(Update: Now that it's been eaten, Bill and I agree that it wasn't chocolately enough. Too much work for something that didn't taste as good as we had hoped!)
People had time to make recipes like Warren Brown's chocolate pound cake with buttercream frosting from the December '06 recipe of Cuisine at Home. We were invited to go to a neighbor's home and since it turned out to be Bill's birthday I decided to do something special. I can guarantee I will never make this again, but I will remember the experience!
Chocolate Pound Cake
Makes 1 Bundt cake; Total time: 1.5 hrs (that's if you have the butter at room temp!)
Cream Together:
3 cups extra fine granulated sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp (1 cup)
Add one at a time:
4 eggs
3 egg yolks
Whisk Together:
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder (Droste - has to be Dutch process)
2 Tbsp turbinado sugar (I used Demarara...I believe Sugar in the Raw is a substitute)
1 tsp potato starch (I used potato flour)
3/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
Combine: Add to butter with dry ingredients:
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp brandy, optional (I didn't use it, but added 2 tbsp of milk instead)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Frost and garnish with:
Chocolate Buttercream
chocolate curls (shaved with vegetable peeler of a good chocolate bar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the center.
Cream the sugar and butter together in a stand mixer (with paddle attachment) on low (2 on Kitchenaid) for 5 minutes.
Add eggs and yolks one at a time, letting each fully incorporate before adding the next.
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Combine the wet ingredients. With mixer still on low, alternately add dry and wet ingredients to butter mixture, beginning and ending with dry. Scrape the sides of the bowl to the bottom, then mix on medium speed for 20 seconds to develop the batter's structure.
Coat a bundt pan with non-stick-flour spray (Baker's Joy). Pour in the batter (3/4 full) and bake 55-60 minutes. (I used 55 minutes and it was a bit too done - check at 50 with a toothpick to see if it comes at clean). Cool cake in teh pan 5 minutes, then invert onto a flat surface and cool to room temperature. Wrap in plastic and store at room temperature one day or freeze up to 1 month.
Frost with buttercream and garnish with chocolate, or sprinkle with powdered sugar; serve at
room temperature.
Making the buttercream is truly fiddly with having to boil sugar and water till it reaches 245 degrees while you trying to figure out when to beat the eggwhites for meringue so they're done a minute before the sugar and water reach 245...I will post the recipe if you really want to bother, otherwise...........make something simpler. By the way, the frosting had ONE POUND of butter in it! Who do you want to bring to premature death?