Before we get to this stunning chocolate bundt cake with sour cream pecan ripple, let me vent a bit.
The month of December is passing by rather smoothly, given that it’s usually ridiculously hectic. Not so much for me. But everybody is running, in a hurry, with endless lists to tackle, buying, organizing.
Here, since we’re almost starting the summer, it coincides with the end of school year and most people’s vacations.
Put that together with Christmas and New Year, not to mention the need to do things like go to the dentist or every doctor you didn’t go to during the year, or the urgency to redecorate your living room before you leave for the beach, and you have a recipe for disaster. And crankiness.
Put that together with Christmas and New Year, not to mention the need to do things like go to the dentist or every doctor you didn’t go to during the year, or the urgency to redecorate your living room before you leave for the beach, and you have a recipe for disaster. And crankiness.
Why is it so important to cramp everything you didn’t do in a year during the last month? Beats me. And it happens every year. Add very hot days to the mix and the results can be quite agitated.
This is the cake that I promised in this post. One thing about writing this blog, is that I always want to try new things. No matter how good a recipe might be, it only gets done more than once if it’s unbelievably good or I have to take something over to a friend’s house and need something that I know is foolproof.
It’s easy with savory because I eat twice a day, and that makes for a lot of opportunities. But the sweet stuff is not essential, I can live without much sugar, not that I do, but I can and I definitely should, so baking for myself is not a smart idea. I should get me some nice sweet-toothed neighbors.
I made this cake many weeks ago, photographed it, ate it, gave the rest to a lucky friend and just waited for the moment to post it. In the meantime I decided that my computer was too full of crap, by the way of old files, and erased many. I even erased the trash, since I was on a tech-spring-cleaning-roll. The pics were washed away.
But it was worth repeating, not only because it’s pretty. It is so good, velvety, perfectly sweet and chocolaty, with that sour cream pecan tunnel running through it. It delights children and us grown-ups too. I might venture to say that it will be my chocolate bundt cake of choice from now on. Because it’s perfect and versatile.
And it unmolds like a dream. Which is the ultimate test in a good bundt cake recipe.
Yield:
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Ingredients
For sour cream ripple:
- 8 oz 225g sour cream, room tº
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 4 Tbs coarsely chopped pecans
- 1 Tbs rum or 1 teaspoon vanilla
For cake:
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ cup warm water
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt 6oz. (170g unsalted butter, at room tº)
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup sour cream (at room tº)
For glaze:
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- Butter or spray a bundt cake pan and coat it with fine dry breadcrumbs.
For sour cream ripple:
- Mix sour cream, sugar, egg and rum or vanilla in a small bowl. Reserve.
For cake:
- In a medium bowl, mix cocoa powder with water. Reserve.
- In a large bowl beat butter and gradually add sugar. Beat until very creamy, about 3 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat for 1 minutes after the last one is added.
- Add vanilla and sour cream to chocolate mixture and mix.
- Sift flour, baking soda, powder and salt.
- Add dry ingredients in three additions to butter mixture, alternating with chocolate mixture in two additions. Don’t worry if the batter looks a bit curdled at times.
- Pour into prepared pan, smooth top. Make an indentation with a spoon in the middle of the batter. It will not be too defined, don’t worry.
- Mix pecans into sour cream ripple mixture. Pour carefully into the indentation, trying not to let it touch the sides.
- Bake for 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
- Let cool a few minutes and unmold on a wire rack. Let cool completely.
- Pour glaze slowly over cake and sprinkle top with chopped pecans.
For glaze:
- Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl.
Aurica says
January 31, 2014 at 18:59damn, it came so good, so delicious, so creamy, i just love the chocolate..
Laura says
December 18, 2012 at 14:55Yum! Love the sour cream ripple!
Medeja says
December 17, 2012 at 22:56You are a queen of bundt cakes! Another great recipe! 🙂
Rachel @ yourtablecloth.com says
December 17, 2012 at 17:46Yum!Can't wait to try this recipe!
Terra says
December 17, 2012 at 05:29Your cake is so pretty! I love that delicious layer inside the cake, so creative and fun! Hugs, Terra
yummychunklet says
December 16, 2012 at 23:20Love the glaze!
Susan says
December 16, 2012 at 04:38This cake looks amazing!
Nancy @ gottagetbaked says
December 16, 2012 at 02:48I'm the same as you, Paula, I don't usually bake repeats (especially now when I'm constantly trying out new things for the blog) and only do so when it's a standby. I'm sorry you lost your pix but that meant you got to bake and eat this gorgeous cake a second time. Wow and I mean WOW! You've got everything I love in there – chocolate (naturally) and an amazing tunnel of cheesecake and pecans. This is stunning and I'm sure it tasted exquisite!
Laura Dembowski says
December 16, 2012 at 01:54Love when bundt cakes unmold perfectly. I also love when I have an excuse to make a recipe I love again. With the blog, I'm always making new things and sometimes my favorites go by the wayside. It would be so cool to celebrate Christmas in summer!
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
December 15, 2012 at 22:58I usually make a chocolate bundt cake every year for my annual Christmas party. This will be on my table next time…it sounds wonderful.
Guru Uru says
December 15, 2012 at 21:15This cake has everything I could possibly need to indulge 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Deb says
December 15, 2012 at 19:18I am gallantly resisting the year end frenzy! But the week just before Christmas seems to always suck me into it's swirling vortex! It is then that I must try new recipes, new techniques and convince myself that nothing is impossible, LOL! Your Chocolate Port Bundt Cake is just the solution for the season of too much. Great flavor, easy to prepare and a joy to share!
amy @ fearless homemaker says
December 15, 2012 at 16:27This cake looks absolutely divine – so perfect! I could go for a slice right now. =)
Parsley Sage says
December 15, 2012 at 13:03Ack! So sorry you lost your pictures, but not really all that sorry since you got to make another of this GLORIOUS cake 🙂
Renee Dobbs says
December 15, 2012 at 12:59Oh what a beautiful bundt. It looks so perfectly moist and chocolatey. It is certainly a cake for me.