Easy, old school, southern CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE from Southern Living

simply deLIZious baking is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for websites to earn advertising revenues by advertising and linking to [Amazon.com or .ca, .co.uk, etc.]

This traditional pound cake recipe comes from one of my favorite old school cookbooks, Southern Living’s 1971 Cakes Homemaker’s Cookbook.

Southern Living Cakes Cookbook

This is the second of three of the best chocolate pound cake recipes from Southern Living’s 1971 Cakes cookbook I will be baking and sharing.  

Unfortunately, the cookbook gave these 3 cakes such bland names (Chocolate Pound Cake #1, #2 & #3).  So, I’ve taken the liberty to fatten and spice up the names. Here are links to the other cakes with their bland original names and their new spicy versions.

  1.  Chocolate Pound Cake #1 a.k.a. Double Chocolate Pound Cake Without Shortening
  2. Chocolate Pound Cake #2 a.k.a. Homemade Chocolate Pound Cake
Easy Chocolate Bundt Cake Recipe

Rich & Luscious Cake

This is a rich, decadent, luscious cake. However, it’s not one of those overly rich cakes that causes you to be full after five bites.

It’s texture is perfectly pound cake, dense and moist.

On another note, if you’re under stress or have some emotional turmoil in your life, a slice of this is a great way to cope.

Fancy or Everyday Chocolate Cake

Most importantly this is an extremely practical, classic chocolate cake recipe that can be used for family dessert or served at a fancy dinner party.

It can be made in a simple tube pan or 2 simple loaf pans. To give it a more elegant look you can use a bundt pan. I used a Heritage Bundt by Nordic Ware for this cake.

This easy chocolate pound cake is knock out good with or without a frosting, glaze or ganache and can be served with all sorts for toppings such as, strawberries, ice cream, chocolate syrup or whipped cream.

Easy And Simple Chocolate Pound Cake
Simple, With Powdered Sugar
Simple Chocolate Pound Cake
With Powdered Sugar, Strawberries And Raspberries
Decadent Chocolate Pound Cake
With Ganache, Strawberries and Raspberries.

Tools Used In Easy Homemade Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Pound Cake

Southern Living Chocolate Pound Cake Ingredients

  • Butter – for best results use real butter at room temperature.
  • Shortening
  • Sugar
  • Eggs – for best results use eggs at room temperature.
  • Vanilla Extract
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Baking Powder
  • Salt
  • Cocoa Powder
  • Milk
Old Fashioned Chocolate Bundt Cake

Does Pound Cake Freeze Well?

Pound cakes freeze really well.  Freezing them allows the flavors to come together even more.  I think pound cakes are actually better after serving some freezer time.

What Is The Best Way To Freeze A Pound Cake

Freeze the whole cake or a portion of the cake.  You can also freeze it in slices.  

Traditional Chocolate Pound Cake In A Bundt

Freeze A Large Portion Of The Cake Or The Whole Cake

  • Cool the cake completely.
  •  With plastic wrap, wrap the cake or large portion of the cake 2 or 3 times. Then wrap with aluminum foil.  
  • Put the cake in a large freezer storage bag or freezer storage container.  If you don’t have a large enough freezer bag or container, freeze it wrapped well in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

Freeze The Cake In Slices

  • Wrap the slices individually in plastic wrap and aluminum foil and place them in a freezer storage bag or container.  Place in freezer.
  • Slice the cake and in between the cake slices put slices of parchment paper.  Then wrap the sliced cake just like wrapping the whole cake or portion of the cake above, with plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

Final Thoughts On This Southern Chocolate Cake

This is such a practical recipe.  It has rich, decadent chocolaty taste, is easy to make and can be used for many different occasions.  It’s such a win, win.  Add it to your recipe collection today.

More Vintage Pound Cake Recipes

Easy Old Fashioned Chocolate Pound Cake

Easy Chocolate Pound Cake Recipe
Print Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe

Easy Old Fashioned Chocolate Pound Cake

Deliciously sweet chocolate cake that's rich, but not overly rich. Easy and simple to prepare.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Recipe, chocolate, easy, homemade, amazing, bundt, Christmas, simple, pound, frosting, pretty, for kids, old fashion, glaze, best, desserts, classic, homemade, simple, with ganache
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Cooling Time 15 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Servings 18 Slices
Calories 375kcal
Cost $3

Equipment

  • Stand or Hand Mixer
  • Bundt or Tube Pan

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Butter You can use ½ cup butter. See notes below.
  • ½ cup Shortening
  • 3 cups Sugar
  • 5 Eggs
  • 1 TBS Vanilla
  • 3 cups All-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp Salt
  • ½ cup Cocoa
  • cup Milk

Instructions

  • Cream together butter and shortening
  • Add sugar and mix until creamy
  • Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition
  • Add vanilla
  • Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with milk to creamed mixture
  • Pour batter into greased tube or bundt pan
  • Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean
  • Let it cool in pan for 10 – 15 minutes

Notes

The recipe calls for 1 cup of butter.  I accidently used 1/2 cup butter.  It still turned out really delicious. 
 

Nutrition

Calories: 375kcal

5 Comments

  1. 1 star
    I made this cake, it turned out beautiful, the problem, it is TASTELESS. This has to be the worse cake I have ever made in my life. There is minimal chocolate flavor and there is no way to infuse any flavor into this pound cake. My husband said it best, “it tastes like an old cake.” The texture is there, the cake looks beautiful, but tastes awful. There are better cakes to make than this one.

    1. Thanks for the comment. I’m sorry it tasted like an “old cake”. That was not the case for me, as I would not have posted the recipe if it did not taste good when I made it. I just looked at the recipe in my Southern Living cookbook and I have all the measurements right in the post. I do think 1/4 cup cocoa is on the light side, maybe it could use some more. I will make a note of this. Thanks again.

      1. 5 stars
        Ignore the haters, Liz. This is a delicious, rich chocolate pound cake. My mother made this exact same cake every Christmas. We remodeled my kitchen and I still haven’t found my box of recipes and recipe books in the storage unit, I knew all the ingredients but not the exact measurements and was so excited to find your recipe which is the one I was searching for. All it’s missing is being handwritten in my mother’s handwriting. Thank you so much for sharing this and MERRY CHRISTMAS 2022 to you and your family! ♥️

        1. Melanie, this is such a sweet, sweet comment. I’m so glad you found this recipe. This is a good, old fashioned, tried and true pound cake, that’s delicious every time. I hope you enjoy it every bit as much as you did your mom’s. Merry Christmas.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.