Chocolate Bundt Cake with a Cream Cheese Swirl
A moist, chocolate sour cream bundt cake covered in a rich chocolate ganache with a luscious cream cheese swirl hiding inside.
Recently I signed up to bring a bundt cake to a church dinner. I wanted to bring something extra special so I went searching for ideas, and was inspired by Baker Street’s Cream Cheese Swirled Chocolate Bundt Cake, which she adapted from a Land O Lakes’ Chocolate Cream Filled Cake. I combine the cream cheese swirl idea with one of my favorite chocolate bundt cakes from the Bi Rite Market’s Eat Good Food Cookbook a Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake.
I didn’t allow enough time for my chocolate ganache to set up before I had to leave for the party, and it was too dark to take good pictures. I did manage to bring a slice home so I could get a picture for the blog the next morning. The white chocolate swirls on the glaze didn’t turn out quite like I’d envisioned. So I didn’t include that in the recipe.
Although it wasn’t decorated as pretty as I had hoped, the cake tasted fabulous. In fact, all the cakes at the party were delicious. I know because I made it a point to take just a little sample of each. We have lots of wonderful bakers in our neighborhood.
Chocolate Bundt Cake with a Cream Cheese Swirl
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Filling
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate Ganache
- 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Prepare cream cheese filling: In a small mixing bowl, beat 1/4 cup sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Add one egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla, and beat at low speed until combine; set aside.
- Preheat to 350°. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan or spray with non-stick cooking spray with flour.
- In a small saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa powder, salt, and water. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until butter is melted and cocoa is dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking soda. On low speed, gradually mix in butter mixture. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla until batter is smooth.
- Pour half of the batter evenly in to the prepared bundt pan. Dollop the filling around the middle of the bundt. Drag a butter knife through the cheesecake filling to swirl some chocolate batter into the cheesecake filling being careful not to let the cheesecake filling touch the side of the pan. Pour the other half of the batter on top of the cheesecake filling and if necessary, spread evenly around pan.
- Bake at 350º for 50 – 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert onto a rack to cool completely before adding ganache.
Chocolate Ganache
- Place half of the chocolate in a mixing bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high heat until it comes to a boil.
- Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add remain chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted.
- Cool until ganache is thickened but still thin enough to drip down the sides of the cake. (I cooled mine in the fridge for over 2 hours.)
More bundt cake recipes you might like:
Lemon Zucchini Bundt Cake, Barbara Bakes
Brown Sugar Pear and Cherry Bundt Cake, Barbara Bakes
Oreo Cookies and Cream Bundt Cake, Chocolate, Chocolate and More
Apple Bundt Cake with Caramel Glaze, Crunchy Creamy Sweet
Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake, Completely Delicious
Hi, can I use white chocolate instead of cream cheese? Will the result be same? Thanks
Hi Vandita – no, I don’t think that would work well. I would just omit the swirl if you don’t have cream cheese.
I made this tonight. It was great. I used a cup of coffee instead of water and used chocolate peanut butter chips and cream to make the ganache.
The cake came out great but it didn’t come out all in one piece. I used the Pam spray as directed but perhaps I didn’t use enough? Any tips for the next time? Thank you!
Hi Carrie – sorry it stuck, that’s so frustrating. You really do need to heavily spray the pan, and then I use a paper towel to spread the spray around so I make sure every little ridge is covered. Be sure you let it cool in the pan until the cake starts to pull away for the edges. I
f necessary use a thin spatula or butter knife to loosen the cake from the edges if it hasn’t pulled away. I find that really helps with the middle. When you flip the cake over, you can feel the cake fall. If it doesn’t, just flip it back over and work on the edges a bit more. Also, the glaze hides flaws if a bit of the cake does stick.
Can i use 10 bundt pan instead of 12? Tnx in advance!
Hi Juliana – you can, just don’t fill the pan more than 2/3’s full and if you have a bit leftover put it in a mini loaf pan or custard cups or something. Your cook time will probably be shorter too. Enjoy!
Mmmmm this cake looks delicious! One question – do you think this would all fit in one loaf pan or should I split it into two?
Thanks! No it won’t fit in one loaf pan. Don’t fill loaf pans more than 2/3 full. Enjoy!
Oh I am so making this but maybe switching out the cream cheese for mascarpone which I like better and happens to be easier to find. Marvelous! Have to share this on my Life’s a Feast Facebook page. Gorgeous!