Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pound Cake - Cake Odyssey Bonus

I have been wanting to post this recipe for several days now, but with a houseful of children and husband, I have not been allowed the time I would like to work on this hobby of mine.  So, rather than scrap it altogether, it merely gets postponed a bit.  Thank you for being patient!

Q:   How do you know you've struck gold and stumbled upon a winning recipe?

A:   When the members of your family are fighting over the last piece!

I threw this Peanut Butter - Chocolate Chip Pound Cake together in no time.  It disappeared almost as quickly!  A recipe found in one of my newest cookbooks - Cake Keeper Cakes, by Laura Chattman - I was drawn to my absolute favorite taste combination. 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate, my friend. 

Heaven. On. Earth.

Peanut Butter - Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Here's What You Need:

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup light brown sugar

12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

Here's What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.  Dust with a smidgen of flour to make it easier for the pound cake to release from the pan after it's cooled a bit.

Combine the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl and beat lightly.  In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar and mix on medium-high speed until fluffy.  Give it about 3 minutes.  Turn the mixer speed down to about medium-low and slowly pour in the beaten eggs.  Once the eggs are incorporated, turn the mixer down to low and slowly add the flour mixture.  If you need to, turn the mixer off and scrap down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Now turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix for 1 minute. 

Fold in the chocolate chips.  I used the mini size of semisweet chocolate chips.  I've added regular-sized chips before and find that the larger size chip makes it hard to slice the pound cake.  The mini chips are perfect for this.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and smooth the batter over on top.  Bake the cake until it's golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  It will need to bake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  If you find that the center isn't done baking, but the top is getting too brown, form a tent with some foil and place it over the top of the loaf pan.  This trick enables the pound cake to continue baking without allowing the top to continue to brown. 

Once your pound cake is finished, allow it to cook on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then carefully run a sharp knife along the sides of the pan and then invert onto a wire rack.  Turn the pound cake right side up on the rack and continue to cool completely.  Slice and serve.

You will yield about 10-12 servings of this pound cake, depending on how thick you slice it.  This would be delightful with a dollop of whipped cream and served for dessert.  We ate it plain and always, ALWAYS, warmed it in the microwave first!  The recipe states that this pound cake will keep for 3 days.  I laughed at that.  Yours will be gone long before that!