Oh the life when you know how to bake. Again I had the craving for a specific dessert and could not get it out of my head. I actually thought about making this before the holidays but when those truffles came up, my whole schedule switched to working on those. Once the boxes went out to family I was so ready to get back to baking instead of chocolate.
This time around I really wanted a nice chocolate cake with a chocolatey fudgy center baked inside. I knew this would have to be in a bundt pan to get a beautiful look but I was not worried since I could use one of my other pans that I can easily remove from. Check out a post a few weeks back to see the infamous bundt pan that I hate to use yet won’t get rid of. This other bundt is a lot easier to use for whatever reason so it’s my go to whenever I am wanting or needing to use a bundt pan.
I don’t even remember why I thought of this cake, maybe saw it on some random Instagram post or news feed somewhere, either way I wanted it and as a chef I will make it. First thing was the cake since it’s the easiest. I used my standard chocolate cake recipe which stems off my standard cake recipe. Super easy. I did have to do some calculations and make sure I had the right amount of batter for the bundt. Pretty much my go to method for this is to take the recipe which fits into an 8-inch round pan that is 2-inches high and using the volume of that to figure out how much batter I have and then figure the volume of the new pan and make adjustments. I’m not going to go into the geometry of volumes and such. Honestly google is my friend. Google volume of cylinder and there’s a whole little thing that will help you right there.
Once I knew the amount of batter I needed for my pan with a little room for a fudge center I was ready to start baking and mixing up the filling. The filling was simple. I wanted something “fudgy” but did not want a typical fudge center with a ton of sugar and little actual chocolate. I like more rich desserts, especially with chocolate flavors so I went for a nice soft ganache that would not fully set up once cooled. Looking more along with a frosting like consistency or a soft set ganache. I have a standard ratio for ganache that I work off of so I started there. I added some butter, actually a good amount, because not only does the butter help with the texture of the ganache but the added butter will help with creating a soft center that I was after.
Ready to whip this mixture up, I started with the ganache. I don’t like to refrigerate ganache until it’s already set because the texture will be affected. I needed that time to let it set up and thicken on its own on the counter. Easy enough to mix up. I prefer the melt together method in a microwave. You of course can heat the cream and/or butter and pour over the chocolate but the microwave method is fast and easy to do. Just make sure not to overheat. Chocolate does burn and you do not want to waste that. After melting and getting it nice and smooth and like heaven in a bowl, let it sit and cool until room temp and thickened. It has such a nice texture to it, especially with that butter added. It’s more butter than a typical ganache but it creates this amazing texture that is silky, smooth, and just very lovely.
Chocolate Ganache Center
50g Dark Chocolate
50g Milk Chocolate
100g Heavy Whipping Cream
40g Unsalted Butter
In a small microwave safe bowl, melt all ingredients together in 30 second intervals until mostly melted.
Once mostly melted, reduce to 10 second intervals and melt full.
Once mixture is melted and smooth, leave to rest at room temperature to fully set. This will take a couple hours, go back and stir occasionally as desired but don't refrigerate! Use once thickened.
Once the ganache had cooled and thickened it was time to whip up the cake and get it ready for the oven. This is super simple. If you’ve made a cake before, this should be easy even blind folded. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, I add melted chocolate to my chocolate cake, then the flour and milk alternating back and forth. Once the batter is mixed up, that’s when things get interesting…
Chocolate Bundt Cake
210g All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
Pinch Salt
50g Cocoa Powder
2 ea. Eggs
238g Granulated Sugar
169g Unsalted Butter, soft
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
150g Dark Chocolate, melted
200g Milk
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (about 3-5 minutes)
Add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla and melted chocolate.
While mixing on low speed continuously, add one third of the flour mixture then half the milk. Repeat with remaining flour and milk, ending with 1/3 of flour.
Spread 2/3's of the mixture into a heavily greased bundt pan.
Use a spatula or off set to make a well for the filling, pushing batter up the sides of the pan.
Spread the thickened ganache into this well. Use remaining 1/3 of batter to cover evenly.
Bake for 45-50 minutes.
Allow to cool until warm before flipping.
To get this fudge center I used an offset spatula. I questioned using a piping bag but I try to avoid them as much as possible. The batter is thick enough so that I can add 1/2 to 2/3’s and using an offset make a little moat, pushing the side up the sides of the pan to make room for the ganache. Once made, spoon ganache into the moat and spread remaining batter on top. This really wasn’t that difficult since the batter and ganache have great consistencies to do this. If you really want though, fill all the batter then pipe the ganache into the middle BUT this method tends to be uneven so I like the offset spatula.
Now that it’s all together it was time to bake! In the oven, bake it off. It was a bit harder to judge the time since the filling is soft and I couldn’t use the typical spring back method I always use. I also couldn’t go old school and use a toothpick. So it came to being a chef and making the best guess. This is my typical chocolate cake recipe so it wasn’t hard to figure it out for me personally but stick to a timer and watch it closely so that you don’t under or over bake this cake.
Once baked, remove and let it start cooling. The important thing with bundt pans, especially with a soft center, is removing at the right time. Many bundts or other recipes say let it cool 10 minutes then flip. Because of the ganache center this one needs to cool a little longer so it won’t break but also before fully cool so it doesn’t stick to the pan. I let it go for about 25-30 minutes then flipped right onto the cake plate that it would be served on.
After it was out I was going back and forth on doing a frosting or glaze on top. I ended up making a simple chocolate glaze with powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and milk. Simple but a perfect sweet chocolate topping to balance out that rich chocolatey cake and fudge center. I did measure it (which I never do for this type of frosting) but I wanted you to have the ratios to get a great consistency that can be spread and have a nice fall on the sides without it just falling down the sides and making a mess. I mean just look at it! Just make sure not to do this while it’s still warm so that it doesn’t melt. Finish it how you like, I did some chocolate curls because I randomly had some. You can also do some rainbow sprinkles if you want a pop of color which would be nice or even use a vegetable peeler and make some chocolate shavings. Have fun with the finish and decoration as you wish!
Simple Chocolate Glaze
90g Powdered Sugar
15g Cocoa Powder
30g Milk
Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
Use immediately or cover until needed.
And that’s it! This came out so nice and delicious. I’m super happy with how it came out and tasted. It was just a little something I thought of and wanted to make and look how good it is! Try it out yourself and see how you like it. Absolutely change it up, maybe infuse that ganache center with some spices or herbs. Even change it for milk or white chocolate to add a different flavor compared to the darker chocolate that I used in this one. If you do use milk or white chocolate the ganache will not be as thick but it’s a center so it doesn’t need to be thick to go in the center. White chocolate I would definitely pull out a piping bag and pipe in the cake to make a hell of a lot easier. Enjoy this recipe and have some fun baking this winter!