A rich, dense, super-moist, sweet chocolate bundt cake drizzled with chocolate ganache. Cakes made in bundt pans seem already dressed up for a party.
This is the tale of two cakes. We celebrated my husband’s and son’s birthdays last week which was the perfect excuse to break in my new half size (6 cup) bundt pans. (I couldn’t decide if I should call them mini bundts, or if that’s confusing with the small bundlets. King Arthur Flour calls them half size bundts so I guess we’ll go with that.)
Of course, when I was looking for bundt cake recipes I turned to the Food Librarian, Queen of the bundt. I stumbled on the impressive looking Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bundt and just had to make it. The recipe made two half sized bundts and I took one to a sweet neighbor. Although bundts look pretty without a glaze, I decided to sweeten it up a bit with the Chocolate Glaze I use on the Good-For-You Chocolate Pound Cake.
However, my son had asked for chocolate cake with fudge frosting and his favorite ice cream is Cherry Chocolate Chip, so peanut butter cake would never do for his birthday cake. When Maria tweeted about the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake on Shutterbean I knew that would be the perfect cake for him.
Of course most of the family tried a little slice of each cake. The Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake was the favorite. The Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bundt was more impressive looking, but it was less sweet. The chocolate ganache on the Sour Cream bundt tasted richer and creamier, but it didn’t set up as well and I couldn’t cover it with plastic wrap, so I was glad I had used the Shiny Chocolate Glaze on the Peanut Butter bundt I took to the neighbor.
Now that I have the half sized bundts, I plan to make bundts more often for dessert. Since I know some of you don’t like doing math, here’s the half sized recipe for the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt cake.
Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter
- 2 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup water
- 1 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup and 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¾ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Glaze
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped (I used half milk half semi-sweet chocolate)
- 1 tablespoons agave nectar or corn syrup
- ¼ cup heavy cream*
- 1 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
- Preheat to 350º. Spray a 6-cup Bundt pan with baking spray with flour and set aside. (You can also use butter and flour, but I’ve had better luck with bundt pans well coated with baking spray with flour.)
- In a small saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa powder, salt, and water and cook over medium heat, stirring, just until melted and combined. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Combined the flour, sugar, and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Add half of the melted butter/chocolate mixture and mix until blended (it will be very thick). Mix in the remaining butter mixture. Add the egg. Mix in the sour cream and vanilla until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert onto a rack. Let cool completely before making the glaze.
- Make the glaze
- Put the chopped chocolate and agave nectar in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Combine the heavy cream and sugar in a small saucepan cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the cream is hot and the sugar is dissolved.
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. If it’s very runny, let it sit for a minute or so to thicken*. Drizzle over the cake.
Abi
Just made this today, and it was delicious!! Thank you so much for the recipe.
Barbara Schieving
Great – thanks for the great review Abi!
Supriya
I made this yesterday and the flavour was incredible! Thank you for this recipe. I did rush to unmould it so it cracked a bit. Next time I’ll leave it in the pan a little longer and try. I’m going to make it again over the weekend with a white chocolate ganache for the contrast!
Barbara Schieving
Glad to hear you love it. That sounds like a great way to serve it. Enjoy!
Kathy Perticarini
I have made the Bundt cake several times and is the most moist cake I have tasted. Would I be able to use this recipe to make a 9×13 cake with it. If so how long would I bake it and at what temp. I want to make the cake for my husband’s birthday gathering.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Kathy – it should work well in a 9×13 pan – double the ingredients and cook it about 35 minutes until it starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, bounces back when gently pressed and has an internal temperature of about 210 degrees F. Let me know how it goes 🙂
TJ Bruno
Hi Barbara,
I can’t seem to find any recipes for 6 inch bundt pans. Six cup pans are too large for a bake sale and the minis are too small. How would you adjust your recipe (or any recipe for that matter) for a 6 inch bundt pan? I may try this in my 6 inch pans and see how it goes, but would love your input.
Barbara Schieving
Hi TJ – I haven’t made it in 6-inch pans but it should work well. Fill the pans 2/3’s full and cook it until the cake pulls away for the edges of the pan and springs back when lightly pressed. If you have an instant-read thermometer, it should have an internal temperature of about 200° F. Let me know how it goes.
Josephine Mullane
This is, by far, the best recipe for a Chocolate Cake. I have made a LOT of cakes in my 80 years of living (including the 13 cakes for my daughter’s wedding) but this recipe was the easiest to follow with ‘absolutely fabulous’ results. Question: can this recipe be doubled? Thank you.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks so much Josephine! Yes, you can double this recipe and make two 6 cup bundts or a standard size 12 cup bundt cake.
Josephine Mullane
Thank you very much.
Jackie Stafford
Do you have a recipe for a lemon Bundt cake? (6 cup size). I’m tired of chocolate!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Jackie – for a 6 cup bundt, divide this recipe in half https://www.barbarabakes.com/lemon-bliss-bundt-cake/ and use about a 20 minute cook time. Enjoy!
Jackie
Thank you so much for the lemon bundt recipe. On the menu for this weekend!
Crystal Staley
Thanks for a wonderful chocolate bundt cake recipe that worked perfectly in my smaller heart shaped bundt cake pan (Wilton) for Valentine’s Day! I just emailed you a photo of the yummy cake I made in the heart pan with your recipe. My whole family loved it!
Barbara Schieving
How fun to make a heart shaped cake for Valentine’s Day! Thanks for sharing Crystal. Glad it was a hit.
Kathryn Ahmed
Barbara….did you Dutch processed cocoa or natural?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Kathryn – my favorite cocoa that I almost always use is King Arthur Flour’s triple blend https://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/triple-cocoa-blend-16-oz?gclid=CjwKCAjw5ZPcBRBkEiwA-avvk5Al5cYTW6_7_8UQMya_jKe-uWO-hAYVISDOcD44ZY5rGBgCGOB3ZRoCL44QAvD_BwE It is a blend of three cocoas, so it works in any recipe. Otherwise, I would use natural cocoa in this recipe.
Jody Spar
Barbara, would the baking time be any different if I made this in the mini bundt pans?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Jody – yes, depending on the size of the mini bundt pans? Are they the size of a cupcake? Do they have a hole in the center?
Sam
Hi Barbara! Awesome pics. Are the measurements listed correct? The directions seem to be a bit misleading… 1 cups of flour, add one egg at a time but your ingredient lists only one egg. My cake didn’t come out quite right and I’m thinking it may be either the amount of flour or eggs.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Sam – sorry your cake didn’t come out quite right. Were you using a half sized bundt pan? I checked the recipe against the original and the ingredients listed are correct for a half sized bundt. I did forget to eliminate the add the eggs “one at a time” reference when I halved the recipe – I’ve made that change in the recipe now. Thanks!
angela@spinachtiger
Barbara I made this cake tonight for my neighbors. I was bringing dinner as her husband broke his leg. SO GOOD. AND fast, since I started cooking at 3:30 and hadn’t even thought of dessert. I also put some in individual bundt pan, a real cute way to do a dinner party.
Barbara
Hi Angela – thanks for letting me know you made and liked the cake. So sweet of you to take dinner to your neighbor.
Kellie
OK so I start by reading your recipe for applesauce, I’m a huge proponent of raw foods and then I see you Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake and I can’t help but click and comment 🙂
Asmita
Hi Barbara,
The cakes look awesome! I love the idea of baking it in individual pans. I am totally craving the chocolate -peanut butter cake. Yummy!!!
Tina @ Babycakes Blog
Oh, wow! Both of those cakes look so amazing! I have not seen the half size bundt pans, I have a nice pampered chef bundt pan, but I hardly ever use it, probably because it is way too big! I also have a cute mini bundt type pan and I use that way more often. I might have to try the Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake in that pan sometime.
Traci
This is absolutely beautiful! Happy Birthday!
zazacook
Your pictures are very beautiful. It looks great to taste 😀