This Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake is what chocolate cake dreams are made of! Moist and deeply flavored, this chocolate bundt cake gets drizzled with a simple chocolate glaze and finished with chewy candied ginger. If you’re looking for an all-occasions chocolate cake, this is it!
Let’s talk chocolate cake!
Few things are more decadent or celebratory than chocolate cake. Especially one that is seemingly miles-high, has a shiny glaze, and is speckled with confetti-like candied ginger. Not only is this sour cream chocolate cake moist and tender, but it’s a definite show-stopper. The best part? No one has to know how easy it is!
How to make chocolate sour cream bundt cake from scratch
As I mentioned above, this chocolate sour cream cake is easy to make. Regardless, let’s run through the recipe steps. As I go through the process, I’ll point out some techniques that are unique to this recipe.
- Make a paste using cocoa powder and butter; coat interior of bundt pan with paste.
- Why? Many cake recipes call for greasing and flouring the cake pan. The only problem is that the cake comes out with spots of white flour on its surface. Using cocoa powder avoids that not-so-appetizing appearance and does a great job of creating a nonstick surface when used with butter.
- Bloom cocoa powder and melt bar chocolate with hot brewed coffee.
- Why? There are a few things at work here. First is the blooming of the cocoa powder. Blooming, or hydrating, the cocoa powder prior to baking is often recommended. This step “blooms” the flavors of the cocoa and chocolate, aka adds a deeper flavor to whatever you’re baking.
- Secondly, many chocolate cake, brownie, or cookie recipes call for using instant espresso powder. Instead of using water to bloom and melt the chocolate, I opted for strongly brewed coffee, two birds with one stone, ya know?
- Whisk sour cream into melted and cooled chocolate-coffee mixture.
- Sour cream does a few things here, but most importantly it adds richness. The fat content of sour cream is important for creating a luxurious texture.
- Additionally, the acidity of the sour cream helps to active the baking soda, which creates a tender, and tall, cake.
- And lastly, sour cream adds moisture to the cake, without adding too much water. Since the recipe calls for ¾ cup coffee, we want to be careful about adding too much additional liquid or we risk a thin batter. Sour cream is ideal because it’s similar in thickness to cake batter and it adds moisture.
- Whisk together dry ingredients.
- Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy; add eggs.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and sour cream mixture until a batter comes together. Mix in candied ginger, if using.
- Pour batter into bundt pan and bake.
- Let cool 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack.
- Make glaze by heating cream in a saucepan until steaming. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let stand 2 minutes. Whisk in butter until smooth; drizzle over cake.
- Top with candied ginger, if using, allow glaze to set, then serve.
Chocolate sour cream bundt cake with chocolate glaze
Aside from the butter, the glaze used for this triple chocolate cake is identical to a ganache. Why did I choose to add butter? I wanted to create a glaze that was soft, silky and shiny. The addition of butter creates a glaze that won’t set hard, like a ganache would. This three-ingredient glaze remains fairly soft, which I find pairs well with the moist and tender chocolate bundt cake.
If you prefer a ganache, simply leave out the butter and increase the chocolate to 4 ounces. Follow the recipe as written, letting the chocolate and hot cream stand for 2 minutes before whisking. Just be sure to drizzle the ganache over the cake immediately after whisking the chocolate and cream together.
If you like this triple chocolate sour cream cake recipe, you may also like these…
- Orange Ginger Bundt Cake
- Grapefruit & Campari Tea Cakes (mini bundts)
- Red Wine Dark Chocolate Truffles
- Hazelnut & Dark Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- Mexican Chocolate Cookies
Make sure to tag me @ZESTFULKITCHEN ON INSTAGRAM or comment below if you make this triple chocolate sour cream bundt cake!
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Triple Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings (1 cake) 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Triple Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake! The ONLY chocolate cake recipe you need. This chocolate sour cream cake is moist, tender and full of chocolate flavor. It’s even finished with a silky chocolate glaze!
Ingredients
Cake:
- ¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder + 1 tablespoon
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened + 1 tablespoon melted
- 6 ounces bittersweet bar chocolate, chopped
- ¾ cup strong brewed coffee
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger (optional)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 large eggs
- ½ cup diced candied ginger (optional)
Glaze:
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 ounces bittersweet bar chocolate, chopped
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
- ¼ diced candied ginger (optional)
Instructions
Heat oven to 350° with rack set in lower-middle position.
Cake
Whisk together 1 tablespoon cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon melted butter to make a paste. Thoroughly coat the interior of a 12-cup bundt pan with cocoa-butter paste using a pastry brush.
Combine remaining ¾ cup cocoa powder and chocolate in a medium bowl. Microwave coffee in a glass measuring cup until simmering, then pour over chocolate mixture, cover, and let stand 5 minutes. Whisk chocolate mixture until smooth, let cool slightly, then whisk in sour cream.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, ground ginger (if using), and baking soda.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add flour in three additions, alternating with chocolate-sour cream mixture, ending with flour, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
Add candied ginger (if using) and mix just until incorporated.
Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top with a spatula. Bake cake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs, 45–50 minutes.
Let cake cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Glaze
Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan then pour over chocolate and let stand 2 minutes. Add butter and whisk until combined, let cool slightly.
Drizzle glaze over cake and sprinkle candied ginger (if using); let glaze set before serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 piece
- Calories: 518
- Sugar: 36g
- Sodium: 259mg
- Fat: 30g
- Saturated Fat: 19g
- Carbohydrates: 56g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 8g
- Cholesterol: 133mg
Keywords: chocolate cake, chocolate sour cream cake, triple chocolate cake, chocolate bundt cake, homemade chocolate cake, scratch chocolate cake
This recipe is inspired by the chocolate sour cream cake from Cooks’ Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen.
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I can’t wait to make mini bundt cake versions for my xmas party!
★★★★★
I love a good chocolate cake and this one is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
★★★★★
This cake was incredible. I will be making for my family again and these photos are stunning!!!
★★★★★
This cake was silky smooth and the candied ginger was everything!
★★★★★
If you want to skip the chocolate glaze you can dust the cake with powdered sugar, but I really like the chocolate glaze. It is the perfect finishing touch to the bundt cake.
★★★★★