Chocolate-Pumpkin Pound Cake

You ever have those moments of inspiration that quickly get derailed in the implementation? I had that happen this morning. See, we had a container of peeled, over-ripe bananas in the frig. It was about 4 bananas total, so I thought I'd make a couple batches of banana bread. But then I remembered that I had seen recipes for banana-pumpkin bread on Pinterest, so I found those and decided to try a compare and contrast baking experiment using 2 of the recipes that I found. But then I found a recipe for a pumpkin pound cake. And that's where I started in the actual baking. I did ultimately bake some pumpkin banana bread - that recipe will be featured soon.

The original recipe is from Sing For Your Supper, but I did modify it slightly and my version of the recipe is here.

Chocolate-Pumpkin Pound Cake
Serves 12-16

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup olive oil
3 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 can (15oz) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
Confectioner's sugar, for dusting

In a large bowl, combine the sugars and oils until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Whisk well to incorporate everything. Add the dry ingredients and pumpkin to the sugar/oil/egg mixture, alternating and in small batches.

Transfer the batter to a greased Bundt pan. Bake at 350F for 60-65 minutes (it took my cake closer to 75-80 minutes to get done all the way through) or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack. Allow to cool completely. Dust with confectioner's sugar.

My Notes: We (my hub and I) liked the addition of the chocolate. The cake is dense and lovely - not too rich or filling. It has that crunchy pound cake crust with the yummy soft center. We agreed that it is a very good pound cake.

But we think it was missing something - ginger. Then we had the idea of adding a pinch of black pepper instead. I've made notes on my recipe to try that next time.