Chocolate Pound Cake

This is an old-fashioned Southern recipe with a few twists. Can be iced or glazed or left plain. I prefer it iced with chocolate frosting or chocolate-hazelnut frosting.

Ingredients:
3 cups name-brand sugar (due to the crystal size, name brands are recommended by Southern Living magazine for the best pound cake texture)
3 sticks butter, softened (I use salted sweet cream butter - others prefer unsalted)
6 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup cocoa, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking POWDER
1 1/4 cups whole milk or whole chocolate milk
1 tsp vanilla


Instructions:
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter on medium to high for 3-5 minutes, until very fluffy and almost white in color. Add sugar one cup at a time and beat on medium to high for several more minutes, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add eggs with mixer off one at a time and mix on low only long enough to incorporate the yolk, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Continue until all eggs have been added.
In another bowl sift together flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.
With mixer on low, alternate adding flour mixture and milk to batter until all flour mixture and milk have been added, stopping frequently to scrape down sides of bowl. If you milk is cold, it will cause the batter to look curdled after each addition. This will correct itself when you finish incorporating all the flour. Fold in vanilla.
Pour into a greased & floured 10-12 cup bundt or tube pan.
Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes or until pick inserted in middle of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes. Shake gently to loosen cake from sides of pan then turn out cake onto cooling rack. Cool completely before icing or putting in a covered container.