Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake

Welcome to King Arthur Flour's Year of the Bundt! We're celebrating this classic American dessert with a variety of recipes throughout the year, and this cake is perfect for all of you chocolate-lovers: Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake.

Who doesn't like chocolate cake? Raise your hand.

OK, I don't see too many of you out there, so I'm going to proceed on this happy assumption: chocolate cake is beloved by most, and eminently worthy of being baked and enjoyed in all of its incarnations, from our simple Cake Pan Cake to decadent Flourless Chocolate Cake to this elegant (yet oh-so-easy) Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake.

Whether you're celebrating Valentine's Day in style, lighting candles for a special birthday, or hosting a VIP (Very Important Party), this cake's for you.

Let's see how it's done.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Prepare the chocolate

Place the following in a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl:

1 cup coffee*
16 tablespoons (1 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch-process cocoa preferred

*We highly recommend using coffee in this recipe; while coffee won't add its own mocha flavor, it enhances the cake's chocolate flavor. However, you may substitute water, juice, or even stout beer for the coffee, if desired.

Heat, stirring, until the butter melts. Remove from the heat, and whisk until smooth. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes.

Combine the dry ingredients

While the chocolate is cooling, whisk together the following:

2 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Mix wet into dry

Pour the cooled chocolate mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients.

Mix until thoroughly combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and mix again to incorporate any residue.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the following:

2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt (regular or Greek), full-fat preferred

Mix into the chocolate batter, beating until thoroughly combined.

Prepare a Bundt pan

Thoroughly grease a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan, preferably non-stick. Note: If you've had trouble in the past with Bundt cakes sticking in your pan, check out our post, How to Prevent Bundt Cakes From Sticking: 10 Simple Tips.

Test kitchen tip: For a bit of extra flavor and crunch, whisk together 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Pour this into the pan, shaking and turning the pan to thoroughly coat the inside.

Pour the batter into the pan

Gently smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake the cake

Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a long toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Note: a pan with a dark interior will bake the cake more quickly; start checking at about 40 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven

Wait 5 minutes, and turn the pan over onto a cooling rack.

Turn the cake out of the pan

After 5 more minutes, lift the pan off the cake. Let the cake cool completely before icing.

Make the icing

Combine 2/3 cup chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate and 1/4 cup heavy or whipping cream in a microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over medium heat. Heat until the cream starts to bubble around the edges.

Remove from the heat, and stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

Ice the cake

Spoon the icing over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides.

This cake had more icing in its first incarnation; my test kitchen colleagues persuaded me to cut it back.

But if you're a "nothing in moderation" person when it comes to chocolate, increase the amount of icing ingredients (to 1 cup chopped chocolate, 6 tablespoons heavy cream); you'll have enough to give your cake a generous drizzle (nay, a volcanic lava-flow) of icing.

Look at that interior! We're talking fine-grained, moist chocolate cake here, in celebratory Bundt fashion. Enjoy!

Baking gluten-free?

Want to make this cake gluten-free? Our Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour makes it easy to make many of your favorite traditional recipes (like this one) gluten-free. Simply substitute Measure for Measure flour 1:1 for the flour in this recipe; no additional ingredients or other changes are necessary.

High-altitude adjustments

If you're up in the mountains, you may want to adjust this recipe for optimal results. See our high-altitude baking tips.

Reduce the sugar

Looking to bake a reduced-sugar cake? Try lowering the sugar in this recipe by up to about a third (to a total of 1 1/4 cups); you'll want to start checking the cake for doneness at about 40 minutes. The taste will be less sweet, of course; but the reduced presence of sugar also gives chocolate more of a starring role.

Looking for additional Bundt cake tips, techniques, and recipes? See our complete guide to Bundt Cakes.  

Thanks to fellow employee-owner Julia Reed for taking the photos for this post.