound Cake 2022!

November 28, 2022Meet the Cakes from the Twelve Days of Pound Cake!

November 16, 2022Red Wine Black Forest Pound Cake

November 15, 2022Cosmopolitan Pound Cake

November 14, 2022Peach Cobbler Pound Cake

November 13, 2022Hummingbird Pound Cake (Without Nuts!)

November 11, 2022Candied Yam Pound Cake

November 10, 2022Cardamom Orange Pound Cake

November 9, 2022Chocolate Chip Cookie Pound Cake

November 8, 2022Sour Cream Pound Cake

November 7, 2022Egg Nog Pound Cake

November 5, 2022Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake

Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake

Shani

-

November 5, 2022

0

Hello, my Friends! And Welcome to the Twelve Days of Pound Cake 2022! You’re in for a treat over the next twelve days (pun totally intended). And we’re starting this year’s festivities with this Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake!

This is a photo of a Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake, sliced.

About this Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake

What can I say about this cake…it’s fudgy and chocolaty and it was my daughter’s new favorite since before the recipe was even done. The Coca-Cola negates the need for any leavening, so you can bake this right now even if your baking soda is a little…stale. ???? (This is your reminder to go out and update your leavening before you have to elbow folks out of the way for the last box on Thanksgiving Eve. But if that’s your jam…)

The Coca-Cola actually does double duty in this cake. In addition to providing most of the leavening power, it imparts just enough of that classic Coca-Cola flavor to take you back to those childhood trips to the corner store for candy and soda (btw…what a combo. What were we doing and where were our parents?).

Yeah. It’s kinda great.

Let’s get into it, shall we?

The Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy is here! Check out our live classes and replays to help you get ready for holiday baking!

Want to purchase more than one class? Purchase a BwB Home Baking Academy bundle and save a bundle!

The Cake Ingredients

All-Purpose Flour: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I love the pleasantly plump texture of a good pound cake. In my experience (and with my cakes), that beautiful texture comes from all-purpose flour. Cake flour is a wondrous ingredient, to be sure. But to get that dense pound cake texture that I was looking for in this cake, I needed all-purpose.

Dutch Process Cocoa Powder: Friends, I went back and forth with this cake, trying to figure out whether to use natural cocoa powder or Dutch-processed cocoa powder. In the end, I found that the Coca-Cola played better with the Dutch-processed cocoa powder.

Kosher Salt: Chocolate cake (or really, any sweet thing) needs salt to balance the sugar. Without a tiny bit of salt, the cake becomes too sweet very quickly.

Vegetable Oil: Surprise! I played with this recipe and ended up wanting to use vegetable oil instead of butter! First of all, that means this cake comes together lickety-split (and yes, that is a technical term). But I eventually chose vegetable oil because I found that butter covered the Coca-Cola flavor a bit too much.

This is a photo of a Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake, whole.

Granulated Sugar: As always, granulated sugar adds sweetness to this cake and helps with caramelization.

Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor.

Pure Vanilla Extract: Chocolate and vanilla seem like polar opposites, but they go together oh-so-well. Make sure to use pure vanilla extract and not the imitation stuff that’s so prevalent on store shelves this time of year. (I see you, retailers.)

Coca-Cola: The star of the show! Yes, you get a punch of the soda flavor in the cake, but it is also there do to double duty as your leavening! And how cool is that!

Sorry. I will always take opportunities to nerd out about ingredients when there’s an opportunity to do so. ????

Beginners Start Here

If you’re new to baking, or if you want to brush up on pound cake basics ???? , here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake.

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey. Happy Reading!

Important Tools Used in this Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake

Below, you’ll find some tools that I used for this pound cake. These are the tools that I use in my kitchen for just about everything that I bake.

**I get paid a small commission if you purchase directly from some of these links, but they are truly amazing products that you’ll find in my kitchen.**

This is a photo of chocolate and glitter-covered acorns.

If you have them already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

This Coca-Cola Chocolate Pound Cake stole my dear daughter’s whole heart. And how could I not start the Twelve Days of Pound Cake with such an amazing cake? I hope you all love it as much as we do!

See you tomorrow, friends!