We love pound cake and we love chocolate, but the combination is often a disappointment. That’s because most recipes simply add chocolate to a standard pound cake recipe, which mars its finely tuned texture and usually produces lackluster chocolate flavor.

We wanted to retool classic pound cake to make it ultra-chocolatey without compromising its hallmark velvety-soft crumb.

For deep chocolate flavor we used mostly Dutch-processed cocoa powder, which incorporated seamlessly into the batter; a couple ounces of milk chocolate added richness without interfering with the cake’s texture.

CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

From “The Perfect Cake”

• 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (2-1/4 ounces) Dutch- processed cocoa powder
• 2 ounces milk chocolate, chopped fine
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces and softened
• 1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed (1-3/4 ounces) light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 large eggs, room temperature

Heat oven to 325 degrees; adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Grease and flour loaf pan (see note).

Whisk flour and salt together in bowl.

Place cocoa and chocolate in separate bowl. Pour boiling water over cocoa mixture and stir until chocolate is melted and no dry streaks remain. Let cool 5 minutes.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and cocoa mixture on medium-high until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined.

Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 parts, scraping down bowl as needed, until just combined (batter may look slightly curdled). Give batter a final stir by hand.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and gently tap pan on counter to release air bubbles. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.

Let cake cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely on rack, about 2 hours. Cake can be stored at room temperature up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month; defrost cake at room temperature. Serves 8.

>> NOTE: The test kitchen’s preferred loaf pan measures 8-1/2-by-4-1/2 inches; if you use a 9-by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness 5 minutes early.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving: 499 calories, 29 g total fat, 17 g saturated fat, 197 mg cholesterol, 343 mg sodium, 53 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 36 g sugar, 8 g protein.

America’s Test Kitchen publishes the magazines Cook’s Country and Cook’s Illustrated, as well as numerous cookbooks, and produces the PBS television show, “America’s Test Kitchen.” For recipes, cooking videos and product reviews go to americastestkitchen.com. This recipe is from the cookbook “The Perfect Cake.”