Best-Ever Chocolate Pound Cake

My friend Elizabeth, who is a pastry chef and instructor, made this for our Slow Food committee meeting once and it was fantastic! So rich and decedent without being sickly sweet. Perfect in my mind. She adapted it from a recipe she got from another pastry chef she knows, Hortensia who worked at Douglas Rodriguez's restaurants.

Serves 12

2 cups all purpose flour

1⁄2 cup + 2 Tbs. regular Dutch* processed cocoa powder

1⁄2 cup Black Onyx or black Dutch processed cocoa powder. This is a key ingredient - available at King Arthur online or Savory Spice Shop in Denver. Elizabeth said you can substitute Dutch for the black onyx cocoa, but it's really what makes it special.

¾ tsp. baking powder

1/3 tsp. baking soda

1tsp. salt

1-½ cups unsalted butter, room temp.

2 ¼ cups sugar

5 lg. eggs, room temp.

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbs. espresso extract or strong coffee

1 1/3 cup buttermilk

1 cup mini chocolate chips, (optional, but come on - more chocolate is always better...)**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter (or spray) a 10" Bundt pan.

Sift the flour, cocoa powders, baking powder, baking soda and salt together (I sifted several times to combine). Set aside.

In a kitchen mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter on medium speed until light - about 3 minutes.

Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl from time to time.

In a small bowl, mix the eggs until they are combined. Add the extracts.

Pour the egg mixture into the butter/sugar mixture in 4 additions. Beat after each addition until the eggs are combined with the butter/sugar mixture.

With the speed on low, add a third of the sifted ingredients with a third of the buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Stop and scrape the bowl.

Add another third of dry and liquid ingredients, mix until just combined, scrape bowl and add last third of dry and wet ingreds. Don't overmix (or the cake will be tough and have holes).

Remove bowl from mixer and pour in mini chocolate chips. Fold in with spatula.

Place batter in prepared pan and even out top.

Bake for 50 - 60 minutes. Check at 50 minutes by inserting a skewer into cake. It should come out clean.

When ready, remove from oven. Let cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes (not too much more or the outside will be crunchy). Then invert onto a cooling rack.

Cool and serve.

Adapted from Douglas Rodriguez's Latin Flavors on the Grill.

* Dutch process cocoa is processed with alkali, unlike "natural cocoa" which isn't. I think you can adjust natural cocoa by adding some baking soda (research the web). Droste is a good brand according to Elizabeth. I found it in the natural products section (as opposed to the baking section) at King Soopers.

**I had a really hard time finding these and only found them at King Soopers. She also says " You can put a 1/2 tsp. of vanilla ext. in the chips, stir to coat (easiest with your hands) and then toss with a tsp. of flour and stir to coat. That will prevent a lot of them from sinking to the bottom. Works pretty well."