Sunday, September 13, 2015

Donald Wressell's Sinful Chocolate Pound Cake




Guittard is one of my favorite chocolates, and probably the one I use the most for baking and dessert making. I’ve used it for a long time, and over the years have gotten to know the Guittard family and the wonderful folks who work for them. One of these fine people is the great pastry chef Donald Wressell, who was running the 


pastry kitchen at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills when we first met. Donald is one of the calmest and nicest people in the business – there is nothing he won’t do for a friend or colleague – and he is also one of the most talented, particularly when working with chocolate. Donald is Guittard’s resident Executive Pastry Chef 


and has contributed a whole chapter of recipes in the newly released Guittard Chocolate Cookbook (Chronicle Books, 2015; $25). There are several of his recipes I am eager to try, particularly his chocolate layer cake (Grandma’s Chocolate Cake), but I started with the simple Sinful Chocolate Pound Cake. It’s a moist, buttermilk pound cake that has lots of grated extra-bitter chocolate folded into its batter right before baking, a trick that makes it ultra-chocolatey and extra moist. Make sure to seek out Guittard chocolate and cocoa for this cake, it will make all the difference in the world.