This fluffy and moist chocolate bundt cake is covered with a homemade, rich, creamy and silky chocolate ganache. Your search for a chocolate cake recipe is over!
Unexpected Snow Shower
This Saturday, two days ago, I woke up to the sight of snow falling outside my window. It was an unexpected scene as we were preparing to say hi to Spring here in Virginia. But it seems that Winter wanted to bid goodbye in a style. The little snowflakes fell down throughout the day.
My outside plans were canceled and I was confined to home in front of the fire place. Well, I didn't expect this for a Saturday. At least not for the last Saturday before officially celebrating Spring on March 20th. But it was what it was. So, I decided to fully enjoy the snow day (hopefully last for the season), and rolled up my sleeves, gathered the ingredients and prepared to bake my favorite Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake. If you are following my blog, by now you would know that I am a big chocolate lover. If you love chocolate as well, do try my Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake, Chocolate Brownies and Chocolate Chip Muffins recipes.
Table of Contents
- Unexpected Snow Shower
- Why Should You Bake this Bundt Cake?
- Texture of the Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake
- What Pan to Use for This Cake?
- Greasing the Bundt Pan
- Use of Hot Coffee in this Cake
- Dutch Process vs Regular Cocoa Powder
- Variations
- Ingredients Required
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How to Store
- Recipe
Why Should You Bake this Bundt Cake?
Well, the reasons to try my old and tried-and-tested chocolate cake (which never fails me and gets me compliments from friends and family) are simple.
a) The Bundt cakes look royal and you do not need to do much to decorate it like you have to do with a layer cake. For this cake, a simple sprinkling of icing sugar will do. Want more richness? Add a chocolate frosting as I did with this cake.
b) The moist crumb and the decadent flavor will simply take your breath away. The creamy, glossy, shiny and silky chocolate glaze adds to the moist chocolate bundt cake crumb, giving it a heavenly and irresistible flavor.
Texture of the Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake
The texture and crumb of this decadent chocolate cake is soft, moist and fluffy. The cake will just melt in your mouth right away.
What Pan to Use for This Cake?
I used a 10-inch Bundt cake pan for this bake with a 10 – 15 cups capacity. You can use a simple or decorative Bundt pan of your choice for this cake. I used a simple but elegant pan from Nordic Ware collection. I love the royal-ish look of the cake out of this pan.
Greasing the Bundt Pan
Generously grease the Bundt pan with baking spray. This helps to slide down the cake easily from the pan without any hassle. I use a baking spray with flour in it. If you opt to use the baking spray, spray it just after you are done with the batter and about to place the cake in the oven. If you grease the pan with baking spray beforehand (like we traditionally do before preparing the batter) the oil will collect in the bottom of the pan. See this picture.
Butter & Flour Method: Grease the pan with oil or butter using a pastry brush and then generously coat cocoa powder on the oil coating. The cocoa powder will not affect the color of the cake. In case of using flour, you might have white flour patches on the dark chocolate cake, which we want to avoid.
Use of Hot Coffee in this Cake
Coffee is the secret ingredient of this cake and it combines so well with the chocolate giving this cake an enriching and enhanced taste. The best part is that you will not even feel the coffee flavor in the cake at all. If for some reason, you do not have coffee handy or you do not like coffee, feel free to use hot water in equal amount as a substitute.
Dutch Process vs Regular Cocoa Powder
The difference between the regular cocoa powder and Dutch process powder is simple. The Dutch process powder has a noticeably darker hue, while the tone for natural cocoa powder is much milder. So, the dark hue gives a dark color to the chocolate cake that cannot be achieved with the regular cocoa powder.
Another important difference is that the Dutch processed cocoa powder does not react with leavening agents like baking soda (which is alkaline and releases carbon dioxide) or baking powder because the Dutch processed cocoa powder is not alkaline in nature.
In short, if you want a rich, dense and an intense chocolate flavor, use Dutch processed cocoa powder.
Variations
Chocolate Chips: This double chocolate cake is rich enough to satisfy the sweet-tooth of any chocolate lover but to take it a step further and to make it a triple chocolate cake, feel free to decorate the silky ganache with mini chocolate chips.
Instant Espresso Powder: You can use 1 tablespoon of espresso powder in one cup hot water as an option if you are out of brewed coffee for this chocolate cake.
Ingredients Required
Here are the ingredients you need to bake this cake:
Chocolate Bundt Cake:
All-purpose flour
Unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Dutch cocoa powder)
Baking soda
Baking powder
Salt
Eggs
Castor Sugar
Vegetable Oil
Whole Milk
Vanilla Extract
Black Coffee (hot)
Chocolate Ganache
Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
Heavy whipping cream
Salt
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Sift through the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and Dutch processed cocoa powder in a bowl. Whisk and set aside.
Step 2: Using an electric beater, mix together the vegetable oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and milk until combined. Add the hot coffee in the wet ingredients mixture.
Step 3: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients
Step 4: The cake batter will have a runny and thin consistency, don’t panic about it (see picture).
Step 5: Place the cake in the preheated oven at 350.
Step 6: When done, take out the cake from the oven and let it cool in the Bundt pan for 30 minutes before releasing it out of the pan.
Step 7: Garnish with ganache.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can use the 9 x 13 inch tray pan or two 9-inch round or square pans for this cake.
The coffee needs to be hot which will help to infuse the coffee with chocolate in this cake better to give it the oomph flavor.
Yes, you can garnish the ganache with the chocolate chips. I sometimes use mini chocolate chips for decoration.
It can be tricky at times to release the cake properly from the deep Bundt cake pans. To avoid this situation, I use baking spray on the Bundt cake pans right before I am ready to put the cake in the oven. Do not grease the cake beforehand or the spray will collect in the bottom of the pan.
How to Store
Storing this cake is simple. However, I seriously doubt if you can store the cake as it will be gone quickly before you even know it.
On the Counter: You can have the cake in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
In the Fridge: This cake will keep fresh in the fridge for up to a week.
In the Freezer: You can freeze the baked cake easily for up to 3 months. Cut the cake into pieces and wrap each cake piece in plastic wrap, further add a foil layer and freeze the individual pieces before stashing them in the plastic bag. (The freezing of individual pieces before putting them in a plastic bag will help the pieces to stay from sticking together.)
Tip: Do not add the ganache if you plan to freeze the cake. Pour fresh ganache on the pieces when you are ready to serve.
Recipe
Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake
Equipment
- 1 10-inch Bundt Cake (simple or decorative)
- 1 Electric Mixer
Ingredients
Chocolate Bundt Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (240 grams)
- ¾ cup unsweetened dutch cocoa powder (75 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs (large) room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar (400 grams)
- 1 cup vegetable oil (237 ml)
- 1 cup whole milk (237 ml) room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (13 grams)
- 1 cup brewed black coffee (180 ml) hot
Chocolate Ganache
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (170 grams)
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream (180 grams) room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon salt (1.5 grams)
Instructions
Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 F before preparing the batter.
- Take a bowl and sift through flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and unsweetened cocoa powder. Whisk it together and set aside.
- In the electric mixer bowl, add oil, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla extract and mix until well-combined for about 2 - 3 minute at medium speed.
- Now, prepare the hot coffee and pour in the black coffee in the wet ingredients and mix. Remember to pour the coffee slowly because you do not want to cook your eggs.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat the beater just until incorporated. You do not want to overmix the batter.
- Generously grease a 10-inch Bundt cake pan with a baking spray and pour in the batter.
- Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Chocolate Ganache
- Take a medium sized microwave-safe bowl and fill it with the chocolate morsels.
- Add the heavy whipping cream and salt.
- Microwave it for a minute, take out and stir it. Put it back in the microwave for another minute and whisk thoroughly until you have a silky and smooth chocolate ganache.
- Pour the ganache over the Bundt cake once the cake has cooled completely.
Wajeeha
Awesome and extremely easy to folow recipe. The step by step guidance makes it easier for even a first time baker to bake an amazing cake!!
Keep up the good work. Please share recipe of coffee cake as well
Naureen
amazing work
I appreciate your step by step directions.stay blessed