Let’s be real. Can there ever be too much chocolate cake? I think not.
OMG, I just realized that this looks like a ginormous doughnut! Sweet. But really, it’s a bundt cake. I guess I’ve been in a bundt mood lately. First with my Gingerbread Bundt Cakes and now this one.
This cake is a chocoholic’s dream. Seriously, I don’t think that it is humanly possible for me to have included more chocolate here. You’ve got a chocolate cake, loaded with chocolate chips, topped with a rich chocolate ganache, and miniature chocolate chips sprinkled on top. See, I told you there is no room for more chocolate here.
Seriously, look at how moist that slice is! It’s like a slice of heaven on a plate. Do you want to know the secret to getting it so moist and luscious? Cake mix, pudding mix, and sour cream. I kid you not! And no, you do not taste the sour cream, at all.
You know what else I love about this cake? It’s super duper easy to make. I’m looking for easy over the hectic holiday season. I don’t do many frosted cakes because I don’t think I’m good at frosting a cake, but anyone can pour chocolate ganache (aka chocolate gold) on top of a cake.
You should have heard the “oohs” and “aahs” when I presented this cake to a bunch of my friends. Picture me with a huge smile on my face because I love it when that happens. 🙂
Everyone needs a go-to chocolate cake and this one is now it for me! Get ready to get your lips smacking against the fork to get every morsel of chocolate off it. This is one of those cakes that actually causes conversation to stop. Well, unless you count various yum sounds as conversation.
Too Much Chocolate Cake Recipe
(About 12 servings)
Ingredients for the Cake:
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup oil
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 box (15.25 ounce) devil’s food cake mix
- 1 box (5.9 ounce) instant chocolate pudding mix
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Ingredients for the Ganache:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 and 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions for the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 10 inch bundt pan and set it aside. I use the Fat Daddio 10 inch angel food cake pan.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs.
- Mix in the sour cream, oil, and water.
- Mix in the cake mix and pudding mix.
- Gently stir in the chocolate chips. Note that the cake batter will be very thick.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan.
- Bake it for about 55 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool completely before inverting it onto a plate.*
Directions for Ganache:
- In a saucepan, over Medium heat, bring the heavy cream to a boil.
- In a medium bowl, add the chocolate chips and salt. (Make sure the bowl is big enough to put all the cream in with room to stir.)
- Pour the boiled heavy cream over the chocolate chips and salt and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Once the 10 minutes have passed, stir the mixture with a whisk until it’s smooth and shiny.
- Let the ganache sit for about 15 minutes, until it thickens a bit. The goal is still be able to pour it over the cake, but not have it too thick that it’s frosting. Give it a stir again.
- Pour the ganache over the top of the chocolate bundt cake.
* Note, you may need to use a knife to level off the top of the cake before inverting it so it will end up level on your plate after inverting it. My bundt pan is flat on the bottom so I didn’t need to do this step. I simply inverted it out of the pan, and then inverted it again back on to the flat side.
Cake source: All Recipes
Ganache source: Martha Stewart
Ah that looks fab! Although I’d have to argue that there is no such thing as “too much” chocolate…maybe! You never know 🙂
I’m with you, June! 🙂
hi i have a quick question, does it matter what type of sour cream?
Hi Cintia. I always use the light sour cream and it turns out great.
Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂
Hi Cintia. I’ve used both regular and light sour cream and the cake comes out the same tasty way. Hope that helps!
It looks good but I live in Brasil there is no way to make this cake in Brasil there is no alternative recipe if you can’t buy the same ingredients as stated … is there a recipe I could use for the packaged chocolate cake or pudding?
Hi Doug! I cannot think of a recipe for the packaged cake or pudding. However, I have made another delicious chocolate cake that does not require that ingredient. Here is the link to the recipe:
http://tinaschic.com/2016/12/one-layer-chocolate-cake/
I hope that helps. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Tina, you had me with the title. So true. Your cake looks so moist.
Thanks so much Peter! I hope you had a nice holidays with your family. 🙂
It does look like a giant donut. LOL. I love that this recipe is semi homemade.
HEHE. Thanks!
Gosh this really does look like heaven on a plate! The more chocolate, the better, in my opinion! Beautiful and so tempting!
Totally! 🙂
No such thing as too much chocolate! This cake looks so moist and the frosting looks fluffy and rich. So much yum! 🙂
Definitely much yum. 🙂
There absolutely can never be enough chocolate cake!
Agreed!
There’s never too much chocolate. EVER! I ooh’d when I saw this cake too — it looks so chocolatey and amazing, and I like that it looks like a big chocolate donut! haha Cheers to a lovely New Year’s Tina! 🙂
I love how I amuze myself sometimes. 😉 Happy New Year, Marcie!
This cake looks heavenly, Tina!! Definitely no such thing as too much chocolate 🙂 This is just perfect especially with that glorious ganache! Hope you had a wonderful holiday and Happy Happy New Year! 🙂
I agree! 🙂
I love how chocolaty and easy this is, Tina. And you’re right, it does look exactly like a giant donut! Sweet! And no, you really can’t ever have too much choccy cake!
Happy New Year!
Thanks Helen! Happy new year to you too! 🙂
I don’t think there could ever be too much chocolate! I am drooling over this cake, Tina! I totally agree with you, definitely a chocaholic’s dream. Looks incredible!
Yes, never too much chocolate! Let me send you a virtual napkin. 😉
Tina, I LOL’d at this –> OMG, I just realized that this looks like a ginormous doughnut! Then I looked at the cake, which absolutely amazingly moist and so wonderfully chocolate. I think I fainted after imagining one bite! Pinned!
Lol…mmm, big doughnuts. 🙂 Faint…nah…Heaven…yes. 🙂 Thank you for pinning!
Wow! Your cake looks so moist and delicious and I feel like if I could squeeze in one more naughty delicious thing before the end of the year this would be it!!!! Sharing! Happy New Year!
Hehe…awesome! Thank you so much for sharing. 🙂 Happy new year, Bam!! xoxo
I know I already commented on this Tina, but I wanted to stop by today to wish you a Happy New Year! Here’s looking forward to wonderful things for you and your family in 2015!
You are so sweet! Happy New Year, Kristi!!! 🙂
“Chocolate gold” OMG that totally describes chocolate ganache! Um, love it. 🙂 This cake is an absolute stunner, Tina! There can never be too much chocolate. 😉
Thanks so much, Sarah! 🙂
Tina, this is my go-to chocolate cake recipe, and it’s always a huge it! I use it for birthdays as a layer cake and it’s perfect. Your pics are gorgeous!
Thank you! I appreciate you stopping by. 🙂
Thanks for posting Mir.. A pet peeve of mine is when I see a recipe that maybe I would like to try, and then read comments to see how it turned out for people but all the comments are like “oh yum, looks great, gotta try it….etc. etc.
So I just wanted to say thank you Mir for posting AFTER you tried the cake and said it’s always a huge hit, so now I will go ahead and give it a try as one of the things I make for Superbowl Sunday.
Kathy, when I’m searching for recipes I too like to see the comments from those who made the recipe. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you love this cake as much as we do!
You convinced me, it looks like a wonderful cake. I will have to try your recipe. Thank you for sharing on Pinterest.
I hope you love it just as much as we do! Thanks so much for stopping by. 🙂
This is my go to recipe for cake. You would never know it starts with a cake mix. It is super moist. & so delicious. I usually leave out the chocolate chips for layer cakes & cupcakes so it’s less dense, but bundt cake is always better dense. People think I make the best cakes all thanks to this recipe. And it’s versatile enough to change the flavor. Just pick different cake mix & pudding flavors. Yum yum!
Terrie, I’m so glad you feel the same as me! What a great idea to use different cake mix and pudding flavors…I’ll definitely have to give that a try. 🙂
Hi Tina. You have some yummy recipes on your site. I’m going to have to try some of them out. I cannot believe you are an attorney AND find time to have a blog too! I work about 60 hours a week and love all that fun domestic stuff (cooking, sewing, decorating), but when my sister told me to start a blog I told her she was crazy. Where would I find the time? You must be superwoman! You go girl.
Terrie, you are so sweet! Thank you for the lovely compliments. 🙂 You made my week!!
Hi ! I am loving your recipe , too much chocolate ? not it all, but I have one big question, I dont really like to use the cake mix boxes, So what should I do about this delicious recipie ? I can make it from scratch ? how much flour do I need to use o some extra ingridients ? Help please !!
Loveeeee your Blog !!
Thank you so much! You made my week! 🙂
As for a substitute for the cake mix…I wish I had a good alternative to offer you but it would require a few ingredients to use in place and I have not played around with the recipe. If I try another chocolate cake recipe, sans the cake mix, I’ll definitely follow up with you.
Hi Tina,
it looks so delicious! I want to try it, but i do’nt know how much a cup sour cream is….would you please let me know?
Mieke, 1 cup of sour cream = 8 ounces.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/master-weight-chart.html
Hi Tina, I’m loving this recipe, but have one teensy question… I have a traditional (for lack of a better word) “humpy” bundt cake pan. Is it necessary to cut off the top for a flat top cake? I don’t have lots of experience with ganache- will it run all over and not be so great unless I flat-top it?
Ah, great question… I know what you mean by “humpy” bundt cake pan. That’s what I use too. I should have taken a picture of what the cake looks like before the ganache, but mine has a bit of a bump. I did not cut off the top.
I don’t have a lot of experience with ganache either but I can say that the longer it sits, the thicker it gets. That’s why it’s important to let it sit (per the directions) before you pour it on top of the cake. You don’t want it to all run down the bottom of the cake. However, the ganache will definitely drip down the sides (if you can see it in the pics). I personally like that.
I hope that helps!
Wow, I made this cake last night but substituted softened butter for the oil and honly smokes this thing was delicious. The ganache was so smooth and wonderful, but the cake alone had such an amazing flavor it can stand alone quite well if you are unable to make it. Thank you for sharing!!
Wahoo! I’m so glad that you love this cake! I have made it without the ganache many times and it is a fantastic cake on its own. The ganache just makes it extra chocolately and pretty. 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by!
Do I have to use devil food mix?
You can use any chocolate cake mix. It will just have the chocolate flavor of which ever kind you use.
Does this work well for cupcakes? Thanks a bunch 🙂
I bet it does work, but I’ve never tried it. The baking time would be much less. If you try it let me know how you make out.
Quick question:
Do you think this could be made in a 9” X 13” pan? It looks delicious!!
Thanks for sharing!
You can. However I don’t know if the batter would fit (depends on how tall the pan is). Also I’m not sure what to suggest with how long to bake it for.
If you end up trying it, let me know how it goes.
Thanks Tina!
Did u use mini chocolate chips for the ganache?
Hi Meagan. I used regular size chocolate chips to make the ganache.
I made this cake. One word-scrumptious! Had to cut it before the family got home.
I’m so glad you love this cake, Linda! It’s my favorite chocolate cake of all time! 🙂