This chocolate Bundt cake is an elegant dessert that’s also approachable enough for the everyday. Let’s bake this moist, rich, and downright squidgy cake that’s as easy to whisk together as it is to devour.
Let us grant ourselves a little January luxury – and I’m talking about the luxury of a Counter Cake.
A Counter Cake is usually baked on a Thursday of Friday, likely following the hellscape of a Tuesday combined with a Wednesday. What a one-two punch we endure every week. A Counter Cake is a comfort in its very baking and a balm to the soul, slice by slice. The glory of a Counter Cake is that it carries into the weekend where it promptly disappears by Sunday afternoon.
This particular counter cake is rich with cocoa powder and dark coffee. It bakes up to be the most tender, moist cake that keeps for days. It’s humble, with a dusting of powdered sugar. My friend Jessi’s grandmother might say this cake “eats well” which feels like the most accurate grandmother compliment.
Grab a whisk and a big ol’ bowl. Put on a pot of coffee and grab the bottle of ground ginger. Cake is comin’.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this perfect chocolate Bundt cake:
• granulated sugar
• Dutch-processed cocoa powder here’s the difference between natural and Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• large eggs
• all-purpose flour
• baking soda and baking powder
• kosher salt
• a dash of ground ginger for warmth
• vegetable oil instead of butter for this cake to help make it tender for days
• whole milk buttermilk if you can get your hands on it though reduced fat buttermilk will do. Sour cream mixed with whole milk is also a great substitute.
• vanilla extract
• strong brewed coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor
Grab a large bowl. There’s no need to use a stand mixer for this recipe, though, if that’s your preference, a paddle attachment will be the way to go. Whisk together the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and that little bit of dried ginger. Whisk until entirely cohesive so there are no hidden pockets of sugar or cocoa.
In a separate medium bowl we’ll whisk together the wet ingredients: whole eggs and an egg white, buttermilk, strong coffee, and a big splash of vanilla extract.
If the coffee makes you nervous, would you consider decaf? The coffee really deepens the flavor of the chocolate Bundt cake. It’s important! If coffee is a no-go for you, water will still make a great chocolate cake.
As we do, we’ll add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk by hand. This will feel like a loose cake batter. It’s pourable, baking into a fairly light Bundt cake. This isn’t a pound cake – it’s a lighter snacking cake aka a perfect Counter Cake.
Brush the Bundt pan with butter or shortening and dust generously with flour. My Dad has a recipe for cake release grease that I’ll share here soon! It’s a mixture of shortening and flour and perfect to have on hand for cake baking. Whatever you do, don’t skimp on greasing every nook and cranny of your Bundt pan so the cake comes out clean. I’ve had my fair share of Bundt-stuck cakes and it’s just the worst.
I baked this cake in my favorite Bundt cake pan from Nordic Ware.
PRO TIP: Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and gently place it in the oven to bake right away. This isn’t the sort of cake batter that wants to sit around in the bowl. The baking soda is immediately trying to puff and rise the cake and if the cake batter sits, I’ve found that the cake is harder to remove from the pan.
Once the cake is baked through (really test it with a toothpick before removing from the oven), allow the cake to rest at room temperature for 20-25 minutes. You want the cake to cool from screamin’ hot but you don’t want it to cool to room temperature before removing it form the pan. A slightly warm cake is easiest coax from the pan. Start with gently easing a butter knife between the baked cake and the pan before flipping onto a wire rack or cake stand.
You’re welcome to adorn this cake with a sour cream glaze or an easy vanilla frosting, or even chocolate ganache (made with chocolate chips and heavy cream). I think this cake is perfection with a simple dusting of powdered sugar.
Slice into this cake and – it’s a perfect crumb! Top with lightly whipped sweet cream and maybe a few fresh raspberries.
This will be your go-to chocolate Bundt cake recipe. It’s a gem of a Counter Cake.
Leave any questions or comments below.
Happy Baking! xo
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The Perfect Chocolate Bundt Cake
- Prep Time: 20 mminutes
- Cook Time: 45-55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes plus 20 minutes of cooling time
- Yield: 1 bundt cake 1x
- Category: cake, birthday,
- Method: baking
Description
This is a moist and bouncy chocolate Bundt cake. Lovely as a celebration cake, but down to earth enough as an everyday chocolate cake. Dress it up or down, it’s a flawless cake.
Ingredients
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder, plus more for dusting the pan
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- powdered sugar and softly whipped sweetened cream, for topping
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease a Bundt pan butter or vegetable shortening and dust with cocoa powder or all-purpose flour, tapping any excess out of the pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and ground ginger. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, yolk, cooled coffee, buttermilk, vanilla and oil. Careful to not slosh the mixture onto the countertop. I’ve done this more times than I care to admit.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and use a rubber spatula to fold the two together. The batter will be fairly loose but whisk until no lumps remain. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, scraping the bowl to get every last bit.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the cake comes out dry or with just a few moist crumbs, not wet batter. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool for 15-20 minutes before trying to remove the cake from the pan. As the cake cooled, the edges should have pulled away from the sides of the pan a bit. You may want to carefully poke a butter knife along the sides of the pan to ease the cake away from the pan before inverting the cake onto a wire rack,
- Serve warm or at room temperature dusted with powdered sugar and a side of softly whipped cream. Store cake, wrapped or in a lidded cake stand at room temperate. Keep a knife close by (aka on the cake plate) for slicing.
46 Responses
This cake is unbelievably moist and delicious. Instead of a cup of coffee I dissolved 2 tsp of espresso powder in hot water. Perfection!
I lovelovelove this cake. It is my go-to “company’s coming” cake. Just 2 bowls, a whisk and a spatula, and my Grandma’s vintage Bundt pan, and then I can move on to other things! And I have shared this recipe SO many times!
Thanks for a great cake!
This is the best cake I’ve ever had or made. Luscious and perfect! My partner is GF, so I’m wondering if I can make this with 1:1 gluten free flour?
Yes absolutely!
What does the ginger do?
I frequently make cakes and made this for my son’s birthday this year. I followed the recipe exactly and my family said that this is the best cake that I’ve ever made. There wasn’t a bite left.
Question?? If you only have medium eggs, could you use three whole eggs and get good results from the recipe. Thanks!! Enjoy your blog.
Hi Beverly! Take a look at this egg conversion chart to help you out, but it seems you’re on the right track!
Would this bake well in 2 loaf pans, like your funfetti bundt can?
Joy, my friends and I are eating the cake right now, just as per your recipe. here are some of the words my friends are using as they eat the cake, “wonderful”, absolutely delicious”, “fantastic”.
It is a perfect recipe, the only thing we used different is we actually had some duck eggs from a friend and I used those. I am sure it did not make any difference! But the cake is just fabulous!! Thanks for the recipe.
You’re so welcome, Steven! I’m glad it’s a hit!
I don’t think I’ve ever given a recipe the full 5 stars. I’ve never found a chocolate cake recipe that not only worked for me, but tasted exactly as I imagined it should. This is rich, moist, so chocolatey, but not fudgey and is now my go-to chocolate cake recipe. Everybody in my house loves it. It’s perfect.
Do you happen to have the nutrition information for this cake?
I just made this for Easter and it will be my go-to chocolate bundt cake moving forward! Not too sweet, wonderful texture, and it is indeed the perfect Counter Cake :) Slices keep disappearing! Thank you for another keeper, Joy!
I christened my Bundt pan (which I got like 2 years ago, lol) with this cake and it turned out wonderfully! I made it with Saco Pantry’s Dutch Blend cocoa powder instead of all-Dutch, and with lowfat buttermilk, and it is delicious, but I might really go for it with all-Dutch cocoa and full-fat buttermilk next time :) I like that it’s not super-dense and fudgy, nor too sweet; definitely a great every-day cake. Tucking this one away into my snacking cake files!
This cake was spectacular! It will definitely be a repeat bake in my kitchen.
How feasible do think it would be to swap out the buttermilk with something like coconut milk so it was dairy free? I’m super keen to make it for a friend’s birthday but she doesn’t eat dairy
You surely could, Kat! You still want to have a hint of an acid element to your milk though. I would use lite coconut milk and add a splash of apple cider vinegar (a teaspoon or two will do!). The cake will be super lush. Enjoy!
I made this and loved it and thought it was just the perfect chocolate cake, but I was wondering if I could make this into a tiered cake, in springform pans?
I believe so, but I would also check out Everybody’s Birthday Cake for a layered option!
This was the best chocolate cake I have ever made! I had to adjust for altitude (4100 ft) and it turned out perfect!
It is a very sweet and looking colours of cake. nice cake
I saw this post after a heck of a Monday/Tuesday and made it last night. I put on my jammies and curled up on the couch with a slice and now feel prepared to take on the rest of the week! It’s just right! Thanks Joy!
I baked it, just as written, which felt right to me. I ate it, and it tasted heavenly! It’s moist and fudgy, not too sweet, and with depth of flavor from the coffee and spice! This recipe is going in my keeper file, thank you so much, Joy!
Fantastic Jessie Ann! I’m so glad you loved the cake! It’s in my keeper file as well. :)
Outstanding chocolate cake. Received great reviews from all. Highly recommended. This is my go-to chocolate cake from now on. Thank you!
Hello!
I have a question that is unrelated to the recipe – what company and pattern are those lovely dishes? Thanks :)
Best,
Elizabeth
P.S. I will most definitely be making that cake in the near future and I know it will be delicious!
I made this last night and it is perfect! I love chocolate cake and I am a novice baker, very hit or miss for me and this came out perfect! I followed all directions and tips and perfection! I used sour cream and milk, Hersheys cocoa powder along w/ a pound cake pan. Still came out great! Encouraged to keep trying to bake! Thanks for this recipe!
Good stuff
“This will be your go-to chocolate Bundt cake recipe.” – this closing statement made me chuckle, because the chocolate Bundt cake recipe in your first cookbook has been my go-to recipe since you published it. In fact, I just made it this week for a colleague’s birthday. So I am very excited to try this new chocolate Bundt cake recipe from you and decide which one I like better. (wink)
love dressing it up or down, a very nice suggestion, and love the sweet cream whipped frosting, and that it’s not chocolate! Very nice, thank you
I’m surprised that people are commenting on the quantity of sugar in this recipe without first baking this cake. I made this cake today and it is definitely not overly sweet. I think the addition of the coffee & buttermilk create a barely sweet cake. My result may be due to the fact that I used a dip & sweep method for the flour. So maybe to much flour. That’s why I prefer weight versus volume when baking.
I love your recipes but find the sugar amounts crazy high. even 1 cup of sugar for this cake would work and taste wonderful. large amounts of sugar prevent us from tasting all the other good flavors. we can thank big ag for convincing our grandmothers & mothers that more sugar was better. sugar is also linked to many health problems & I am not willing to give up sweets so think it’s great to modify and make desserts healthier. European pastries are a great example of less is more when it comes to sugar. not criticizing you, as I said i love your site & recipes but always scale the sugar way, way back and am happy with the results
I agree regarding the excess sugar as most cake recipes, etc. call for just one cup of sugar which I sometimes feel even that is a bit too much. What I usually do is just taste the batter at 3/4 cups and adjust according to my taste. I will probably just go ahead and use one cup of sugar for this cake as it does look and sound delicious.
Has anyone tried making this with less than 2 cups?
Yep! You’re definitely not wrong about our older generations being convinced to add lots of sugar to their bakes -and then add some more! With the exception of just a few little tweaks, this recipe is basically the ages-old Hershey’s chocolate cake recipe found on the back of their cocoa canisters. It is indeed a delicious cake and even with a reduction in sugar, it still bakes up with excellent results.
Yes – it’s a classic recipe! I haven’t tried to reduce the sugar myself, as I don’t find the cake to be overly sweet. My estimation is that the sugar could be reduced my up to 3/4 cup without effecting the texture of the cake.
I honestly don’t find that the 2 c sugar called for in the recipe results in an overly sweet chocolate cake either, but maybe that’s because I’ve always used darker dutch cocoa like your recipe does -or maybe it’s just because I’m a big ol’ American sugar monster! :P Ironically, my Gram’s version of this recipe uses 1 c natural cocoa, 3/4 c white sugar, 3/4 c dark brown sugar, and 1 heaping tsp of cinnamon, but even with 1/2 c less sugar, it actually tastes *sweeter* to me than using 2 c sugar with dutch cocoa. PS- I’d happily eat either version anyday because, CAKE :)
I made this cake today. It is definitely not overly sweet.
You’re welcome to bake to your tastes, Suzanne. Reducing sugar will effect the texture and moisture of some of my recipes, but you’re of course welcome to bake in a way that pleases you.
I love the look of your counter cake! I’m interested in hearing some practical suggestions for storing bundt cakes. Is there a cover that you can use with the cake plate? Slicing and putting in containers seems to take a lot of containers.
I got a glass dome a while ago to cover cakes and breads on a plate or a cake stand. Well worth the purchase and you can often find them used online.
Good question, Margot! I usually keep my cake on a flat plate with a glass cake dome over it. Wait… is that practical?
If only low fat buttermilk is available, would you recommend the milk/sour cream combo? If so, what ratio of milk to sour cream?
Thank you!
Lowfat buttermilk works just fine in this recipe!
I will have to give this one a try this weekend. It reminds me of my Grandma’s triple chocolate bunt cake that was a childhood staple. It was the best surprise to open up my sack lunch at school to find a slice of that wrapped in wax paper for dessert. “Counter cakes” (or lunchbox cakes or snacking cakes) truly are the best.