Mocha Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

1. Oh em geeeesh I am so excited to make these strawberry shortcake cupcakes for my graduation on Saturday. So totally and completely excited. Not for graduation. For these post-graduation cupcakes.

2. My cap and gown is still tucked away in the corner of my closet, tightly wound up in plastic and cardboard. I should probably take it out and iron the dang thing so i don’t look like a box.

3. If I’ve learned anything from these past four years at school, it’s that consuming wine at 3:30 in the afternoon is probably the greatest thing in the world.

4. Also, graduation is making me super nostalgic. All I can think about is how my dad used to push me on the back of a shopping cart down the incline sidewalk of Costco. I would stand at the back of the shopping cart like the captain of a ship. Sometimes my dad would push me really fast then pretend to lose control and make me freak out that no one was steering me away from the other people and or cement walls. I would always think he’d actually steer me into the wall. But he never did. I’d try to do the same thing while shopping with my mom, but she wouldn’t let me get away with risking my life and the eggs in the cart. That’s why I liked shopping with my dad. Because he’d pretend to push me into walls.

Another thing I love about Costco… It’s pound cake is probably the most delicious thing on earth. We would buy loaves of it, stick it in our freezer, and consume the entire thing after soccer practice. So what do you think can happen if you’d imagine buttery pound cake with the addition of a good punch of mocha? Chocolate coma. Let’s discuss.

Butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla Greek yogurt. Add them all in a bowl and mix it well. Yes, mix it very well people. Eventually you’ll add in some coffee, flour, vanilla bean, and really delicious cocoa powder. That’s a good step to take.

Plop the entire mocha mixture in the oven and let Mother Nature do her work, which yes… Starts and ends with baked goods.

Mocha Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

(yields 1 loaf, 10 slices)

adapted from Bev Cooks

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, cut into pieces

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

6 oz vanilla Greek yogurt

1/2 cup coffee

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste

1 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together. Once creamed, add each egg, one at a time, until creamy. Add in Greek yogurt, coffee, and vanilla bean paste. Continue to mix for two minutes.

Meanwhile, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir once, then add to the wet ingredients. Whisk until combined and smooth.

Pour mixture into a lightly greased loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool about 10 minutes. Garnish with a nice chocolate sauce or powdered sugar.

Happy Noming!

Nutritional information (per slice): 250 calories, 11g fat (6 sat, 3 mono), 34.5g carbohydrates, 5.5g protein, 2.5g fiber