The thing about winter is that you need to embrace it. Work with it. It can be daunting when It’s dark, cold, and more time inside than out. However this is the best time to bake. Make soup. Get the fireplace crackling. Knit something cozy. Drink a glass of red wine. In fact, I’d recommend all these things together. But yes, making cakes! You’ve probably guessed by now how much I love these loaf cakes. They’re truly an everyday cake and easy enough to grab a slice and go. Jeff and I made this Chocolate Chip Pound Cake the other night. The recipe was found on Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” iPad app. Pound Cake is traditionally made with 1-1-1-1 pound ratio of flour, butter, sugar and eggs. But as you can imagine that is a lot of cake! This recipe is half that amount which makes one loaf cake. It says to separate the eggs and beats the egg whites, I’m not sure if this really adds anything to the texture, other pound cake recipes that I’ve seen simply add the whole eggs, so maybe this is an optional step? If you have any thoughts on separating the egg whites vs not, let me know in the comments section. I’m curious what your experience has been. As expected we were slicing and eating this cake before I could click the shutter, but was lucky enough to get some shots before it completely disappeared. Recipe below, enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose or cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup sugar
5 eggs, separated
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 9”x5” loaf pan. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer or stand mixer cream the butter until smooth. Add 3/4 cup of the sugar and beat until well blended, then add remaining sugar. Beat until mixture is fluffy and light in color, scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat until blended.

Mix in the dry ingredients by hand with wooden spoon until smooth, try not to over mix. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks, gently fold them into the batter. The batter will be very thick. Add the chocolate chips and fold gently until incorporated.

Fill pan with batter and bake for about 1 hour until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then invert onto plate. Cool before slicing. Can be stored covered at room temp for a few days.

(adapted from Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” app)