Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: Tons of rich chocolate, with a surprise of tangy cheesecake goodness!
Texture: Moist, light, and fluffy, with a luscious cheesecake filling and wonderfully fudgy chocolate glaze.
Ease: Simple and fun to make!
Pros: Deliciously decadent twist on a classic cake.
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Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake is pure decadence in cake form.
The only thing that could possibly improve a rich, moist, ultra-chocolaty bundt cake? A secret cheesecake filling.
Finished with the fudgiest chocolate glaze you’ve ever tried, this showstopping bundt cake is as gorgeous as it is indulgent.
Holly on Instagram made this recipe and says, “The deep chocolate flavor pairs perfectly with the tangy cream cheese.” Check out her gorgeous photo:
This Cheesecake-Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake is what dessert dreams are made of. I hope you love it as much as I do!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Cheesecake-Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake
How to Make MOIST Cake
- Measure your flour correctly. Accidentally adding too much flour will yield a dense, dry, or crumbly cake. Use the spoon and level method to measure your dry ingredients.
- Brown sugar. Brown sugar adds more moisture than granulated sugar. Whatever you do, do not reduce the amount of sugar in this recipe – learn why here.
- Eggs. This cake contains 5 eggs for richness, fudginess, moisture, and structure. I do not recommend using egg substitutes. Use room-temperature eggs to ensure they blend smoothly into the batter, and use large eggs, about 56 grams in shell. Smaller or larger eggs will yield a different result.
- Sour cream. This helps make the cake more tender and fudgy and activates the baking soda. Be sure to use full-fat sour cream at room temperature. Full-fat plain yogurt will work as a substitute.
- The cocoa powder. More on this just below.
The Cocoa Powder
I recommend using Dutch processed cocoa powder, for an intense but smooth chocolate flavor. I particularly love Guittard or Penzey’s Dutch cocoa powder products.
Dutch-process cocoa powder also typically has a higher fat content compared to grocery store natural cocoa powder products. The latter is often chalky and zaps moisture in your cakes. Learn more about Natural vs. Dutched cocoa powders here.
If you must, you can use natural cocoa powder with as a 1:1 substitute. Note that the color, texture, and chocolate flavor will change.
The Chocolate
This cake batter contains bittersweet baking chocolate for richness AND Dutch-process cocoa powder for tons of pure chocolate flavor.
The fudgy chocolate glaze uses melted semi-sweet chocolate. Feel free to use milk or bittersweet chocolate, if you prefer – just note that this will alter the overall sweetness of the ganache. Learn more about Chocolate in Baking here.
Note: Avoid using chocolate chips in place of freshly chopped baking chocolate, they don’t melt down as smoothly and won’t incorporate into the batter quite as evenly.
The Espresso Powder
Espresso powder helps enhance the chocolate flavor! The hint of espresso enhances the chocolate flavor without actually tasting like coffee.
You can also use strong hot coffee instead. You can also omit it, if preferred.
Use the Right Pan!
This recipe uses a 9.51-inch bundt pan, like this one. If your pan is a little larger, that’s fine, but don’t use a smaller pan as the cake will overflow.
How to Prevent Cheesecake-Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake From Sticking to the Pan
- Coat the bundt pan with melted shortening and work it into every nook and cranny with a silicone pastry brush right before pouring the batter into the pan. If this is done too early, the grease will slide down the sides of the pan and leave you with an uneven coating.
- Alternatively, use Baker’s Joy spray. While I don’t prefer to use nonstick sprays because they can damage the nonstick coating on baking pans over time, Baker’s Joy does work well. It just may reduce the lifetime of your pan.
- Check out my article on How to Prevent Bundt Cake from Sticking for more tips.
How to Store
Store this cake inside an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. We have not tried freezing this cake.
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Ingredients
For the filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
For the cake:
- 3/4 cup (75 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
- 6 ounces (170 grams) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon espresso powder
- 3/4 cup (177 grams) boiling water
- 1 3/4 cups (222 grams) all-purpose flour, measured correctly
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup (228 grams) sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 sticks (170 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups (400 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
For the glaze:
- 1/2 cup (119 grams) heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons corn syrup
- 4 ounces (113 grams) semisweet chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.
For the filling:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until well combined. Add the egg, vanilla, and flour until well combined. Set aside.
For the cake:
- Combine the cocoa, chocolate, and espresso powder in a large bowl. Pour the boiling water into the bowl and cover. Let stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
- Whisk the chocolate mixture until it is smooth. Let cool to room temperature. When it has cooled, whisk in the sour cream.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla for about 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until combined. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and the cooled melted chocolate mixture alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour, until the batter is smooth.
- Pour a little more than half the batter into the prepared pan. Pour the cheesecake filling into the center of the batter, not allowing it to touch the edges of the pan. Pour the remaining batter of the filling.
- Bake the cake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cake out and let cool completely.
For the glaze:
- In a small saucepan, heat the cream and corn syrup over medium heat until hot. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, whisking until smooth. Let cool slightly until thickened. Drizzle over the cake. Let the glaze set at room temperature, about 10 minutes, before serving.
Rather than creamcheese could you do a marscapone filling. I like the lightness it brings over cream cheese
We haven’t tried that, but you’re welcome to experiment! Let us know how it goes if you do 🙂
Can I use box cake mix
We recommend making this recipe as written for best results!
Do you think the cake will turn out well when inverted of the Bundt pan has an intricate pattern – like a “stained Glass” or “Crown Pan”?
Hi Lila! I can’t say for sure, we haven’t tried that! I’d recommend following Tessa’s tips in her article about How to Prevent Bundt Cake from Sticking, and let us know how it goes if you give it a try!
I did cut the sugar in half
I’d really like to know if anyone tried this in a regular round springform pan. I am planning to attempt this tomorrow and I don’t have a bundt pan so I am thinking of halving this one to fit into my 9″ pan.
Hi Rohini! We haven’t tried that but don’t see why it wouldn’t work! Sally’s Baking Addiction has a great post detailing sizes of pans/conversions which may be of help to you. Like she notes, be wary of the baking time because the dimensions of the baked good will change. Let us know how it goes!
So I gave this a go with my round springform pan and I messed up with putting cream cheese in the cake batter and sour cream for the filling which totally disappeared in the cake batter! With such a blunder to begin with, I really didn’t expect a respectable end result but to my wonderment and utter surprise, it still turned out absolutely decadent. I used a dark chocolate ganache and piped some rosettes for a buttercream frosting and my mom said it was her best birthday cake. Thank you for sharing this gem! I wish I could attach a photo of the cake.
Oh no! I’m so happy it still turned out, and what a compliment that your mom said it was her favorite! I’ll bet it was super moist! Rosettes on top sounds absolutely perfect, thanks for letting us know how it went!
Cake overflowed the pan, did not complete cooking for another 20 – 25 minutes AND it did not come out of pan What a mess !
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear this! What size is your bundt pan? Also, do you have an oven thermometer? It’s surprising to hear, but many home ovens are off by 15 degrees, which could be why yours took so long to bake. I’ve also got a great article on how to Prevent Bundt Cake Sticking. Hope this helps!
Can I substitute plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream? The cake looks wonderful. I am looking forward to making it.
I haven’t tried that in this recipe, sorry I can’t help! Let me know how it goes if you try it!
Disculpe mi pregunta es para que sirve el jarabe de maíz,
Y lo puedo sustituir por otro ingrediente o quitarlo si acaso no lo consigo
Mil gracias por la atencion
Hi Yessi! We haven’t tried this recipe without the corn syrup, so I couldn’t say for sure, but you could try using golden syrup instead, or eliminating it entirely, if preferred. It should not make a huge difference in this glaze! Happy baking 🙂
I want to make 2 versions of this cake. The chocolate recipe as is and, I am wanting to make a banana coconut rum cake. Should I just make a banana cake and add the 2 other ingredients or use this chocolate recipe with adaptions
Hi Sandi, I honestly haven’t tried that, but it sounds delicious! Good luck!
Didn’t last long when I made this and I was definitely told to hang on to this recipe. I used raw Oregon honey (1:1) in place of the sugar and left the glaze off because it looked beautiful naked! The honey added enough moisture and sweetness, so I opted to leave it off.
Made this cake for my husband’s Birthday. It was Delicious! A Super moist cake. Looked fantastic too as I always like the beautiful look of a bundt cake mold. My husband loved this cake as did all our family. Thank you Tessa for all your wonderful recipes. Just bought your cookbook, The Ultimate Cookie Handbook. It’s amazing and helped me with all my holiday cookie baking this year. Baking has brought a smile to my face during this difficult pandemic time and all those who have enjoyed the desserts I have made. Thank you again for your wonderful recipes and your blog that explains everything so clearly. Getting excited to make my very first Cheesecake in the January 2021 baking challenge and other baking challenges to come. Happy New Year and my best wishes always!
I can’t wait to try your Ultimate Cheesecake recipe. However on the way to that I found the Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe.(Drooling) BUT no grams listed. Normally your recipes list grams. Would it be possible to send the recipe with grams? Please.
I am traveling by car for thanksgiving. Can this cake not be refrigerated for about 10 hours?
Since this cake contains cream cheese, I’d recommend storing it in an ice chest!
I made this yesterday for Canada Day. The end result was delicious but it was a bit of a disaster getting there! There was so much batter that I put the bundt pan on a baking sheet. Sure enough, the batter overflowed in a delicious circle all around the pan. And then it took a lot longer than expected – at least 15 minutes more baking time than the recipe said. And then the glaze was way too thin but maybe it’s because I used chocolate chips instead of chopping up chocolate? I managed to thicken it up by adding more chocolate chips. In the end, it was delicious though!!