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.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
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.
Hi Tessa!
Great looking yummy cheesecake filled chocolate bundt cake! I find 12 servings is too much unless I am baking for a large get together. Can I divide this recipe in half and make it in a 6 cup bundt pan? Also what would the baking time be? Thanks for answering my questions!
I’m not sure, Melanie. Never tried that. I would start at half and just keep a watchful eye on it with a cake tester close by. Good luck!
I was glad to see some other comments about the bake time. I’m at about 65 minutes and counting. Smells great, though 🙂
The cake is baking in the oven. I am going to serve it tomorrow evening at my dinner party. Should I go ahead and glaze it tonight or wait until tomorrow afternoon? Should I refrigerate it?
Hi, Pam! I’m sorry I can’t always get to comments every day. I hope it all turned out 🙂 It should have worked either way, but I’d recommend refrigerating after glazing.
I have made this cake twice in the past three weeks. I have read where people have had trouble with this recipe with interest. I just made my second one, which is sitting on the counter ready to be enjoyed at our Easter family dinner tomorrow. It is truly one of the moistest cakes we have ever eaten. Now, here comes the truth. I used a boxed-mix, only I added the sour-cream to the mix. Followed the rest of your directions. Oh, one more thing I did differently was I used ready made icing that I micro-waved to thin it out and drizzled over the cooled cake twice! OMG! The cream-cheese filling is delicious…
Cake complete have not tried but the cheesecake part was very runny and it was not over beaten. The glaze us not thick either. Is the recipe missing something? Smells good.
I baked the cake, and it turned out great. Everyone could not stop raving about it. The only problem I had though, was when I removed the bunt pan from the oven for the cake to cool, the cake collapsed a little bit. How can I prevent this from happening?
Made this for my daughter-in-law’s birthday and family get together. It is a beautiful and delicious decadent cake and a recipe I will repeat often for my chocolate-lover family members.
Wonderful, Donna! Happy to hear it.
Hi Tessa! I am somewhat new to your site, I found you through your homemade fudge round recipe (that was fantastic by the way!) My cake is currently in the oven, however, I am having the same issues as many others above, and I am not exactly a novice baker. My cheesecake mix was very runny. About twice as liquidy as a regular cheesecake mix. I am wondering your thoughts on this. Do you think maybe it is over-mixing? Or could it be the egg and vanilla ratio to the flour and cream cheese? My last thought was temperature, maybe the cream cheese should start out on the colder side of room temperature, rather than actual room temperature. I also used a room temperature egg, I grabbed it from the pile of other room temperature eggs. I would love to know your thoughts! Thanks!
I don’t have espresso powder, any recommendations? I hate to have to buy ingredients I will only use once.
You can just omit it!
Wonderful recipe! Thank you so much. The filling dropped a bit but does not affect the taste or appearance of the cake. Baking time was 80 minutes as opposed to 50 but every oven is different. It really is delicious as well as beautiful and I will definitely make it again.
I made this today for my husband’s birthday. The cake came out really delicious and moist. However, I was disappointed in how the cheesecake part came out. In the picture, there’s a nice portion of cheesecake. But in my cake, the cheesecake portion is maybe half as thick as in the picture. Maybe next time I will double the cheesecake portion of the recipe. The chocolate part of the cake is yummy, though! Dense, yet still fluffy and very moist! Glaze is great and shiny.
May I ask, what size bundt form did you use?
Wanted to surprise my wife for her birthday so my sons and I followed this to the letter and the unveiling was a disaster! Some came out then more came out then half the cheesecake came out… What a lame recipe