I’ll be honest. I’ve been working on this recipe on and off for several years and it has aggravated me to no end. Originally, I wanted to use some excess Mexican chocolate I had on hand and having done hot chocolate, cookies and popsicles I thought a poundcake would be a wonderful addition. Sure. Guess again. According to my notes I worked through six different recipes, all of them duds. Terrible. I used up all the chocolate and then had to buy more. I wasn’t alleviating a problem, I was creating one. In frustration, I shelved it for almost a year.
The truth of the matter is problems never really disappear until they’re fully dealt with. Every time I saw that smiling abuelita box in my cupboard, I remembered. Maybe it was time to deal with this once an for all. I knew what I wanted: a dense but moist chocolate cake with a little bit of a kick. The challenge was most chocolate poundcake recipes use cocoa powder exclusively but I wanted to work in that Mexican chocolate, and a tricky one at that. You see, Mexican chocolate is an odd bird in the chocolate purist world. It’s not the greatest quality to start and is blended with sugar, cinnamon and ground almonds so it’s grainy. While it makes a fine hot chocolate, it doesn’t really melt well for other applications. Instead you’re often left with a strange grainy and lumpy mess. What to do, what to do.
So I turned to the internet and I came across this, a chocolate streusel poundcake by the brilliant Melissa Clark. It had great potential for my idea. I liked where she went with the recipe – cocoa and chocolate and the addition of a streusel was spot on. With a few tweaks, I had a good feeling I could make this work.
And it did! Incorporating the Mexican chocolate took a few tries to get right but the resulting cake is damn delicious. Moist and yet delightfully crunchy on the edges, it’s something I couldn’t stop picking at. While photographing, I unintentionally ate two pieces by myself. Whoops. There’s just something about a crunchy streusel topping (and bottom!) that’s irresitable. Half the streusel is baked in the pan first which gives a wonderfully crunchy bottom and sort of cushions and protects the cake during the long bake time. Genius, and delicious. I also added just enough ground chipotle in there to make it interesting. I wouldn’t say its spicy really, just a nice little warmth that makes a shy appearance.
A quick word about Mexican chocolate. Each disc, and there are several in a package, contains 8 marked triangles to make measuring relatively easy. Two main brands are easily found in the Hispanic ailses of most grocery stores: Abuelita and Ibarra. I use both interchangably but there are also artisan brands out there worth seeking out. Tazo uses high quality chocolate and has all kinds of interesting flavors that would be worth trying. Though pricier than the standard grocery store stuff, they’re sold as single discs so the excess problem would be solved from the start. I also read that Trader Joe’s had a Mexican chocolate that sounded interesting though I haven’t seen it and am not sure they still carry it. They’re like that sometimes; find something you like and the next week it’s gone.
STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: SWEET RELIEF! After circling this recipe for far too long, the sweet satisfaction of getting this one right is so immensely satisfying. I offloaded this one on some friends who dug in immediately and demolished the thing in no time. Right on. The only problem is I have three discs of the damn chocolate left. I just can’t seem to get rid of it. Might be time to whip up a big pot of hot chocolate.
Some other ideas for that Mexican Chocolate: Mexican Chocolate Pudding Pops, Mexican Chocolate Cookies, Mexican Hot Chocolate
Seven years ago: Khachpuri
Six years ago: Won Ton Soup
Five years ago: Dark Chocolate Tart
Four years ago: St. John Dark Chocolate Ice Cream (the most incredible dark dark chocolate ice cream you’ll ever make)
Three years ago: Chocolate Raspberry Tart
Two years ago: Chocolate Linzer Cookies
Last year: Flourless Chocolate Cookies
MEXICAN CHOCOLATE STREUSEL POUNDCAKE – adapted from this Melissa Clark NYT recipe
makes one standard loaf
for the streusel:
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 ½ Tablespoons Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 ½ Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed (2 ¼ ounces)
½ disc/4 triangles Mexican chocolate, chopped
2 Tablespoons sliced almonds, roughly chopped (½ ounce)
for the poundcake:
¾ disc/6 triangles Mexican chocolate, chopped
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate (72% cacao), chopped
1 ⅓ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon ground chipotle
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup plain Greek yogurt, full fat greatly preferred
½ cup whole milk
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9”x5” loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving enough to hang over the edges of the pan.
- Give the pan, especially the unpapered edges, a good spray with cooking spray.
- In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave (50% power in 1 ½ minute increments), melt the Mexican and dark chocolates for the cake, stirring until fully melted (the mixture will be grainy). Set aside to cool while you prepare the streusel.
- for the streusel: In a bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and cinnamon.
- With your fingers, work in the butter until it is evenly distributed and forms large, moist crumbs.
- Gently work in the chopped Mexican chocolate and almonds.
- Scatter half the streusel evenly into the bottom of the loaf pan.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until baked through. Set aside until needed.
- for the cake: In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, chipotle and cinnamon.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, on medium speed beat the melted butter, both sugars and salt together until well combined.
- On medium speed, beat in the egg, vanilla, yogurt, milk and cooled melted chocolate.
- With a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Pour the batter on top of the baked streusel in the prepared pan and crumble the remaining streusel on top.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake emerges clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Transfer pan to a wire rack and cool completely before turning out and slicing.
- The cake keeps, well wrapped, for several days. It is particularly good with a scoop of ice cream and a grating of Mexican chocolate on top. Delicious.
STRESSCAKE 
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