I can always remember my mom making a chocolate bundt cake for my dad’s birthday. When she was alive she showed me how. I think it’s one of the hand written recipes of hers that I have. I’m growing as a baker and person, yet cake has always scared me. Differences in flour types, why do you use so many eggs, or just the yolks, and everything else there is to know has always made me nervous. Even before she was gone I wanted to make the cake from scratch. This is my first crack at a cake from scratch. I’m calling it the Intermediate bundt cake because I’m hoping one day to take this recipe and really step it up. I haven’t figured out what that really means yet, but time will tell.

I wish she could be here and try it out. I’d love to know what she thinks. I’m sure she’d be proud. She was always proud of me. Honestly she was my reason for living for most of my depressed life. She cared so much about me that I couldn’t have done that to her. This one’s for you Mom.

The original cake used a box cake mix and a box of instant pudding. After some research I tried this out. I have cake book from America’s Test Kitchen and they have the greatest tip for their chocolate bundt cake. Normally you’d grease and flour the pan. Well with a chocolate cake that can leave white flour all over the cake which isn’t the most appetizing. Their trick, and I use it here, is to melt some butter and mix in some cocoa powder. This provides the same level of non-stick yet hides it with the dark color from the cocoa powder. That is brilliant.

I still used the same oil, water, eggs, and sour cream, but to go “from scratch” I used cake flour, granulated and brown sugar, and some corn starch instead of the instant pudding. That’s really a thickener so we aren’t losing anything in flavor. Espresso can really help enhance the flavor of chocolate so I do what I do and added some ground espresso to the batter. I may have gone overboard with a full package of chocolate chips but hey why not. It’s a chocolate cake right? A little trick is to put a little bit of cake flour in a gallon bag and toss the chocolate chips in it. It helps keep them more in place in the cake instead of sinking and ending up on the outside of the cake. The sugars in the cake also semi caramelize on the outside giving the cake a nice sweetness on the edge. Overall I’m happy with this recipe. Initial feedback has been great. I personally feel there’s something lacking and I can go more decadent, but that’ll be the next level Expert bundt cake. I’m not sure when I’ll get to that point so for now enjoy this tasty moist chocolate bundt cake. Then go kiss your mom.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 Cup canola oil
1/2 Cup water
4 large eggs
1 Cup sour cream
1 1/4 Cup granulated sugar
1 Cup dark brown sugar
1 3/4 Cup cake flour
3/4 Cup + 1 Tablespoon (separated) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground espresso
1/4 cup corn starch
1 11.5 oz package of milk chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350
Mix together the canola oil, water, eggs, sour cream, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment
in a separate bowl whisk to combine the cake flour, 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, espresso, and corn starch
In two batches slowly mix in the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until just combined
Fold in the chocolate chips
Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl (should take roughly 30 seconds but microwaves vary)
Add the 1 Tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to the melted butter and stir to combine
Using a pastry brush, or napkin, coat the inside of the bundt cake pan (this will grease the pan but since we’re using cocoa powder there won’t be a white coating of flour on the cake when removed from the pan
Pour the batter into the greased bundt pan
Bake 45-60 minutes
Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes and then flip out of the pan to completely cool