Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Like straight up chocolate, with a hint of tangy cheesecake goodness!
Texture: Oh man. Rich and moist yet light and fluffy, with a luscious cheesecake filling and crazy fudgy chocolate glaze.
Ease: Easy but messy.
Appearance: Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.
Pros: Sassy twist on a classic dessert.
Cons: None!
Would I make this again? Oh yeah.
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I have kind of an obsession with desserts that contain a secret surprise filling. Between my recent Fudge Filled Cookies and this Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake, I am apparently on a mission to delight the pants off our taste buds.
I remember being a kid and my parents ordering the occasional fast food “family meal” that always seemed to come with a bundt cake as a dessert. And you know what? Those cakes were gross. SO insanely dry, bland, and boring. They weren’t even worth eating, unless you’re a kid and just want sugar in any form. I was turned off of bundt cakes for years until I started making my own.
Here are Handle the Heat bundt cakes are actually worth indulging in. Chocolate cakes actually taste like chocolate. Plus they’re RICH as can be, I want you to almost think you’re eating a brownie. But still light and fluffy. A culinary contradiction. Not to mention I don’t do boring simple cakes. I go over the top, like stuffing a cake with cream cheese and drenching it in the thickest, fudgiest glaze possible. Even using ingredients like sour cream and a hint of espresso powder to really amp up the flavor. That’s my kind of cake, and I hope it’s yours too.
Holly on Instagram made this recipe and says, “The deep chocolate flavor pairs perfectly with the tangy cream cheese.” Check out her gorgeous photo:
Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
For the cake:
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon espresso powder
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- 1 3/4 cups (7.87 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
For the glaze:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons corn syrup
- 4 ounces 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. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
- 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 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.
I do not see the size Bundt pan to use and read comments saying people had theirs overflow. Also can I omit the espresso powder, o one in our family likes coffee. (I know, I know, everyone says you won’t taste it, but coffee drinkers don’t and non coffee drinkers will. I have tasted it in many recipes and friends will say there’s no coffee in this, and the the hostess will say yes there is a bit so….) My question is do I need to sub anything for the espresso powder or just omit it? And the Bundt pan size. Thank you, this looks so delicious!
Hi Deanna! The pan Tessa recommends is linked directly in the recipe card and I’ll link it here for you, too. It’s a 9.51-inch fluted bundt pan. If you already have a bundt pan and it’s smaller than this, we recommend holding back some of the batter, to prevent overflow. As for the espresso powder, it’s there to enhance the chocolate flavor! Lots of our friends and family are non-coffee drinkers who say they do not taste it – but if you prefer, you can leave it out without any other modifications and it’ll still be delicious. Happy baking 🙂
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I made it for Father’s Day and it was a huge hit! It did take an extra 15 minutes to bake. I’ll be making this again! A LOT!
wonderfully moist and delicious. I have duck eggs, so I only needed 3 in the cake part. I suspect a lot of commenters here are over mixing, which is causing the overflowed pans. mine did take almost 20 min longer than recipe time, so I used a foil tent to keep the top from burning, and lowered the rack to the bottom after around 60 min, but it still came out lovely.
Well, after an extra 20 min at 300, my cake is done! Came out of the pan perfectly, a big chunk of the inside has the cheesecake layer showing, but its still beautiful! My buddy pan was brand new, but I just ordered the one you recommend and will try it again!
Thank you for the recipe!
I loved the flavor of both the batter and the filling, but I have a brand new bunch pan, and my cake has baked over the edge of the pan, is all over the bottom of the oven, and after 45 min is still real jiggly! The only thing I did different was to weigh out my dry ingredients by the gram. What happened! All I saw was I needed a burnt pan – do they come in different sizes! This cake is quite a bit of work to not have it turn out!
I’m curious about the release effort because of cheesecake. Bundt cakes are notorious for not wanting to release evenly or perfectly…sometimes…no matter how well the pan is prepared. Are there any additional steps to take to ensure a perfect, smooth removal?
Hi Rita! Tessa has a whole article devoted to this topic – check it out here for all Tessa’s best tips on how to prevent bundt cakes from sticking! Hopefully something there will help! Let us know what you think if you give this cake a try 🙂
To keep ANY cake from sticking, I used “Bakers Joy”. Found in grocery stores on the baking isle. Also use it for casseroles or anything baked in oven. Nothing sticks and bakeware washes easy.
About to make this beauty! Any tips on storing it after making it? I figure with cream cheese in there it should be refridgerated? Would love feedback on how to store it and how long it would be good for in the fridge… and whether thawing would be needed?
Thanks!
Hi Yaz! Yes, definitely keep this cake in the fridge, inside an airtight container and/or well wrapped in plastic wrap, to prevent it from drying out as much as possible. It should keep just fine that way for a few days, but we haven’t tested any longer than that, so I can’t say for sure! Pull from the fridge 20 minutes or so before serving, just to take the chill off it a little, for best results. Let us know what you think once you’ve given this cake a try 🙂
I made this and the taste was chocolatey deliciousness. The quantity of the batter overflowed my large bundt pan, so next time I’ll be prepared with a small pan to bake the overflow separately. It came out of the pan perfectly after 10 minutes.
Fantastic cake! I’ll make it again.
This cake is amazingly good. I tried the glaze with honey instead of corn syrup and it came out fine.
I made this today. Turned out great with great chocolaty flavor. Great recipe!
Yay! So happy to hear that, Sarah!!
Any substitute for corn syrup?
We haven’t tried anything else, so I can’t say for sure!