A little dark chocolate cake for St. Valentine’s Day!

Perignotti is an unsweetened, vanilla-flavored, extra-dark cocoa that is Dutch processed, but made in Italy, exclusively sold by Williams-Sonoma. This recipe was published in a Williams-Sonoma catalogue in the 1990s.

While Perignotti is, of course, preferred, this dark pound cake can also be made using another cocoa, such as Hersey’s Special Dark Cocoa, by adding a little more vanilla.

Extra-Dark Chocolate Pound Cake
1½ c. sifted flour
½ c. sifted dark cocoa
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (add another ¼ tsp. if a vanilla-flavored cocoa like Perignotti is not used)
¼ tsp. salt
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1 c. unsalted butter
2 c. light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 c. sour cream

Sift together flour, cocoa and salt and set aside. Place bittersweet chocolate in top of a double boiler and melt over simmering water. In large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and melted chocolate and mix well. Fold in a third of the dry ingredients, the half of the sour cream into the chocolate, egg, butter, brown sugar mixture; Repeat, then add the last of the dry ingredients.

Pour batter into a buttered 9″x5″x3″ loaf pan. Bake in 350 F. oven until toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cover with foil if cake is browning too quickly. Cool in pan on rack for 10 min., then turn out onto rack to cool completely. Slice and serve.