If you're looking for the ultimate chocolate cherry dessert, this Bundt cake recipe is for you. The moist, decadent chocolate cake is stuffed with a cherry filling and topped with a sweet cream cheese glaze.
One of the few perks of being an adult is not having to save your best chocolate cake recipe for special occasions. Whole cakes can be consumed for no other reason than boredom. With this in mind, I highly encourage you to try this chocolate cherry Bundt cake ASAP.
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Cake Batter
When it comes to Bundt cakes, the type of cake batter used matters. Bundt cakes are relatively simple, they're beautiful, but the wrong batter can spell disaster. Dense cakes hold their shape better once removed from the Bundt cake pan. While it may be tempting to use a quick and easy Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix, the finished product may not come out the way you'd wanted. Larger grooves of the Bundt pan aside, intricate details within a pan will likely cause issues if using a light batters. I suggest steering clear of box cake mixes or sponge cakes for this reason.
Choosing a Pan
Now that you know what type of chocolate cake batter to use and which you should avoid, it's time to choose a pan. It's an important to note that the pan is literally the only thing that classifies a cake as a Bundt cake. If you already have a Bundt cake pan on hand, use it! I'm all about using the tools you already have in your possession. However, if you're looking to purchase a new one, here are some of my favourites.
- Nordic Ware Pro Cast Original Bundt Pan
- Nordic Ware Bavaria Bundt Pan
- Nordic Ware Platinum Collection Heritage Bundt Pan
Cream Cheese Glaze
While this chocolate cake recipe would be great topped with a vanilla glaze or a rich chocolate ganache, there's something about cream cheese that gets me every time. It's sweet, it's tangy, it's tasty, and the cream cheese mixture can be used in a variety of ways. Should you have any left, I recommend using it as a fruit dip!
Special Equipment
For this recipe, I suggest using the following equipment. Most of the list are likely items that you already have on hand.
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- 10-12 cup Bundt pan
- Wire rack
Ingredient List
The list of ingredients are simple are easily found at most grocery stores. I've listed a quick overview of the items needed for this recipe. For full measurements, see the recipe card at the end of this blog post.
- Unsalted butter
- Vegetable oil
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Cocoa powder
- Buttermilk
- Baking soda
- Kosher salt
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Cherry pie filling
Other Popular Chocolate Dessert Recipes
If you're a chocolate lover like I am, you may be looking to add more than one fun chocolate recipe to your arsenal. I highly recommend starting with these Double Chocolate Caramel Espresso Cookies. They're soft, chocolatey and the addition of espresso powder provides a little kick. Not into cookies? Try this Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tart. Not only is it beautiful, the combination of dark chocolate and raspberry is absolute perfection. It's pretty colour also works great for holidays like Valentine's Day.
Pro Tips When Baking a Bundt Cake
If this is your first time attempting a Bundt cake, I have good news: these cakes are relatively easy and look beautiful without much effort thanks to the pretty patterns of the pans. However, mishaps happen when baking, which is why I'm sharing a few pro tips to help you along. Below are suggestions that will maximize your success.
- Prep the pan properly. Take great care in preparing the pan as this will avoid your cake from sticking. This can be achieved by using a baking spray containing flour or by greasing your pan with shortening and dusting it with a tiny bit of flour. Don't miss the corners or sides of the pan.
- Soften the butter. This tip goes for all cake recipes really, however make sure your butter is room temperature before starting. It will be nearly impossible to achieve the desired batter consistency if you attempt creaming your wet ingredients with hard butter.
- No buttermilk, no problem. Fun fact: buttermilk can be made at home by combining regular milk with white vinegar. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar for every cup of milk and voila!
- Filling the center of the batter. If the recipe calls for a filling like as this Cherry Chocolate Bundt Cake does, I recommend starting by preparing the pan as advised above. Next, use a large spoon to spoon half the batter into the pan. Add the layer of filling over the batter, in this case cherry pie filling, and swirl it around with a knife. Finally, carefully spoon the remaining batter over the filling.
Scroll below for this Cherry Chocolate Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze recipe and if you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe!
Cherry Chocolate Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze
Equipment
- 1 Stand mixer or hand mixer
- 1 Bundt cake pan
Ingredients
For the cake
- ½ cup butter unsalted, softened
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs large
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 cup warm water
For the glaze
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup butter unsalted, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1-2 tablespoon Milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pray the Bundt pan with baking spray or grease with shortening and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk in eggs and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Add baking soda, all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, salt, vegetable oil, buttermilk and warm water. Whisk until smooth.
- Pour half of the chocolate cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Scoop the cherry pie filling over the layer of cake batter. Using a tooth pick of knife, gently swirl the pie filling. Pour the remainder of the chocolate batter over the cherry pie filling layer.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool Bundt cake in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the Bundt cake cools, prepare the cream cheese glaze. In a large bowl, combine butter and cream cheese until smooth with an electric mixer. Add confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time, whisking slowly with electric mixer. Add milk, one tablespoon at a time, as needed until desired consistency is achieved. Glaze should be thick but pourable. Cover and set aside.
- Once the Bundt cake has completely cooled, drizzle cream cheese glaze onto the top of the cake. Garnish with leftover cherry filling if desired. Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
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