Chocolate-Sour Cream Bundt Cake - Two Ways

David loves chocolate - and chocolate cake. I mean L. O. V. E. No wait, that should not only be capitalized but italicized. And bolded. And perhaps underlined - although that may be taking it a hair too far. Probably not. Consequently I have made many a chocolate cake. This cake "takes the cake". It is the very best chocolate Bundt cake. You may think I exaggerate. If so, try it for yourself and see. 


You can dial the deliciousness up or scale it back depending on how crazy you want to get with the chocolate you add. At the top end of the scale (and my chocolate of choice for this cake) use Bernard Callebaut dark chocolate. You can use simple chocolate chips of course, but you would be cheating yourself. Personally I like the richness of a mix of dark and milk chocolate and I err on the side of generosity when it comes to how much chocolate. (Maybe that's why this is so good.)


Chocolate-Sour Cream Bundt Cake
(from The best of betterbaking.com by Marcy Goldman & Yvan Huneault - slightly modified)


1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 - 2 cups dark chocolate (chopped roughly)
1 1/2 - 2 cups milk chocolate (chopped roughly)


Preheat oven to 350 F. Generously spray a 12 cup* Bundt pan with cooking spray. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.


Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until smooth.


In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Whisk to blend. Gradually blend the flour mixture into the batter. Mix in the sour cream and milk until thoroughly blended, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl.


Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan. Top with half of each type of the chocolate. Add the remaining batter and top with the remaining chocolate. Place the pan on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 60-70 minutes **, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto the wire rack and cool completely.

**You may have noticed the promise in the title of the post that this cake has an option. This is the story of discovering that option.


We were invited to dinner at the home of our friends. I had offered to bring dessert and baked this cake - just before we needed to leave. I had made the recipe at least half a dozen times previously so I was pretty confident things would be fine. I had baked the cake for the 60 minutes (thought I had) tested it for doneness, and set it on the rack to cool for the 10 minutes. When I up-ended the cake pan to turn it out onto a plate to finish cooling, I made the discovery. It was not completely cooked. I then had a melt-down that should have cooked anything within 10 feet. (Embarrassing.) There was no time to make anything else, to say nothing of the cost of all that expensive, delicious Callebaut chocolate being wasted!!!  and I was, I admit, feeling really stupid silly. I was practically hopping in frustration. David tried to calm me down help out by suggesting that we simply take the cake as it was. It would be fine, he insisted. I insisted that it would not! Guess who was right? Yup. David! We took the cake as it was, didn't say anything about the mishap and the dessert/cake was a huge hit. Turns out most everybody likes it better when it is underdone. So, try it either way or both ways but you really should try it.

*If you make the mistake that I did when I first made this cake and don't  use a 12 cup pan (as in using a smaller pan) you will discover the reason for the lined baking sheet. This cake rises a LOT. If your Bundt (or tube) pan is not 12 cups, put some of the batter in a loaf pan. Otherwise you will be trying not to curse as you smell (expensive) chocolate burning. Just so you know.