A devilishly delicious and moist chocolate mocha bundt cake recipe. With a rich, and boozy, chocolate ganache. Perfect for a night in, or an afternoon coffee.
This post was originally published
I seem to be in chocolate mode at the moment, with the chocolate
A great dessert for a night in
In the time before children (the true BC), myself and D would happily find ourselves going out for a meal once a week or so. Evidently, being young, having disposable income and unlimited time to go to the gym makes this possible. Now that we have Things 1 and 2 (Children Era – or CE, this if for those of you who appreciate history and hopefully love my sense of humour), going out to dinner doesn’t happen very much. The last time we had arranged to offload have them stay with their grandparents, Thing 2 managed to get sick so stayed with us.
So, instead, I find myself trying every once in a while to cook up something special so we have a date night in. When Thing 2 got ill, I did exactly that, so at the very least we had something a bit more special than if it were just a Saturday night with the kids. A beautiful butter-basted steak, some tasty fries, a fresh salad, all rounded off with a great bottle of wine. To make up for the fact we weren’t going out, I made this chocolate mocha bundt cake with a boozy chocolate ganache. I’ve made it many times before, and it is always a crowd-pleaser.
It went down a treat, paired with a bit of vanilla ice cream. Now it is a lovely chocolate cake on its own, but what really brings it together is the ganache. Chocolate and cream, mixed with a shot of liqueur poured over the top. In this season of everyone examining their Christmas credit card bills, it was a perfect way to finish a date night in.
What ingredients do you need to make a Chocolate mocha Bundt Cake?
- Unsalted butter
- Cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Milk
- Sour cream
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Sugar
- Espresso or instant espresso powder
- Semi-sweet chocolate
- Cream
- Coffee liquor
How to make this chocolate mocha bundt cake?
- Preheat oven to 350F, and prepare your bundt pan by rubbing with the soft butter. Place this in your fridge for 15min.
- In a mixer, cream remaining softened butter and sugar until nice and fluffy. Add the eggs (one at a time) and the vanilla. Mix until incorporated, and then add the remaining wet ingredients.
- Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, and then put the mixer onto the lowest speed and slowly add dry ingredients to the wet. Once all the dry ingredients have been incorporated if it is too watery add a bit more flour.
- Carefully, pour your batter into the chilled bundt. Place this in the oven for about 50-60min, until a skewer comes out clean.
- When done, let cool in the pan for 15min, and then invert on a wire rack. Let it cool completely
- To make the glaze, break the chocolate up in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer on the stove until hot (just before the point of boiling), and then pour over the chocolate. If you want you can add in a tablespoon of butter to help the shine and taste, but it is not needed. If you are using the booze, add it now, and then slowly stir. As the sauce cools thickens, slowly pour over the cake (use a drip pan!). Let cool completely, then enjoy.
How to keep chocolate cake moist?
There are few tips and tricks to keeping a chocolate cake moist. The first is to ensure you have a sealed container big enough to house the cake. If you keep this at room temperate and sealed, the cake will stay moist for at least a day or two before starting to try out.
Secondly, you could add some alcohol to the cake, which will help keep it moist and make it extra rich. I’d suggest poking a few holes in the cake when it is cooling on the rack, and then sprinkle over 1-2 tablespoons of rum or Grand Marnier. This will change the flavour profile of the cake, but will equally be delicious.
How long will chocolate cake keep?
On its own, the cake should keep for a couple of days. If you want to make it last longer you can add the alcohol suggested above. Also, you can make the cake and freeze it without the ganache. The cake will keep in the freezer a couple of months, and then you can thaw and top with fresh ganache.
What goes well with chocolate bundt cake?
Vanilla Ice cream always goes well with a chocolate cake and balances it out well. If you want, you could also have a drizzle of fresh cream or whipped cream.
You could also try some of these delicious recipes for a date night in
- Healthy Crispy Chicken Sandwich
- Herby Garlic Fries
- Baked Mars Bars
- Sweet Potato and Mozarella burgers – Neil’s Healthy Meals
Pairings
Drinks
Well, with
Music
I know I started this by talking about Christmas, but the music playing at the time was a bit of Billy Ocean and Love Really Hurts without you. Yup, that is now going to be stuck in your head!
Chocolate Mocha Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Bundt
- 1 cup Softened butter
- 2 tablespoon Softened butter
- 3 cup Cake flour
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup sour cream
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 shots of espresso or 1 tablespoon espresso powder
Ganache
- 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, and prepare your bundt pan by rubbing with the 2 tablespoon soft butter. Place this in your fridge for 15min.
- In a mixer, cream remaining softened butter and sugar until nice and fluffy. Add the eggs (one at a time) and the vanilla. Mix until incorporated, and then add the remaining wet ingredients.
- Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, and then put the mixer onto the lowest speed and slowly add dry ingredients to the wet. Once all the dry ingredients have been incorporated, if it is too watery add a bit more flour.
- Carefully, pour your batter into the chilled bundt. Place this in the oven for about 50-60min, until a skewer comes out clean.
- When done, let cool in the pan for 15min, and then invert on a wire rack. Let it cool completely
- To make the glaze, break the chocolate up in a heat proof bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer on the stove until hot (just before the point of boiling), and the pour over the chocolate. If you want you can add in a tablespoon of butter to help the shine and taste, but it is not needed. If you are using the booze, add it now, and then slowly stir. As the sauce cools thickens, slowly pour over the cake (use a drip pan!). Let cool completely, then enjoy.
We have the same bundt, Matt! Aren’t those bundt the prettiest? I love your cake, so chocolaty and decadent. And the ganache just takes it over the top. P.s. we have snow here, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas ♪♫♬
Oh, this sounds so incredibly awesome, Matt! One of my favorite flavor combos (especially for holiday desserts) is chocolate + coffee, so I can definitely state with 100% certainty that this cake wouldn’t survive very long in my house. That photo is amazing! Also, it’s snowing here right now. I can send you some of that, too, if you’d like….I’d love to get rid of some of it. Hah! 🙂
My life has come to that too Matt! I have the same bundt pan and it’s my favorite! This cake looks amazing! I’d go with the liqueur on top AND on the side!
I hear ya when your life has come to that. I get excited about the strangest things when it come sot cooking or baking. Love the tangy sour cream in the mix, beautiful. #SuckerForGanache
What a delicious cake, Matt! When I just saw the first pictures, I immediately though the glaze needs some alcohol. Turned out, you didn’t let me down:) I think some seasonal liquor like peppermint Bailey’s or Kalhua would work fantastically!
Whoa! That cake looks divine! Happy FF, Matt! 🙂
This cake looks amazing!
This dessert is calling my name – love all chocolate desserts! There are so many different bundt pans you can buy and I keep saying I need to add another one to my small collection. Thanks for sharing with us Matt and joining another Fiesta Friday 🙂
Oh god this looks good! Yumm!
For a chocoholic like me – this is a dream! Glad to have stumbled on your site and your bundt!
What a delicious looking dessert Matt! I would definitely enjoy this at the end of a meal. Although I would have some difficulty in leaving it to the end of the meal. I might need to have it as a starter. Ha ha! Thanks for linking to my Sweet Potato and Mozzarella Burgers burgers too! 😀
No prob, looks like a brilliant recipe!
You’re speaking my love language with this cake, Matt!! Chocolate mocha, yum. I seem to always crave sweets later at night, which is when I do my blogging. Gee…is there a connection there? Anyway, it’s 9pm and I just want to dig into a piece of this!!!!
The connection is a mystery!!!!
There’s something just so retro wonderful about a bundt cake, it never disappoints.
I know right!
Now that is my kind of cake! I just want to crawl under a blanket with a big slice of this and leave the adulting for another day?
Adulting is overrated! Eat cake instead!
Sounds like it was a lovely date night in! And the mocha cake is making me salivate! I’m a sicker for anything chocolate & coffee!
Well, there go my sugar-free January ambitions! Haha. I am drooling over this cake.
Glad to help!
Omg I love the BC and CE reference! I too go out so seldom now I feel completely awkward when I actually do. I also have only made a bundt cake once and it was a COMPLETE disaster. Thank you for giving me hope!
I’m told it gets easier when they are older. Granted, the greys are coming thick and fast in the meantime!
oh yum! how delish Matt. i love chocolate and i love a bundt cake. they always look so special, don’t they? cheers and happy new year. sherry
Thanks Sherry! You too!
The coffee liqueur totally makes the ganache on this decadent and architectural bundt cake. So delicious.
I’m glad you reposted this one, Matt! It’s seriously one of my favorite cake shots ever. If that lead photo doesn’t make you want to shove a slice of chocolate cake in your mouth, then I don’t know what will! Also, I totally hear ya on the going out to eat in the CE. It doesn’t happen much. Date nights in sound like a wonderful idea…and this cake will be the coup de grace!
Thanks David!
This sounds really, really good – and I could use a good chocolate cake. So many good ideas, too! I love the grand Marnier idea, and the liqeuer in the ganache.