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
Directions
-
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.
What do I add instead of Espresso or Coffee? (Allergy)
Do I just leave that out all together?
Thank u,
Lorrie
Do you have to use espresso powder?
How much espresso powder? It isn’t listed in the ingredient list.
Thanks,
Rhonda
This may be the best chocolate Bundt batter you ever make. However, beware when using this recipe. Like many reviewers before me I found an issue with how much batter the recipe creates (I have baked many of Tessa’s recipes and this issue is unusual – they are usually perfect). I used a 12 cup Bundt pan. DO NOT JUST POUR ALL YOUR batter into pan. There is too much. Fill halfway with chocolate, then spoon in the cheesecake filling and top with chocolate batter. Leave 1 1/2” to 2” breathing/rising room. Gently tap pan bottom down to get air bubbles out. You should have enough batter left in your mixing move for a couple of cupcakes and several batter tasting spoonfuls (so good). My cheesecake filling was perfect. I see many people had issues. I would say don’t beat it to death, otherwise you risk turning it into liquid. Check this cake at 30! Mine was done at 36 minutes. Hope my notes help you. Very beautiful and yummy cake. 🙂
*mixing bowl (sorry for typo)
I think I remember from the Ultimate Cheesecake Challeng. Tessa had indicated you could beat cream cheese and sugars like crazy but once you add eggs you only beat until eggs are fully incorporated. Otherwise the filling can have issues.
I read this article. I think you put a lot of effort into creating this article. I appreciate your work. abfi write great.
I added coconut and pecans to the cream cheese filling.
Hello Tessa,
Kudos yo you for the amazing recipe. I tried making it however the cheesecake sunk to the bottom of the bundt pan. What would have gone wrong?
Thanks in advance for your response.
Regards,
Esha
Mine did not turn out well. I realized at the time I made it that I did not have any brown sugar so I used regular white sugar. Maybe that affected it. The cheesecake filling was way too thin and most of it absorbed into the cake. You could barely see it when the cake was cut. The glaze was very runny as well. I let it cool before pouring and most of it ended up dripping down onto the plate. Four bowls later, I’m not sure I would try this again.
Besy ever!!!! Thanks!!!
I’m going to make this and add cherries to the top, similar to a Black Forest cake I grew up with.
The cake tastes great the problem I had was my batter I think was twice the size it should be it overflowed my Bundt pan. Also my cheesecake filling was runny so I didn’t have a thick amount in the middle, it ran to the side of the pan what am I doing wrong
Can I use 3/4 cup strong hot coffee in place of the powder and boiling water??
Of course.
This sounds amazing! I plan to make it for friends, one of whom is allergic to coffee! 🙁 Is there something I can substitute? Thanks!
Printed the recipe, I can’t wait make this and dig in.
I just love this recepie. Never fails to impress anyone
I am happy to find this post very useful for me
Beautiful and rich and a winner ♥️
What is the butter quantity?
The batter was delicious, but the cake did not bake up as expected. I baked it for 50 minutes as directed and the toothpick had no crumbs on it at all so I promptly stopped baking, only to discover half an hour later as I was preparing to turn it onto a plate, that the center of it was still nothing more than a battery mess. Too late to put it back in the oven, so my guests are going to have what I will refer to as a chocolate pudding alongside the cake. I can not comment on the taste of the finished product at this time but it definitely needs to be adjusted in some way, but I worry about baking too much longer since my toothpick already was coming out clean. It was very odd, but I do want to attempt it again.
I made this cake as directed. I have what I think is a regular Bundt pan, However, after following the recipe precisely it overflowed as it baked and I scraped almost 4 cups of chocolate blobs off the oven floor.
It took much longer to bake but looks OK now that it is inverted. Please adjust the recipe or suggest the correct size pan.
Today I made the bunt cake and the only mistake was the cheese cake coming off the side ,and I left the cheese cake filling in the fridge, and I am excited to try it!!
This was phenomenal. I lowered my temp to 160c after a but because the top was getting overcooked. The cheesecake filling was stunning. The choc cake is very like my favourite choc fudge cake recipe, but I think this is even better, and I’ve tried a ton of choc cake recipes. I’m a cake decorator and always on the hunt for new recipes, takes and spins on things! 10 out of 10 for crumb, moistened, flavour. I bet this would be amazing as a standard shaped cake, doesn’t need torting or frosting. Fabulous, thank you!!!
Hello. Looking forward to trying this. Have you ever made it ahead of time and froze the cake and then glazed it when it’s defrosted? Curious is everything is still as good. Thanks.
I baked this cake tonight (Christmas Eve). I was a little hesitant due to a lot of the comments about …over flowing…runny cheesecake batter…cake falling apart just to mention a few. I had the ingredients and the time so I decided to give it a shot. I took my time with the prep of the ingredients and being patient paid off! My cake turned out perfect! I did double the cheesecake batter recipe and I piped it in. My cake was awesome! Thanks for this great recipe.
Hi Tessa,
This recipe calls for dutch processed cocoa and baking soda. I read somewhere that dutch processed cocoa is usually paired with baking powder for leavening. Is there any truth to this?
Such a beautiful cake! What lovely flavors MasterRusk
Hi all,
I made this cake today and it’s so beautiful and taste great even thou you can’t really taste the cream cheese, so my advise is double the CC. I followed the recipe exactly and the cheese was a bit runny, but I put it in the fridge till I was ready for it and spooned it onto the bottom batter and it turned out great…. I only used spray and it never stuck once. Thank you Tessa I am trying to post picture.
Sorry, but the cheese filling part was annoying as hell you could’ve suggested a piping bag which is what I think you used..and the measurements feel like they are way too much???. Too calorie heavy and complicated for no reason, I get that it’s dessert but the taste is not to die for. Will not make again.
Suggestions. 1…spray the pan well and then powder it with flour or cocoa powder..
my delicious cake stuck to the bottom of the pan when ot was done. ( I knew this but …DUHHH I followed the recipe.)
2. For a 10 cup Bundt pan, bake it 60-65 minutes.
3. Add a couple teaspoons of lemon juice to the cheesecake filling.
I made this for a coworker’s birthday. It was good but mine turned out a bit dry and the cheesecake filling was dry. I’m not sure what I did wrong but I’m going to try it again because it was good enough to want to see if I can do better. Thank you for the recipe!
I just baked this cake for my husband’s birthday. It’s cooling now so I can’t comment on the taste but I made it exactly as written. My batter wasn’t runny, my cream cheese mixture was easy to put in and it cooked for only 5 minutes longer than suggested. The prep took me a while as I am not a experienced with baking in any way.
I didn’t have the problems others had and right now it looks perfect. I can’t wait to surprise him tonight when he cuts it open!
Hi Tessa- just saw this recipe for the time. It says 1 1/2 sticks butter (6 oz) wouldn’t that be 12 oz since one stick equals 8 oz? Thanks!
1 stick is 4 ounces!
I made this cake exactly as written. It was for my husband’s birthday. It was incredible!!! OMG! Worth the effort! Only problem, it is dangerous if you are watching your waist 🙂 Share it. YUM!
I was worried about some of the issues others were having, but I took a chance on this. I’m glad it did, it turned out delicious! I swirled some cherry preserves into the cheesecake to add a little extra pizzazz. I also had the issue with there being more cake than pan, and it baked for about 75 minutes, but it came out well, and it was done all the way through. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Just made this cake and followed the recipe exactly. Too much batter for the pan so it overflowed a bit. Although toothpick came out dry and top of cake was almost burnt, when I turned the cake over after cooling a bit, it pretty much fell apart and was goppy in middle including cheesecake filling – it was significantly undercooked.
I have it in the freezer now trying to firm it up before trying to camouflage it with the chocolate glaze but I’m not optimistic. Seems to taste wonderful from the gop I got on my hands trying to shape it up but there’s something wrong with the cook time. I make a lot of cakes and haven’t ever had this happen to me before.
This cake looks and tastes awesome! After reading all of the comments I used a chocolate cake mix and added about 3/4 cup sour cream. I followed the filling recipe but added the 2 Tbs flour others recommended. I received rave reviews from my dinner guests! The cake was super moist and there’s plenty of cheesecake filling. Thanks for everyone’s suggestions!
My name is Jose I’ve been around my mother in the kitchen always looking at her cook,,,,,I took a liking to the kitchen and started cooking at the age of 13yrs old,,, God I love cooking with a passion and like trying new things as well,,I Google pastry baking and came upon your post of chocolate cheesecake,,,,WOW my compliments go out to you,,,I tried it and believe me it didn’t last on the plate,,,as soon as I took it out of the pan and glazed it with strawberry icing and low and behold,,,,I had to make another one my kid’s went crazzzzzy over that cake,,,,thank you very much for sharing you recipe with everyone,,, sincerely yours,,,Jose..
It took longer than 20 minutes to prepare. It definitely had to bake longer than 50 minutes. It was more like 70 minutes. You have to let the cake cool longer than 10 minutes more like 20 minutes before turning over on a plate.
Made this yesterday for my sister’s birthday. Unfortunately, I forgot to turn the oven timer on and baked it a tich too long, so it was a bit on the dry side (totally my fault, not the recipe). It turned out of the pan beautifully and the chocolatey goodness was deep, dark and decedent. Even my nephew, who is not a dessert guy, went back for a second piece. This one is a keeper. I just have to remember not to forget it’s in the oven!
How would I adjust the recipe to use the mini bundt pan?
It was a huge hit. I made it for my husband’s b’day. He is not a fan of sweets, so it is always a challenge to find a good cake recipe. I read a few of the comments, so didn’t put all of the batter in my pan…just eyeballed it and it came out perfect. I didn’t read all of the comments soon enough though and some of my cake did stick to the pan (read later to oil AND flour the pan, I had just used spray, per the directions). I just put the pieces back where they belonged and covered it up with glaze. It is a delicious, moist and rich cake. Definitely a hit.
Mine is in the oven, so can’t comment on the final results, but if you want to lay your filling in prettily, put it in a ziplock bag and cut the corner off, so you can pipe it in, exactly where you want it to be, like a cake decorator does.
Hey, it looks like we are eating cheese burst cake. beautiful
thank you for sharing
Chose to make this for my daughter’s birthday and it was a hit! Everybody loved it.
Hi Tessa. Just made this yesterday afternoon. It was fun to make. May I suggest something to readers.? When ready to put cake batter in bundt pan, I used a small ladle. Get your favorite ladle and put part of cake batter in pan. Then I used a spoon to put the filling in. I made a well with the small spoon all the way around the pan. Fill it with the filling. Then back to ladle to add rest of cake batter. Now, for me, and husband, there is a lot of chocolate going on, I really couldn’t taste the cheesecake batter with the cake. I needed a stronger flavor. But, it looks pretty. I would give this recipe 4 stars, because the cheesecake batter wasn’t strong enough, cannot taste it. Have fun making this!
The cake is very moist and delicious. Can i use the same quantity if i want o use a round tin instead of a bundt tin? what size round tin do you recommend and how long should i cook it for?
Will this work to make into cupcakes. Looks divine but I need to make cupcakes
Thank you for your blog. Love it
Hi tessa! Can i make this ahead? How do i store it if it will be consumed the next day?
I gave it a try and it is simply amazing. For a chocolate and cheesecake lover like me this is the perfect combination of both.
I was looking at similar recipes on Pinterest and found a cream cheese filling that was the same except it called for 2 TBS instead of 2 tsp of flour. Maybe that is why so many people who made this had a runny cream cheese filling??? My oven is just 2 years old, it took me 65 minutes to cook this bundt cake @ 350′.
I used my original bundt pan from the 70’s and it also ran over. Next time I will not fill the pan so full.
My cake came out great after setting for 10 minutes after baking. I brushed the bundt pan completely with soft butter, floured generously, and gently shook out the excess flour.
I tried this today and it was AMAZING! And the smell! 😀 Thank you <3
Your PINTEREST BUTTON doesn’t work. Can you fix it so I can pin this recipe and others.
Just made this last weekend and it was outstanding! My cheesecake layer was a little thinner but still a great contrast for such a moist deep chocolate cake, and the ganache was the perfect compliment. I will definitely be trying your other recipes.
Thank you Tessa
Turned out well though not as pretty as the picture. My cream cheese was not all encased in the chocolate. But it’s delicious and was a hit at my daughter’s birthday party.
Prep time of 20 min….lol. Took me about 45! Baking right now, pretty sure the cream cheese filling won’t be a surprise on my cake, unless the glaze covers it up. It was impossible for me to not let that amount of filling get to the edges. Crossing my fingers for something that turns out! Planning to store in the freezer for a day as I needed to make it 1.5 days ahead of time and glaze the day of.
Did the folks whose filling was a bit thin use fat free cream cheese? That will make a huge difference in the consistency.
Hello, i tried making this cake twice now. Both times following your directions. The first time i baked it it was late and i left it cool in the pan overnight. When i took it out in the morning, half the cake was stuck in my pan. I thought it was because i left it in the pan too long. This time i baked it and turned it out after 10 minutes like the recipe states and it still cracked and could not be used. I sprayed pan both times really good, please help!
Sounds like your bundt pan isn’t nonstick, or maybe its nonstick coating has lost its effectiveness? I’d try greasing it in every cranny with the spray by using a pastry brush. It may just be time for a new pan?
Hi! The cake looks so delish! I will try it this weekend for my brother-in-law’s birthday. I was thinking of baking it in a regular round pan instead of a bundt pan. Can I use a regular round pan and what size should I use? Thank you!
Hello! This recipe was specifically developed for a bundt pan, so I’m not sure if or how another size & shape of pan will work. If you give it a try let us know how it goes!
I’d love to know if you tried this out with a regular round cake tin since that’s all I’ve got and am wondering if it would work.
I like to print out the recipes I try out, but when I printed the bundt cake recipe something weird happened. I jumped to the recipe and clicked on print. The version that printed out was missing several sentences which caused me to panic a bit when I went to make the cake and there was nothing mentioned about where to add the eggs and sour cream! I did manage to figure it out. The printed version on paper did NOT match what my print screen showed—never saw this before. Looked like you edited the recipe to fix it, for the print version, but did not “save”. Hope no one else struggled with the recipe because of this.
This cake is really good. I reduced about 1/2 cup of the sugar as we don’t really like too sweet. It turned out well. Did not have problem with the cheese filling. It set well after the cake is cooled. The batter is a lot I had to make some into mini muffin. This recipe is a keeper. Tq for sharing your wonderful recipe Tessa.