Seventh through twelfth grade, I coveted my best friends lunch box. Not because of the sandwiches with hand cut rotisserie chicken and munster cheese layered between ‘everything’ ciabatta rolls. Definitely not because of that. I was envious of what came after the sandwich. When the savory was over, she casually whipped out a parcel fastidiously wrapped in shiny tin foil. Inside the palm sized package was tucked the most delicious mini morsel pound cake her mom made fresh every week! If I was lucky, she’d let me have a bite.

Earlier this week I had a craving for this brown-paper-bag pièce de résistance and ended up phoning my high school friend for the exact recipe to duplicate for my week 7 cake. While my cake baking artillery has been growing with this project, I was still bundt pan-less. I set out to change this, pre-weekend baking rituals. Coincidentally, I spotted the Nordic Ware Anniversary Bundt Pan in recent email from Food52. After some serious lust (how can you say no to a sexy matte-gold fluted cake pan??) I decided to hold onto my cash and purchase a more affordable option from Amazon. Gotta love free two-day shipping.

To make the cake, I went off of a photograph my friend’s mom took of the recipe (straight from the recipe binder!!), but I found the exact same measurements here. The cake gets baked for over an hour, which sounds like a lot. But believe me, the last thing you want is underdone pound cake splooshing all over your cooling rack. I don’t know this from personal experience; however, I imagine that is what would happen with underdone cake insides!

The finished cake has a thin crust that gives way to a smooth interior laden with little flecks of chocolate. Each bite has me reeling back to high school days crammed knee to knee on bleach wiped lunch tables, hoping, praying that my dad packed me something that would stand a chance against my friend’s mini morsel pound cake.

Final thoughts on Nostalgic Mini Morsel Pound Cake:

• All the chocolate…
• Pairs perfectly with The Bachelor.
• Julie will always make it best.