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 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.