A moist, chocolate sour cream bundt cake covered in a rich chocolate ganache with a luscious cream cheese swirl hiding inside. This Chocolate Bundt Cake with a Cream Cheese Swirl is perfect for a birthday or any night of the week.
This cake was inspired by Baker Street’s Cream Cheese Swirled Chocolate Bundt 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.
The first step in making this cake is to make the cream cheese filling and put it in the refrigerator to chill while you’re making the rest of the cake. It’s a simple cheesecake batter.
The key to making the cheesecake batter smooth and creamy is having your cream cheese at room temperature.
⏲️ Time-Saving Trick: Put the cream cheese in a Ziploc bag and place it in warm water (not hot) for 10 minutes. Add the eggs to the warm water and let sit for another 5 minutes.
The cake batter recipe uses cocoa mixed with melted butter to give it a rich chocolate taste.
Once the cocoa is dissolved, you add it to the dry ingredients. Then mix in the eggs one at a time, along with the vanilla.
Put about ⅓ of the chocolate batter in the bundt pan first, then the cheesecake batter, and finish with the remaining chocolate cake batter.
Swirling Tip: use a cookie scoop to put dollops of the cheesecake batter on top of the chocolate batter and then swirl it in with a butter knife.
It can take quite a while for the chocolate ganache to set up before it’s the right consistency to drizzle over the cake. So make the chocolate ganache while the cake is baking.
Once the ganache has cooled and thickened, put it in a pastry bag or a Ziploc bag and snip the corner and drizzle it over the cake.
Ganache Tip: You want the ganache thin enough to drip down the cake, but thick enough so you don’t get a puddle of ganache on the cake pan. You can do a practice drip on the cake to see if the ganache is ready to use.
I recently made this cake for my husband’s birthday and decorated it with some fun colorful confetti sprinkles. However, It’s such a pretty chocolate bundt cake that it doesn’t need any extra decoration at all.
Almost everyone loves a chocolate bundt cake, I know my crowd is crazy about it. I’m sure your family will love it too.
Chocolate Bundt Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Filling
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate Ganache
- 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Prepare cream cheese filling: In a small mixing bowl, beat ¼ 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
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Donna
Do I need to keep this cake refrigerated?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Donna – no, it will be fine at room temperature for a few days. Any longer and you’ll want to freeze some of it. Enjoy!
Carol
You know, I can’t remember the last time I made a Bundt cake! Your step by step photos are making me want to get out the pan and get started! That looks delicious, Barbara
Barbara Schieving
Thanks so much Carol! Definitely time to make a Bundt cake again <3
Lee Ann Mitchell
We couldn’t wait till it completely cooled, it was great warm! So moist and almost brownie like! Perfect cake and definitely a keeper recipe.😉
Thanks for sharing!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Lee Ann – it is so hard to wait for a cake to cool when they smell so heavenly. Glad it was a hit!
Vandita Singh
Hi, can I use white chocolate instead of cream cheese? Will the result be same? Thanks
Barbara Schieving
Hi Vandita – no, I don’t think that would work well. I would just omit the swirl if you don’t have cream cheese.
Lee
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.
Carrie
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!
Barbara Schieving
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.
Casundra
I use baker’s joy cooking spray because it has flour in it and my cakes always come out great. I have experienced the same problem you have with other cooking sprays. Also don’t forget to let the cake cool before flipping the pan. You will know it has cooled when it pulls away form the pan. You can also use a sharp knife to go around the edges and center of the cake to prevent breaking the cake.
Juliana
Can i use 10 bundt pan instead of 12? Tnx in advance!
Barbara Schieving
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!
Brittany
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?
Barbara Schieving
Thanks! No it won’t fit in one loaf pan. Don’t fill loaf pans more than 2/3 full. Enjoy!
Jamie
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!