Fudgy Chocolate Bundt Cake
I think it’s time for some chocolate around these parts don’t you? Between traveling to Wisconsin and wrangling my crazy active toddler (how is he a toddler!?,) I feel like this page has been needing something rich, decadent, gooey and scrumptious- so here you go! This cake is all of those things. So rich, with a dense brownie-like outer layer and a gooey molten center. Topped with a bonus chocolate glaze this whole recipe is out of this world.
Every time I make a bundt cake I have a moment of total astonishment as to how I don’t make them more. They may be my absolute favorite type of cake. They always look beautiful and yet are rarely difficult. When I made this lovely confection, I popped it into the oven- went out to our back patio (an NYC treasure,) and played with Hugo while it baked. I popped back in to take it out to cool, drizzled on the icing when ready and that’s it. The finished product is a show-stopper without all the work of a more intricate cake, (which I do love making on occasion.)
This cake is truly a chocolate-lover’s dream. If you let it cool for a few hours, the filling will firm up and be more dense and fudgy. If you are as impatient as I am and choose to cut into it a little sooner, the inside filling will still be gooey and ooze out of each slice like those individual molten cakes. I have no idea how this happens since there is only one batter for this cake and no filling. I assumed that in order to get a filling like this I’d have to fill the cake with hot fudge or something but no! Right out of the oven you can see two separate layers, one looking crackled like the top of a gooey brownie and then a more cake-like part. I love these crazy baking mysteries. I tried to figure out the magic of it for awhile, but in the end realized sometimes too many questions is a bad thing, and decided to just let this be one delicious mystery!
*You could also use dark chocolate chips.
Recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated via Annies Eats
Fudgy Chocolate Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the pan:
For the cake:
For the glaze:
Instructions
For the Glaze:
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 1
Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving:
Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Currently wondering how soon I can get into the kitchen and make this!
Bundt cakes are so satisfying to make when they come out looking perfect. A really impressive dessert. This one looks easy to make and I love how you added coffee to the batter (my fave)!!
Oh how I would’ve loved to make this for Tata. It does look like a perfect dessert for a chocolate lover, and it will be next on my list when baking for one. Thanks for sharing!
I made this and everyone loved it. It was sooooo easy and yummy!
Oh my goodness, does this cake look decadent and delicious! Like you, I love a good bundt cake, but I rarely make them. I definitely need to change that soon and will have to make this since I’m intrigued by the molten lava center!
I cannot make this soon enough! That gooey center is killing me!
So beautiful and delicious! It’s been ages since I made a bundt cake, and I think that needs to change.
I’m sorry I just drooled all over your blog, but seriously — THIS CAKE. It’s chocolatey perfection.
Loooove that topping! This cake is a beauty!
I can’t wait to go home today and try this cake. My family love anything chocolate is one is going to beat my ever famous chocolate cake. Perfect way to end a day!
This is chocolate CRACK. And I definitely want to fuel my addiction with multiple slices.
Oooh wow, it is definitely time for chocolate when it looks this good!! Love how shiny that glaze is too!
What size bundt pan is it? Thanks.
10 inch :)
So is dark chocolate the same as unsweetened Bakers chocolate? That is what I used. I had to add powdered sugar and double the cream and corn syrup to make the glaze pourable and sweet. What do you use?
Hello! Yeah there is a difference- dark chocolate is sweetened- not heavily but definitely has some sugar. If you are using unsweetened baking chocolate you will definitely have to add some sugar :)
So let’s chat about this hot coffee! I love coffee by itself but but coffee flavored foods or desserts. Does thus have a hint of coffee flavor and us there a substitute?
You can’t taste the coffee it just enhances the chocolate flavor.
HI, I’m wondering if the butter is 2 1/2 sticks of the “1/2 cup” short sticks of butter? I want to make sure that I’m not using the wrong amount.
Thank you
Cathy
Yes- a standard stick is 1/2 cup. So for this recipe you would need 1 1/4 cups of butter
Can this cake be prepared in a round cake pan?
Do you spray the pan with Bakers Pam?
I always spray or grease a bundt pan before baking!
Will this cake freeze well with that yummy, gooey center?
I made this and it’s really, really chocolately and tasty! However, I only cooked it 40″ and pulled it out of the oven then as it was clearly pulling away at the sides–and I think I left it in too long. It was dry and the fudgey part was not as moist as expected. So I would suggest starting to check it at the 30- 35″ mark to ensure it isn’t overcooked. I do on making it again–but not cooking it as long.
We made this today, halved the recipe for a 6 cup bundt pan. It came out tasting great. The texture is more like a brownie than a cake.
Hello
I spend much time coock several recpie to match choclate cake i eat in past, that is one is match!!
But i have q. There is no Baking soda or powder!
I add 1 B.S and its rise like a crazy hh so there is no need to add? I think you are forget but no one mention about it
Hi,
I am the only person on this list with a complete fail. I made the cake exactly to the recipe. I inserted a knife at 45 min, it came back smeared and not clean but I took it out anyway to follow the recipe. I cooled the cake in the pan for almost an hour and a half. I inverted it onto a wire rack, the entire cake collapsed with chocolate goo all over the counter. Horror. I rushed it back into another cake pan and cooked it for another! 45 minutes to a knife inserted in the center came out. At this point, it was a brownie disaster cake. I dropped it into a serving bowl, smoothed the top with frosting and it still tasted good — but yuck, to look at. I make pretty complex layer cakes. This was supposed to be a breeze. NOT! When you say to set the filling two hours more, do you mean in the pan? Also, can the undercooked gooey collapse — I hate gooey centers — be avoided simply by baking until a knife comes out clean, cooling longer in the pan, inverting onto a plate — not a wire rack — and then in the freezer? What do you advise? I want to try it again but fear another debacle.
So 45 minutes in my oven may not be the same as yours. As your oven been calibrated? Sometimes ovens run several degrees off so I’d try that first.
This cake is meant to have a gooey center. If you don’t love that- make a classic chocolate cake would be better? I have a wonderful one-bowl chocolate cake that is very easy and delicious.
Next time I would let the cake fully cool before inverting. For me that took an hour. After 90 minutes was it still warm? If it collapsed I’d say it wasn’t done baking. Did the edges all pull away from the pan?
No, you are not the only one. Mine also collapsed and was not salvageable. Very disappointed- I checked the recipe multiple times, because there was no baking soda or powder listed. I decided to trust the recipe and that was a mistake. The batter smelled and looked great. The cake was a mess. Anyone know how much soda and or powder should go in this?
Hi. This is the American Test Kitchen Tunnel of Fudge Cake recipe with barely any adaptations. If you look that recipe up you’ll see how it also doesn’t have any baking soda or powder. I’m not sure how it works- but it does! If you look up the comments on the original recipe you may find some help on what went wrong?
Here is a link to the recipe with lots of comments :) https://everydayannie.com/2012/04/27/tunnel-of-fudge-cake/
So YUM!! I used semi-sweet chocolate instead of dark. But my cake did sink after inversion (baking 45 minutes and cooling in the pan one hour). Next time it needs 5-10 minutes more baking time, and I need to rotate the pan 1/2 way through. I should have practiced this ahead of time due to oven and pan variances. The cake did come out of the pan easily. Also, although I made the glaze, I did not add it- I think it would have been too rich. I served it warm (after cooling 1 hour in the pan) with vanilla ice cream. It wasn’t the prettiest cake but was a huge hit!
I made exactly as directed, cutting the recipe in half for a 6-cup cake pan. I found out something important: if you ignore the timer while sending Just One More Email out, thinking you’ll get there in a second, and then let the cake bake for at least 10 minutes longer, it’s still delicious! Though not the oozy-centered creation I intended, I still have a very serviceable tube cake whose flavor is reminiscent of a fudgy brownie–especially where the edges got a tad crispy. To trap what moisture remained I wrapped it in plastic while still warm, and later I’ll dowse it with simple syrup for some extra softness. Then I know it’s still going to be great with ice cream or in a trifle. This was a practice run for an auction item I have to deliver tomorrow, and I’m encouraged enough by the great flavor and easy release to go for it (with double timers set!). Thanks!