Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Okay. Okay. You know I always aim to start the new year by getting back on track with my meal plans. I try not to get far off track over the holidays, but I do let myself enjoy some traditional treats. Then, BAM! It's back to business. I do this because making better food choices makes me feel good. I do this because I love how those healthy foods taste. My lunch today was a huge salad and it was so good after some heavier foods (also good) we've enjoyed the last few weeks.

So, why is there a picture of a cake at the top of this post? Because we celebrated not one, but TWO birthdays in the first four days of January. We could not be together for a party but I did bake a cake for us so that we could celebrate virtually. Zoom has become our friend. 

While I was doing my post-holiday refrigerator inventory, I discovered that I had extra sour cream and eggs that needed to be used quickly. I also found a box of yellow cake mix in the pantry that was about to pass its "best by" date. And as part of the same "regroup" effort in the kitchen, I cleaned out a drawer with recipes that have collected over time. And there it was—a cake recipe that was easy and that called for the ingredients that I needed to use. Perfect!

I don't use a lot of cake mix, but I do like to keep a box or two on hand, mostly for the pumpkin muffins we enjoy and the honey bun cake is excellent when I need a quick dessert to take somewhere. I had made this cake once before, but I had forgotten how good it is. When I made it before, I used regular size chocolate chips. This time I happened to have the mini chips on hand. Maybe that's the difference. A tiny nugget of chocolate in every single bite.

CHOCOLATE CHIP POUND CAKE

1 box yellow cake mix (without pudding)

1 (6-oz) box instant chocolate pudding (this is the family size box)

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup water

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 (8-oz) container sour cream

4 large eggs

6 oz. mini semisweet chocolate chips

Confectioners sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan (or 10-inch tube pan) with baking spray.

Add cake mix, pudding mix, sugar, water, and oil to a large bowl and beat with electric mixer for about 2 minutes, until creamy. Add sour cream, mixing well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

Little Lady enjoyed her first birthday cake. We enjoyed our cake on her birthday. And I've been happy to share a few slices with some others. I returned a cake carrier to a cousin. My mother never returned an empty dish. So taking a page from her book, I added a couple of cake slices to the plate. This morning I dropped a meal off at the front door of friends who are both home sick with Covid. I added a couple of slices to their meal package. How good it is to show we care by sharing food!

Now, I need to tell you about how I actually mixed this cake. Not sure where my head was—I've made this before and these are standard cake mixing instructions—but I dumped everything into the bowl all at once. When I turned the mixer on the first time, dry ingredients flew out of the bowl. I realized my mistake at that point. So I used a spatula to mix the wet and the dry ingredients just enough so that I could use the electric mixer. And I mixed the whole concoction enough to make sure it was well blended and creamy before I stirred in the chocolate chips. And glory be...the cake was perfect!