This easy homemade Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe is heavenly, topped with chocolate ganache and mini chocolate chips.
This is the ultimate chocolate lovers dessert but if you love bundt cakes with cream cheese frosting, don’t miss my Banana Cake or Red Velvet Bundt Cake.
I love making bundt cakes because they’re easy to frost and make pretty, and also easy to cut and serve. This chocolate bundt cake is heaven, but if you’re looking for an even simpler doctored-up cake mix version, this chocolate bundt cake is also great.
Properly greasing the Bundt Pan will make or break the recipe!
- Shortening. Spread a very thin layer of shortening all over the pan. I use a ziplock sandwich bag, stick my hand inside of it, and use my hand to smooth the shortening all over every bump and crevice in the pan. This way I can make sure the entire pan is covered evenly, in a thin layer, and my hands stay clean.
- Dust with flour. Take a little pinch of flour and dust it over the pan. then hold the pan over the sink and tap it hard, moving it in a circular motion so that the flour lightly covers the pan. Now you’re ready to add the cake batter!
If you do happen to have any parts of the cake stick to the pan, you could gently scoop them up and into the position they would have rested on the top of the cake. The chocolate ganache will cover any imperfections and no one will know!
How to make chocolate bundt cake:
1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the oil, cocoa, and water. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly.
2. Combine dry ingredients.
3. Add hot butter/cocoa mixture and stir to combine.
4. Stir in buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.
5. Add chocolate chips.
6. Pour into bundt pan. Be sure bundt pan is greased well greased. Bake for for 45-55 minutes.
Chocolate ganache icing:
It doesn’t get much simpler or easier than this homemade ganache. Make the chocolate ganache by first heating the cream until simmering. Then pour your chocolate chips into the cream and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Whisk it until smooth and drizzle it over your chocolate cake!
Use a spoon to drizzle it on top of top of the cake and you’ve got yourself a beautiful, simple, irresistible chocolate bundt cake!
Make ahead and Freezing Instructions:
The cake can be made and frosted up to 2 days before serving. The cake can be frozen frosted, or unfrosted. To freeze lightly cover it with plastic wrap and freeze in a freezer-safe container for up to 1 month. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
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Recipe
Chocolate Bundt Cake
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup oil (vegetable or canola oil)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips , plus more for sprinkling on top of cake (optional)
For the ganache:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
For the Chocolate Bundt Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease and flour a standard size bundt pan (make sure to grease it really well so the cake doesn't stick! I spread a thin layer of shortening all over the inside of the pan, then sprinkle a little flour all around and pat and shake the pan until it is evenly coated.)
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, set aside.
- Add butter to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once butter has melted, stir in oil, cocoa powder and water and bring mixture just to a boil, whisking constantly. Pour hot butter mixture into flour mixture and stir.
- Stir in buttermilk, eggs and vanilla and whisk mixture until well combined. Fold in mini chocolate chips, if using.
- Pour mixture into prepared bundt pan and bake 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool cake in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Once cake has cooled, make ganache.
For the ganache:
- Place cream in a large microwave safe bowl and heat for about 2 minutes, or until the cream is simmering.
- Carefully pour chocolate morsels into cream and allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Whisk the chocolate and cream until shiny and smooth, about 1 minute.
- Use a large spoon to drizzle the ganache over the cooled cake. Sprinkle with remaining mini chocolate chips, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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I originally shared this recipe July 2017. Updated March 2020 with process photos and freezing instructions.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Tried this today. Turned out great. I reduced the sugar to 1-1/2 cups. I felt it was too much sugar. Reduced the liquid to 3/4 cup and used coffee. I omitted the cinnamon. Not a fan. Cake was prefect and the frosting nice too. Thank you.
Incredible, beyond description! Thank you for sharing. ❤❤
Perfect, incredible , Heavenly! Thank you 😊
This was a great cake! I halfed the sugar and added normal side chocolate chips but it was still tasty! The outside was pretty hard but the inside was soft. Great dessert!❤
I made this beautiful Bunt cake But replaced the 1 cup of water with 1 cup of black coffee
Very good. Came out moist and tasty; however, just a word of advice: the cinnamon is VERY noticeable… to the point where it kind of tastes more like a cinnamon/gingerbread cake with a hint of chocolate, rather than the other way round. If you cannot stand the taste of cinnamon, I would recommend trying this recipe without it. Still, I personally loved this recipe and will definitely be making it again!
This was a great recipe and easy to make; my kids did most of it! The cake came out smelling delicious and has the right balance of chocolate flavor with a hint of cinnamon. My only tweak for next time would be to cut the recipe for the ganache in half — we would have had more than enough ganache if we had done that.
Awesome recipe! I made this cake for my Mom’s birthday and it was a hit. The dash of cinnamon makes the flavors really pop, and I never knew ganache could be so easy to make! I’d definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a rich, moist chocolate cake.
This recipe has become a favorite in our dessert rotation. I add a bit extra cinnamon and a good punch of espresso powder to up the “wow” factor. It is frequently requested for pot lucks with our friends. And it is extra simple to put together. 2 thumbs up
Delicious and so easy to prepare! Most of the ingredients are staples in many cubbards. This cake is to be a birthday cake for my boss and I didn’t want to do a boxed mix however, I am not good in the kitchen so I was hopeful but nervous when I found this recipe. I made it at home for my family as a test run and got a resounding thumbs up! I am confident I will get the same response at work at my boss’ party. Thank you for this uncomplicated recipe that tastes like it could be sold in the finest restaurant. I think I will refrigerate the ganash so that it’s a bit firmer before I spoon it over the cake, Lauren what do you think?
This cake is super easy to make and was a huge hit at Christmas dinner. Don’t skip the cinnamon and follow the recipe as written. The cake is the perfect balance of light and moist but still very “chocolate” flavored! Definitely will be my go to cake!
I did have trouble with sticking as others mentioned, but as noted in the directions, I put the broken pieces back on the cake and let the ganache create a beautiful disguise so that nobody could tell!
Delicious recipe!
I first made this for my coworkers a couple of weeks ago and they LOVED it! I decided to make it for my son and his wife for Thanksgiving. Phenomenal was the word my son used. 🙂 It’s so rich and moist. I have a gas oven and I left it in for 40 minutes instead of 45 like I did the first time, and that was just right. I didn’t put the chocolate chips on the outside, as it seemed like a little much. With a swirl of whipped cream, this is a dream cake.
Quick question – what size bundt pan did you use for this recipe? I made it again today to give to a friend using the same pan/measurements that I used last week. It looks “flatter” today like the batter didn’t rise enough. My Nordicware pan is a 12 cup. Thanks!
I use a 12 cup bundt.
I made this last night and it’s so yummy! I greased the heck out of the pan and it still stuck. Not sure how that’s possible because of the oil/butter content in the cake. Haha! I waited a few minutes before adding the eggs because I felt that the simmered sauce was so warm that it might cook them. The chocolate chips melted in the batter, so I might wait a bit before folding them in next time, as well. I’ll definitely make this again! Thanks!
Love this recipe! I made it and it was amazing! My dad even wanted it for his birthday! It was so moist and chocolatey! Thanks for the recipe!
I made mini bundt and loaf versions and added a bit of espresso powder to amp up the chocolate flavour. These were so delicious! Very moist, lovely and chocolately (but not overkill) and the hint of cinnamon is wonderful. I’m not normally a big fan of chocolate cake but I do enjoy this one. My partner was a big fan as well. Will definitely be making this again! Thanks for sharing and your beautiful pictures and foolproof instructions and video 🙂
What adjustments did you make in baking the mini bundts?
I made this batter once then made two half size bundt cakes this weekend. It was perfectly fine to store the uncooked batter in the fridge until it was ready to bake. I personally love the added cinnamon (it reminds me of Texas sheet cake which I love). Both of my bundt cakes had a little bit of sticking even after dusting my pan with cocoa powder (to keep the brown look) but I was able to easily use ganache to stick it back on. I did add a little mint extract to my ganache as I love mint and chocolate, and I think it worked well. My family all enjoyed it!
It’s in the oven now and I didn’t read any comments until now because I like to make things as written the first time. I can’t wait to cut into this beauty.
My cake stuck to the top completely which could be due to the chocolate chips. Overall the texture is moist and very delicious but not very pretty.
Loved it …we tried it without the cinnamon as one of the comments mentioned that it overpowered… which I agree, so we skipped the cinnamon part … other than that it came out moist… everyone loved it … A big hit in the family…
Loved it …we tried it without the cinnamon as I read it in one of the comments that it overpowered everything… which I agree … other than that it came out moist … everyone loved it … A big hit in the family.
The cake came out great but for some reason the ground cinnamon just overpowered everything and it’s the only thing I tasted. I thought the ganache would help but it didn’t. Not quite sure why considering I carefully followed the instructions
This cake was a miss. All I taste is the cinnamon and it ruins the cake. Also, the chocolate chips sunk to the bottom and made the cake stick to the pan when it was time to come out. However, I dug out the stuck chips/cake and plopped them in the center of my Bundt and my husband says he likes cinnamon in the chocolate cake so it’s all his to enjoy this week.
This was a fabulous chocolate cake recipe!!!
It was tasty and incredibly moist.
I followed the recipe but reduced sugar by half a cup. Thank you for this great recipe.
Wangeci
Hi! I agree completely that everything “tastes better from scratch”! 😊 A motto in my life for a long time now. I’m curious if this cake produces a fine crumb like NBC? Have you made this with pastry flour before? Thanks for the recipe; can’t wait to try!
This was insanely easy to make and just unbelievably delicious. I never leave comments but I had to for this one. We absolutely did not need the icing (I didn’t even bother)–the cake was so moist and delicious, it stood for itself. Really, spectacular.
My sister and I made this cake for my sister’s birthday and it was a hit! Super moist and delicious! We put extra chocolate chips for an experiment and the cake was just as delicious. Easy to make and the instructions were easy to follow. Thank you!
This recipe is worth the effort (not that it’s difficult but in comparison to box cake mix). I didn’t trust my baking soda to be fresh or active enough so I saw somewhere that triple measure of baking powder is a viable substitute. I omitted the cinnamon because I wanted to use Nutella in the ganache which also works well I took the first-cut piece to an elderly neighbour who called back raving about how good it is. Now I have to taste for myself.
This was my first from scratch cake and added peppermint extract to the recipe. I used the Nordicwear Pine Forest Bundt pan- tasted as good as it looked!
100% rave reviews of the flavor and texture.
Merry Christmas
Cannot find mini chips. So I’ll be using Nestle regular size dark chocolate chips . Should I reduced amount of chips due to larger size?
If so, what would that be.
Thank you so much!
That’s no problem, I would add a handful less. Enjoy!
Absolutely LOVE this cake, and I don’t usually like chocolate cake! It is so smooth, and not overly sweet. I make this about twice a month now ! Love it !
Can this be made in a pound cake pan?
I’ve never tried it, but I don’t see why not!
Yummy! This was pretty easy and that means a lot coming from me. I almost never cook or bake so I chose this one because it looked easier than others. The ganache is SO GOOD and I just want to make that and eat it with a spoon. I made this for my mom for her birthday because she LOVES chocolate. My boyfriend decided there should be more cocoa powder so we added more. My brother’s girlfriend asked “is there cinnamon in this?” and I never bake so I hadn’t thought that was not a typical ingredient. Everyone loved it.
Delicious and received many compliments!
Wow! Amazing! Was a total hit ❤
If you sprinkle the greased pan with cocoa, it has no white flour on the sides of the cake and works just as well for me as the flour. I always use cocoa with my chocolate cakes and flour for my light color cakes.
What do you recommend to flour the bundt pan? All Purpose, Almond or Cocoa Powder?
This is my favorite way to ensure that the cake will come out of the pan without sticking (after baking). A little sprinkle of all purpose (on top of shortening) works great!
I haven’t made this cake yet but plan to tonight. Quick question though to flour the bundt pan what do you recommend? All Purpose, Almond or Cocoa Powder to make sure the color stays the same?
just a little sprinkle of flour on top of the shortening is all you need. I use all- purpose but you could l likely use almond flour as well!
Intense chocolate flavor. I at first thought the cake was too dense, but realized that it was probably because I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, and it is a solid at room temperature. The next day, the rich flavor was so good that I didn’t care whether it was dense or not! I will try it again with vegetable oil, but this cake is definitely a keeper.
A really nice cake but I would call it a cinnamon cake with a with a hint of chocolate, rather than the other way round. Without the ganache, there’s not a huge chocolate flavour. This could be because I tend to add extra chocolate to lots of recipes and I didn’t here so that might be just what I’m used to.
Really nice spice though and my coworkers loved it!
I have a no egg chocolate cake recipe. can I make it in a bundt pan rather than a 9×13?
Temperature and how long?
That should be fine (but saying that without knowing your recipe at all). Most bundt cakes cook about the same time, 45-55 minutes.
I dtarted seriously lesrning to bake about a year and a half ago. This recipe was the first chocolate cake I tried.
I think of it as the perfect chocolate cake. Flavorful, chocolity, moist and it looks really beaitiful.
It’s still my favorite chocolate cake recipe and the one I go to when I need to make a cake but don’t want to try a new recipe.
As far as the comments made about too much ganache, I say, “Pshaw!!! There can never be too much ganache!!” If there is some left over, I just mis some nuts in it, and put it in the fridge or the freezer for those late nights when chocolate is absolutely necessary. 😉
Thank you so much!!!
Burnt the first effort but you were on my shoulder and said do it again!!
Second one was just delicious and Another one coming up next week!Thanks for getting me going again!
Absolutely delicious! Thank you for the amazing recipe! I made this cake and turned out great! I did cut the sugar in half though and used coconut palm sugar.
I have just discovered you and i make all my food from scratch so i am excited to make my first chocolate Bundt cake.
Making this for Halloween and will at bats to it.. will let you know how it goes
What a great idea! I’m so happy you found me–Hope everyone loves the cake!
Just made this. Left out the cinnamon, added about a cup of chocolate chips to the batter. And cut the ganache amount in half, perfect amount, The cake came out nice and moist.
We love your chocolate bundt cake….have just discovered it and am now making a second one….Thank you for sharing the recipe and tips!
Hello! Thank you for sharing this absolutely wonderful recipe. I was wondering, have you ever used this recipe for layered cakes?
Yes, you could use this for a layered cake, or I would highly recommend this layered chocolate cake recipe (it’s my favorite and soo easy!). You could use the ganache from this bundt cake, instead of the chocolate frosting. https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/hersheys-perfectly-chocolate-chocolate-cake/
The cake came turned out really well. Very moist and rich. I thought the ganache would have been too much, so I made half the amount and still had lots! Will definitely be keeping this recipe.
I’m really happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Looking forward to making the cake for my husbands birthday so the day came and what a disaster! Followed the directions to the tee and the cake fell after coming out of pan. Added the ganache and it turned into one big “mess”. We ate a piece of it and it was pretty good but awfully rich and not as good as I had hoped. Do hope that others have better luck than I did.
Hi Frankie,
I’m so sorry that the cake didn’t turn out! I wish I knew what caused it. When you say the cake “fell,” what exactly do you mean? Did it have a chance to cool in the pan first? I wonder if altitude could have played a role? So sorry it didn’t turn out the way that it should have.
This cake looks divine!!!! I have been wanting to make a chocolate bundt cake! I like making cakes from scratch, can any cake recipe be used to make a bundt cake or only if the recipe is called bundt? I have always wondered that. Thank you for a great blog!!!
Hi Lisa,
Bundt pans can be a little tricky if you have a recipe that is not meant for a bundt cake. Some cake recipes won’t fill a bundt pan full enough (depending on the size of the bundt pan), and most recipes will require significant differences in baking time. I hope you had the chance to make the cake!
I’d like to replace buttermilk with whole milk, do I need to adjust the amount of baking soda and/or substitute any baking powder? Looks delicious!
Hi Anna,
I think the cake will turn out fine if you substitute whole milk for buttermilk.
The cake was really good. Loved that hint of cinnamon. You can get away with half the ganache. No need to ever buy a box cake mix again.
Hi Lauren, what kind of chocolate chips do you use in the ganache? There’s so many now. Thanks Ana
Hi Ana, I personally love Ghirardelli brand best 🙂
unsalted or salted butter?
Unsalted butter. If you want to use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt called for 🙂
Twice as much ganache as needed, otherwise a good recipe!
Yes, half the amount of ganache would be perfect. I feel like I wasted a cup of chips
What size bundt pan are you using? My pan is 10 cup size. What can I do to extend recipe for a 10cup pan. This is my frist try at cake makin,so I don’t know very much and what todo. Thanks.