Chocolate Bundt Cake
This rich Chocolate Bundt Cake is moist with a fine crumb and has wonderful chocolate flavor. If you love chocolate, you will LOVE this decadent bundt cake!
Keep this delicious recipe in mind for your chocolate loving friends and family! Aside from the fantastic flavor, this bundt cake is so easy to make.
We topped our chocolate bundt cake with a rich chocolate glaze and a half batch of chocolate buttercream. However, when it comes to bundt cakes and pound cakes, anything goes!
Even just topping it with a scoop of ice cream or fresh fruit will always please a crowd!
Table of Contents
Why we Love It
We love bundt cake recipes in general, but this chocolate recipe is just SO good. It is right up there with our lemon bundt cake, strawberry bundt cake, and orange bundt cake recipes! Here are just a few reasons to love it:
- Rich Chocolate Cake! This recipe is based on our Chocolate Sour Cream Cake, and is the most chocolatey of our bundt cakes or pound cakes!
- Easy to Make- This recipe is so simple to follow, and can be mixed up and in the oven in no time.
- Can be Baked ahead and Frozen.
- The hot coffee in the recipe makes it even more decadent.
- Sour cream in the chocolate cake batter makes for an extra soft, moist cake.
Recipe FAQs
A Look at our Ingredients
Here's a quick look at the ingredients for the chocolate bundt cake and chocolate glaze! Make sure to find the recipe at the bottom of the post for the full list and details!
Eggs: We like to use room temperature eggs. (If you are in
a hurry, you can place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for five minutes.)
Unsalted Butter: We use unsalted butter so that we have
more control over the amount of salt in the recipe. (Some brands contain more
salt than others.) If you use salted butter, you can omit the salt in the
recipe.
Coffee: This chocolate bundt cake recipe calls for hot
coffee, which enhances the chocolate flavor. We used instant espresso dissolved
in hot water per label instructions, but any hot coffee will do! If you do not
to use coffee in the recipe, you can substitute with very hot water. (The hot
water or hot coffee also helps the cocoa to bloom.)
Chocolate Chips: We used Dark Chocolate Chips for our
glaze, but semi-sweet can be substituted as well.
How to Make Chocolate Bundt Cake
This delicious chocolate bundt cake recipe uses the reverse creaming method of mixing. With this method, the order of adding and mixing ingredients is a bit different than with the traditional creaming method.
The result is a moist chocolate bundt cake with a fine crumb and lovely texture.
You can find the full, printable cake recipe card further down in this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!
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- First, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan. (This recipe makes about 9.5 cups of batter.) See notes.
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- Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your mixer and mix for one minute to blend (sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt)
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- Add the slightly softened butter a few slices at a time and mix until it reaches a crumbly, sandy texture. Be careful not to over-mix beyond "sandy" consistency.
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- In another bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Using a fork, mix together. This is all of your wet ingredients except for the coffee, it will be added to the batter later.
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- Set a timer for 1 ½ minutes and slowly add half of your egg mixture to your butter/flour mixture while mixing. Start mixer on low speed then increase to medium for the remainder of the 1 ½ minutes. Do Not Mix Above Medium Speed.
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- Stop mixer, scrape the sides and bottom of bowl, and add half of the remaining egg mixture. Mix on medium speed for 20 seconds.
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- Stop mixer, scrape down the sides if necessary, and add the last of the egg mixture. Mix for 20 more seconds on medium speed.
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- The chocolate batter is so smooth and beautiful at this point! But we have one more step...the hot coffee.
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- Slowly add HOT coffee and mix for 20-30 seconds to blend. The cake batter will be very runny.
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- Next, pour the batter (approximately 9.5 cups total) into a prepared bundt pan or tube pan and bake.
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- Our chocolate bundt cake was ready after 50 minutes. However, baking times may vary.
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- Insert a wooden skewer into the baked cake- if it comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached, it is ready.
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- Allow the freshly baked cake to cool in the cake pan on a wire rack for about ten minutes before turning out. Then, continue to cool before decorating.
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- (If freezing the cake, allow to cool until it is slightly warm, then wrap in plastic wrap followed by aluminum foil. See our FAQs for more details!)
Final Details
Once the cake has cooled, it is time to decorate! You actually don't have to decorate the cake at all- it is delicious as it is.
The chocolate glaze gives the chocolate bundt cake another boost of rich chocolate flavor. The chocolate buttercream makes our cake feel even more fancy but is totally optional!
If you would rather top the cake slices with ice cream, whipped cream, a drizzle of hot fudge or nothing at all, you won't hear any complaints! The cake itself is divine.
For the Chocolate Glaze
For our chocolate glaze, we made a simple ganache with dark chocolate chips combined with whipped cream.
Combine in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave in small increments until the chocolate chips have *almost* melted. Then, stir until smooth. We usually start with 30 second increments and then adjust accordingly, giving a quick stir after each burst.
Allow the chocolate glaze to cool to desired consistency for spooning over the cake. (For more controlled, smaller drips, you can also pipe around the top edge of the cake using a piping bag with the tip snipped away.)
For the Chocolate Buttercream
Our chocolate buttercream is the same chocolate frosting recipe that we've used on many other cakes--we just made a half batch this time.
It is a simple combination of softened butter, confectioners' sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, and a splash of milk. This buttercream has wonderful flavor and pipes perfectly too!
Decorating the Cake
To decorate the cake, we spooned the chocolate glaze on top of the cake, and then gently spread the ganache here and there over the edge so that the drips would flow down the side.
If your chocolate glaze is too runny, it just needs to cool a bit more. If it is too thick, you can microwave it in very small increments to soften.
If you will be piping chocolate buttercream on top of the glaze as we did, it is best to chill the glazed cake in the freezer for 10 minutes, or longer in the refrigerator. (You could allow it to set up at room temperature also but it will take longer.)
Once the chocolate has set, you can much more easily pipe the buttercream on top of the glazed cake.
We used a 1M piping tip to pipe large chocolate buttercream rosettes all the way around the top of the cake.
We accented the roses with small chocolate buttercream leaves, piped with a tip 52. (You can find more details on piping with star tips in our Basics of Star Tip Piping video!)
Don't you just want to dive right in? This chocolate bundt cake has a super fine crumb and soft texture. We think that you will love it!
Keep this cake in mind the next time you are thinking of birthday cake recipes, or ideas for a potluck or get together. It is sure to be a crowd favorite!
Looking for more chocolate cake recipes? We have you covered! You can find our full collection of favorite recipes in our Cake Recipes section.
Some of our most popular chocolate cakes are: German Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Truffle Cake, Black Forest Cake, and easy Chocolate Mousse Cake.
We have a great White Chocolate Cake as well!
Thanks so much for stopping by. Come back again soon!
Chocolate Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 2 ¾ cups (322g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup (82g) unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
- 2 teaspoons (10g) Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon (2g) Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon (2g) Salt
- 1 stick + 5 Tablespoons (185g) Unsalted Butter, slightly softened. It will still be quite cool when adding to the dry ingredients. You should be able to make a fingerprint when you press the butter. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate for a few minutes.)
- 1 cup (242g) Sour Cream
- ⅓ cup (68g) vegetable oil
- 1 cup (220g) Milk
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla
- 1 cup (220g) Very Hot Coffee
Chocolate Glaze
- 4 oz Semi-Sweet or Dark Chocolate
- 3 oz Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream
Chocolate Buttercream (optional)
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 3 ½ cups (402g) confectioners' sugar
- ½ cup (41g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup+ 2 Tablespoons Milk (Use additional if needed)
- 1 teaspoon (6g) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan. (This recipe makes about 9.5 cups of batter.) See notes.
- Add dry ingredients to the bowl of your mixer and mix for one minute to blend (sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt)
- Add butter a few slices at a time and mix until it reaches a crumbly, sandy texture. Be careful not to over-mix beyond "sandy" consistency.
- In another bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Using a fork, mix together. This is all of your wet ingredients except for the coffee, it will be added to the batter later.
- Set a timer for 1 ½ minutes and SLOWLY add half of your egg mixture to your butter/flour mixture while mixing. Start mixer on low speed then increase to medium for the remainder of the 1 ½ minutes. Do Not Mix Above Medium Speed.
- Stop mixer, scrape the sides and bottom of bowl, and add half of the remaining egg mixture. Mix on medium speed for 20 seconds.
- Stop mixer, scrape down the sides if necessary, and add the last of the egg mixture. Mix for 20 more seconds on medium speed.
- Slowly add HOT coffee and mix on low speed for 20-30 seconds to blend. Batter will be runny but that is okay!
- This recipe makes about 9 ½ cups of batter. Pour into the prepared bundt pan or tube pan and bake. Ours was ready after 50 minutes. Baking times may vary. Check after 45 minutes to be on the safe side. Insert and remove a wooden skewer into the baked cake- if it comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached, it is ready.
For the Glaze
- Combine the 4 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate and 3 oz. heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave in small increments (30 seconds or less), stirring occasionally in between, until the chocolate is almost completely melted.
- Then, allow to sit a minute or two and gently stir to melt any remaining pieces of chocolate. Cool the ganache to desired consistency for dripping. We like to apply the drip using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.
For the Buttercream
- Add butter and mix on low to medium speed until smooth. Add vanilla and blend into the butter. Add powdered sugar, salt, and cocoa powder.
- Add most of the milk. Begin mixing at low speed so you won't have a cloud of powdered sugar in your kitchen.
- Continue to mix adding remaining milk as needed. It may take 5 to 6 minutes to reach the smoothness and consistency you like. It will take longer if using a hand mixer. As you mix the frosting will become very smooth. You can add additional milk (1 Tablespoon at a time) if the frosting is too thick or additional powdered sugar if too soft.
Decorating the Cake
- After cooling the cake, we spooned our chocolate glaze over the cake and chilled to firm it up a bit (about 10 minutes in the freezer or longer in the refrigerator.)
- Then, I piped chocolate buttercream rosettes onto the chilled glaze using a 1M piping tip.l I added leaves with a leaf tip 52.
- This cake can sit at room temperature for 2-3 days under a cake dome or airtight container. If you prefer to refrigerate, you will want to remove from the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving so that the cake has a chnace to warm and soften.
Wow that looks great! Awesome as always! :-)
Thanks Teri!! ;0)
I will definitely try these chocolate cakes as my family are chocolate cake fans.. Thank you for the recipe b
That's great to hear, Benita! I hope that you all enjoy it! ;0)
I love this recipe.
My daughter hates coffee and taste it in my cakes. What are your suggestions to modify this recipe without using coffee?
Thanks
Hi Russel, I'm so glad that you like the recipe. If you'd like to skip the hot coffee, you can use hot water instead! (The hot liquid helps to develop the chocolate flavor.)