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.
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?