This easy Chocolate Bundt Cake is the BEST chocolate cake recipe! This bundt cake always gets rave reviews because it is easy to make, moist, and perfect for any celebration. You will love this easy homemade chocolate cake!
The Best Chocolate Bundt Cake Recipe
My birthday is tomorrow and Valentine’s Day is next week which means it’s time to celebrate…with chocolate. Cookies are usually my dessert of choice, but this Chocolate Bundt Cake holds a special place in my heart. It’s our go-to homemade chocolate cake recipe. It never disappoints and always cures my chocolate cravings.
If you are looking for a fool-proof, guaranteed to make you and everyone who takes a bite swoon, then make this Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake.
Why I love this Homemade Chocolate Cake
I like cakes that are easy to make and this homemade chocolate cake definitely fits the bill. This is the best chocolate bundt cake you will ever make and eat! Trust me!
- There are no complicated steps and you don’t have to spend hours or days decorating.
- You don’t need a mixer to make this bundt cake, you can whip it up by hand! I love my KitchenAid Mixer to pieces, but sometimes it’s nice to do it the old-fashioned way.
- It’s so moist! This bundt cake recipe calls for sour cream, which makes the cake super moist. It is the secret ingredient!
- If you don’t have sour cream, you can use plain Greek yogurt. It produces a lovely cake as well.
- Use good quality cocoa for this bundt cake so you get a nice chocolate flavor.
- The chocolate glaze is silky, smooth, and so divine. It would make anything taste good. Drizzling it on top of this amazing chocolate bundt cake really should be illegal. (I want to continue baking and eating this cake, so please don’t tell the police. I don’t want to go to jail. Let’s keep this our little secret:)
- Make sure you grease your bundt pan really well. You don’t want it to get stuck. I like to use soft butter, make sure get into all of the details of the pan so nothing sticks!
- Use high quality chocolate to make the chocolate glaze so the cake has the best flavor!
- If you want to skip the chocolate glaze you can dust the cake with powdered sugar, but I really like the chocolate glaze. It is the perfect finishing touch to the bundt cake.
Occasions for a Chocolate Bundt Cake
This cake is very rich and a small piece usually does it, but since it’s my birthday I think I need a big fat piece…for breakfast:) Starting my birthday with chocolate cake must mean it’s going to be a great year. At least that’s what I’m going with. We shall see! At least I know my day will be wonderful!
This chocolate cake recipe is perfect for any celebration, or just because you need chocolate. I am a firm believer that every day should be celebrated and there is no better way to celebrate than with chocolate.
And if you want to make your Valentine’s heart go pitter patter, just give them a slice of this cake. Everything will be smooth sailing after they taste this Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake!
How to Make Chocolate Cake
Watch below for a quick step-by-step video on how to make this chocolate bundt cake!
If you like this chocolate bundt cake, you might also like:
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Easy Chocolate Cake
- Strawberry Chocolate Cake
- Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes
- Strawberry Cake
- Funfetti Cake
Dessert
Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 45 minutes
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 12
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup unsalted butter plus more for the pan
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder we use Dutch process
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for the pan
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the chocolate glaze:
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
- 1 1/2 tablespoons corn syrup
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
-
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10 or 12-cup Bundt pan and set aside.
-
In a small saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa powder, salt, and water and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring, just until melted and combined. Remove from the heat and set aside.
-
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and baking soda. Add half of the melted butter mixture and whisk until completely blended. The mixture will be thick. Add the remaining butter mixture and whisk until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking until completely blended. Whisk in the sour cream (or Greek yogurt) and the vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
-
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert onto a rack. Let cool completely before glazing.
-
While the cake is cooling, make the chocolate glaze. Place the chopped chocolate and corn syrup (or agave) in a medium bowl and set aside. Combine the heavy cream and sugar in a small saucepan and put over medium heat. Stir until the cream is hot and the sugar is dissolved. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth.
-
Generously drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Cut into pieces and serve.
Keywords
chocolate bundt cake, chocolate cake
Can you substitute 3/4 c. oil for the 1 cup of butter? Wanted to make it low cholesterol?
I haven’t tried it, but if you want to I would use the same amount.
Made it tonight. So amazing! We opted for a banana cream cheese buttercream as toping and it was delicious! Perfect amount of fudginess and density.
Doesn’t anyone realize the cake part of this is the same recipe as a Texas Sheet Cake? This icing is okay but I really don’t like using corn syrup. Texas Sheet Cake icing is much better.
Balanced receipe. Loved making it.
It is not the same recipe as the Texas Sheet Cake. There is buttermilk not sour cream in the original recipe.
Looking at these recipes to find weight watchers points???? None available?
This cake is a family favorite at our home. Our almost 6-yo just requested it again for his upcoming birthday. Or as he refers to it, “that giant chocolate donut cake.”
Ha! I love this! So cute! Thanks for sharing!
Best chocolate cake ever! I don’t normally enjoy chocolate cake because I find it too dense and rich. This, however, is so light and airy. I sprinkled the entire top with multi-colored non-pareils for Christmas . Everyone loved it!
So happy you loved the chocolate cake!
This receipe is perfect. Made today. Very well done receipe. Fabulous.
Please what is the brand name of the cocoa powder Dutch process ! I like to make this cake, I need this cocoa powder .
And the brand for the bittersweet chocolat ❤️
I made this over the weekend and we ate it all in two days! It was SO good!
It always goes quickly at our house too:)
The cake turned out really well! I would definitely try this in the future.
This is a great, easy chocolate cake. The first time I made it, I didn’t grease the pan enough, and it stuck. I just made it again, used a T. of butter to grease the pan, and it slid right out.
This is definitely THE best chocolate Bundt cake I have ever made. So most and proportions and cooking time were spot on! Thank you!!
Do you think I could add fruit to this recipe, or would that make it too moist? I want to use this as a base for a chocolate cherry cake.
I was looking for a made-from-scratch chocolate bundt recipe to replace one I had that used a box cake mix. Since we like a dense cake in our family and my previous recipe called for a box of instant pudding in the mix; I added the instant pudding (organic version) to the dry ingredients. I also folded in half a bag of mini-chocolate chips at the end. The recipe was great! Moist, slightly dense in the middle, it kept the chips suspended evenly in the cake and most importantly – delicious and chocolatey! This recipe is a keeper and next time I’ll try adding the Kahlua liquor to the cake and see if it works – then I’ll have the original recipe I was trying to replicate without having to use a box cake mix!
Could I make cupcakes with this recipe? If so how long would you bake them?
Yes! Reduce the baking time. I am guessing around 20-28 minutes, depending on your oven.
Did you use cupcake papers?
I’ve made this twice and now its a highly anticipated treat in my house. Delicious and super easy. It came out perfect both times. Thank you so much for your delicious recipes. The baking helps with my stress. Tomorrow I’m trying your cinnamon rolls.
Loved this cake!!! I added 1/4 tsp of baking powder in addition to the baking soda and 1/2 tsp of instant coffee. The cake was light (how we like it) and the coffee brings out the chocolate flavor more…
Looking for a corn syrup substitute?
I used honey and it worked just fine.
My cake came out very wet, I think there may have been too much liquid? Disappointed
This is my go to cake recipe for pretty much every occassion! I use it for cakes, cupcakes, mini Bundt cakes and it’s delicious everytime!
Your Bundt cake is a favorite 5 star cake.
PS
I added Godiva chocolate pudding to the mix and for and extra punch for adults I added Vandermint Chocolate Liqueur which made the cake superbly delicious.
Thank you. This was perfect, not too sweet unless you put a lot of the chocolate glaze. We will make this again. My 10 year old girl enjoyed making it with me.
I don’t have sour cream can you substitute mayo?
Is heating the butter mixture essential? I accidentally mixed all of the ingredients together without mixing…any idea how that would affect the texture?
This is the most delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten. I couldn’t get over the flavor of this cake. I used plain yoghurt and reduced the water in the recipe by 1/4 cup since I live in Florida. It also needed to bake for 55 min, but it was so moist and soft, I couldn’t believe it. What a treat! I immediately had to take a second slice. I love that the icing is not overly sweet and it did not overpower the cake. It was just perfect. Thank you for sharing the perfect chocolate cake recipe!
I’m so sad, I’m not sure where it all went wrong for me . I followed the recipe but when I came to bake in the oven I guess half way through it overflowed and my oven started smoking. Now it looks like a sad hollow Bundt cake I was really craving this cake, what did I do wrong? Any suggestions?
Could it be that you overfilled the pan? Not all bundt pans are the same size. Maybe it was too much batter for your pan.
This is seriously the most delicious and moist chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten! I substituted a chocolate glaze made with chocolate chips and coconut oil…just drizzled it over. But the CAKE…wow, incredible. I don’t even like chocolate cake very much because it’s usually the boxed kind that people make. Can’t wait to wow some friends with this one!
Incredible recipe. I’ve made it twice now with perfect results each time.
Yay!
Hi , can I make this recipe in a springform pan?
Btw I love your recipes <3
That should be fine if it’s big enough.
I was looking for a good base for an ice cream cake and decided this would work well. So I made it as a sheet cake (adjusted the cooking time, of course), added the ice cream, and then used the chocolate glaze by drizzling it over the ice cream. It was a hit at our house! I’ll have to try it in its original form as a bundt cake next, as I think it will be amazing unfrozen!! Thanks for the recipe.
This is the best cake I’ve ever made and I’m 72yrs old so that’s a whole lot of trying! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.
I would like to add some brewed coffee to this, should I up the flour by 1/4 cup or lower the butter?
I would like to add some brewed coffee to this, what are your suggestions to change reciepe?
I used starbucks VIA and mixed it with the 1 cup water. So I would replace the water with coffee 1:1 as far as substance balance.
Delish flavor. As for the rest of it I won’t make it again. I have never had trouble getting a bundt cake out of a pan until this one. Then, when I tried to move it, after it cooled, it fell apart. There doesn’t seem to be any substance holding this cake together and we will be eating it in pieces as it’s not fit to take to work. I can’t imagine what the problem is. I followed all the instructions. It is tasty though.
First time using my nordicware bundt pan and mine slid out with having been buttered and floured. However, it did crack in two places, and also rose up about an inch where it pulled away from the flute making it look not decorative at all and a lame first attempt!
I have made this several times. It turns out perfectly!
Delicious as is. Came home with an empty plate from neighborhood Labor Day picnic. Will definitely make this again.
Can I use a tube pan instead of a Bundt? If so, any difference in the oven temp or time baked?
I made this with King Authur Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour! Turned out great! Also, I don’t have the ingredients on hand to make the glaze so I made a chocolate butter cream frosting. YUM
I finally got around to baking this cake today…so glad I did! It is amazing! So moist and delicious! Any suggestions on how to make a cream cheese drizzle/icing rather than the chocolate? Chocolate on chocolate may be a little too rich for my family, but I’m sure it’s amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe! It truly is fantastic!
I made this cake a few weeks ago and loved the results. This might just be the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve tried. I’d like to make it again, but this time instead of a bundt, I’d like a round cake. Do you think this recipe would bake equally well as a round cake? Do you suggest any adjustments?
I love this recipe. Delicious and even better the next day! My new favorite chocolate cake❣️