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.
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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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Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Bundt 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.
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The Cheesecake Filling looks good but I feel I would rather whip in some homemade Creme Fraiche with some fluffy white Marshmallow Fluff, powdered sugar and be a Whoopie Pie Cake.
u defiantly need a 12 cup or bigger if there is of a bundt pan fore this cake mine spilled all over had to place a foil
under and cooked it for 1 1/2 hr i guess b/c of the bundt pan and it spilled do not know .. ill come back after and let u know how i like it when i taste it
What size bundt pan? 10 cup or 12 cup?
Thank you for the recipe, it was really yummy, but when i try to loose it from the pan after i inverted it, the bundt cake cracked horizontally, revealing the cheesecake. And i noticed the cake kind of hollow inside. Should i tap it in the counter before putting it in the oven? Or is it maybe because i put the cheesecake filling in fridge before? Because when its cooled off it is easier to put them in the middle of the cake. Does this happen to anyone else? Sorry for my bad english.
Hi Amelia! Yep, sounds like the cheesecake batter was too cold. Keep it at room temperature next time to avoid getting cracks and hollowness.
This looked so good, I couldn’t wait to try the recipe. Please tell me what I did wrong. I followed the recipe but what a flop. The cake baked over and at 50 minutes it was burnt on the outside edges, done from the inside top edge to the middle but when I tested the inside the toothpick came out wet. I gave it some extra time for the center to get done but wasn’t successful. My oven is very reliable and operates at the correct temperature, I had the cake on the center rack. After the 10 minute cool in the pan the bottom part came out and the top was left in the pan. I’d love to try again but very hesitant.
absolutely delicious! however, the cheesecake portion fell to the the bottom of the pan, so rather than having the cheescake in the middle, it ended up on the top. What went wrong?
Can’t wait to try. By the way, your ultimate brownies are out of the this world. My 7 year old granddaughter calls them “my” famous brownies. So THANKS!
I know this is a bit late, but do you keep this cake on the counter or in the fridge?
Hi Tessa… I made this yesterday after a long search for something special for someone special 🙂 … It turned out really pretty on the outside… hopefully it will be just as beautiful as yours on the inside 🙂 … My cheesecake filling didn’t look as thick as yours but hopefully it had set as nice as yours through the baking process. Thanks for the fabulous inspiration 🙂 … Have a wonderful holiday season!!!
Can I use a store bought cake mix? I know I know…. But I have some that need used up!
I’ve never tried that for this particular recipe but I don’t see why not!
Hi Tessa
Does this need to be set like a regular cheesecake (left in the fridge overnight)?
Also, will it ok to be made ahead of time? I wonder if the cake will dry out.
thanks
Nope! And should be fine ahead of time 🙂
Hi,
I love all of your recipes .. I tried making this cake the other day and I think the batter was way too much for my bundt pan.. I think mine’s a 10 cup bundt pan.. It kinda overflowed .. Is there any way I can cut the recipe to fit my pan? I’m dying to make this cake 🙂