Bakin' Friends - February = CHOCOLATE {duh}!

Can you believe that I used to {gulp} not like chocolate?  The horror, I know!  But after I had my daughter, I craved this stuff like it was going out of style.  I don’t know why, but probably because it was staring me in the eye and I pretty much ate anything quick & easy when I was first home with Dafney.  Don’t tell me I’m the only person to have had chocolate for breakfast & lunch?!

Oh yeah, back to the real point of this post – BAKIN’ FRIENDS REVEAL DAY!  You guessed it this month’s secret ingredient was chocolate.  Yummy, sweet, melty chocolate!  And boy was I spoiled.  This month I received treats from TWO people {I totally messed up on my match-ups…sorry again, Melanie}.  However, today I’m only posting about one because I totally forgot to send Melanie my new address {no seriously, SORRY Melanie}!  So, it’ll be like a double feature and I’ll post about the goodies she sent once I get them from my parents.

Today I’m going to tell you about the prettiest, most creative, chocolate-cake goodness that I received from Steph over at Stephs Bite by Bite.  She seriously treated me to something tasty!  She made Chocolate Valentine’s Day Surprise Loaf Cake!  It was decorated so nicely for Valentine’s Day!  I just love, love, LOVE all things pink – so the decorations alone won me over! 

And, when I cut into it, I was totally surprised and completely AMAZED!  I mean, there was a heart in the middle of the cake.  Hello creativity!  It was almost too beautiful to eat.  Almost.  One bite and I was hooked!  It had a nice dense-ness to it, but was moist and full of chocolate-y goodness!  Luckily for me, the Hubby isn’t a big chocolate lover, so I ate the whole thing.  Don’t judge.

You DEFINITELY want to try this…so here’s the receipe:

Ingredients

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, divided
• 1 frozen pound cake, cut into even 3/4-inch slices

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter and sugar. Then beat in the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla. Scrape down the sides if needed.
3. Add in the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder and beat until everything is combined. Add in 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and stir in.
4. Using a small cookie cutter or paring knife, cut a heart out of each slice of pound cake.
5. Pour half of the cake batter in to the loaf pan. Then, line up all the pound cake hearts, placing them in a straight line down the center of the loaf pan. You'll want to lay the hearts on their side so that they fit down in the batter. Cover the hearts with the remaining batter.
6. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top and, if you want, some decorative sprinkles.
7. Bake cake for 40 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let sit for 20 minutes. Then turn cake out on to cooling rack.

Thank you so much, Steph for the amazingly delicious treats!

Interested in joining &/or want more details?  Check out the {Bakin Friends} tab at the top of my blog or email me at: leahmarie.mackenzie@gmail.com!  Seriously, who doesn't love getting DELICIOUS FOOD in the mail?

Happy Friday Friends!