Are you ready for cake? Because I’ve got cake! This classic Chocolate Sour Cream Doughnut Bundt Cake is a nod to that irresistibly glossy chocolate doughnut that calls to you from the doughnut shop case…
I aim to please here at the Great Island kitchen, and when a reader asks for a chocolate version to be next up in my popular series of doughnut bundt cakes, I oblige! I have to say it was a pretty good idea, you readers are so smart 🙂 I’m always open to suggestions…so let me know which doughnuts you crave in bundt cake form ~ drop them in the comments, I’m ready for #4!
My doughnut bundt cake series is growing
Here are others in the lineup, they’ve already gotten rave reviews :
- Apple Cider Doughnut Cake
- Glazed Old Fashioned Buttermilk Doughnut Bundt Cake
- Pumpkin Doughnut Cake
- Jelly Doughnut Bundt Cake
I think you can literally see how good this cake is…it’s chocolatey but not too rich, with a nice even ‘dough-nutty’ crumb. The sour cream and buttermilk make a nice tender cake. I use part oat flour just as I did in my previous doughnut bundt cakes, and I highly recommend you give it a try.
Why do I use oat flour in my doughnut bundt cake?
I’ve discovered that a combination of regular all purpose flour and oat flour results in a perfect cake crumb, along with an extra nutrition boost from the whole grain oats, and a lovely flavor. You can buy oat flour in most supermarkets, and you can always find it online.
How to make your own oat flour
If you’re interested, it’s super easy to make it yourself. See my post about How to Make Oat Flour for all the details!
Bundt cakes are cozy and casual
Bundts are great because you get the ‘wow’ factor of a fabulous cake without all the fuss of a traditional layer cake. This recipe is so easy, you’ll just whisk the dry, whisk the wet, and whisk the two together. Bake, cool, then slather it with ganache (that’s the fun part.)
My chocolate sour cream doughnut bundt cake looks and sounds extravagant, but honestly, it’s not overwhelmingly sweet or rich. I don’t recommend it as an after dinner type of dessert, it’s truly a brunch or coffee break treat, not over the top at all. It’s the perfect ‘what can I bring‘ recipe for a brunch, office party, book club, etc. The glossy glaze and chocolate sprinkles guarantee it a good reception.
kitchen tool spotlight: a great basic bundt pan
Bundt pans come in all sorts of wonderful shapes and sizes, which is great, except that you never know how your pan is going to work with a specific recipe. I like to use this one from Wilton which is a basic, all purpose pan that’s sturdy, nonstick, and a standard size.
There’s a time and place for intricate shapes, but the streamlined design of this pan will never let you down, and always releases the cake perfectly.
Cooking notes:
Sour cream and buttermilk make a tender, moist cake. You can substitute milk, but the end result will not be as moist. It’s the little things that make a cake special, like oat flour, sour cream, buttermilk, and, of course, chocolate ganache!
That little bit of espresso powder? It encourages the chocolate flavor to bloom. Find it with the regular coffees in your supermarket.
Chocolate Sour Cream Doughnut Bundt Cake
Equipment
- standard 10-12 cup bundt pan
Ingredients
dry ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
wet ingredients
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil, I use safflower or canola
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee, powder, not liquid
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
glaze
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 Tbsp corn syrup
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
garnish
- chocolate sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Prepare a bundt pan by carefully buttering the entire surface, and then dusting with flour. Shake off excess flour.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together in a another bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until just combined, don’t over mix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out without wet batter clinging to it. I always check my cakes on the early end, at 45 minutes. Give it a few extra minutes if it doesn’t quite look done.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Then invert the cake and then let cool completely before glazing. It helps to loosen the edges with a small spreading knife first. Go along the outside edges and also the inside tube edge, gently prying the cake away from the pan to loosen it.
- To make the glaze, put the chocolate and the corn syrup in a bowl. Heat the cream until it comes to a simmer, I do this by putting it into the microwave for one minute, you can do it in a small saucepan if you like. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Then stir until the mixture is creamy and glossy, with no lumps. If there is any remaining unmelted chocolate you can microwave it for a short 15 second burst to reheat the mixture. Let the ganache sit for a few minutes to thicken if it seems too thin.
- Pour the glaze evenly over the entire cake, and immediately shower with sprinkles.
Notes
- You might have noticed I left the nutmeg out of this cake, even though it was in both previous doughnut cakes…I think the flavor will get overpowered by the chocolate, but feel free to add it if you like.
- Use mini chocolate chips instead of sprinkles. You can even fold regular chocolate chips into the batter for a more ‘chocolatey’ cake.
Nutrition
Excellent, once again, tender texture and dense like a cake donut should be!
…side note, I mixed the (finely ground) oat flour in with the wet ingredients and let that part of the batter set for 18-20 minutes; I frequently bake for friends who have celiac’s and/or are gluten-intolerant and have learned the hard way that almost every single ‘non-wheat-flour’ batter should set for at least 15-20 minutes, this allows it to hydrate and (in almost every instance) prevents / eliminates that horrible granular-gritty texture which is in most commercially baked gluten-free products.
(my current nemesis is ‘rice flour’ which I always find grainy, gritty, and quite frankly, blehk…heavy sigh) Anyway, enjoy baking!
Love that tip, thanks so much! I just bought rice flour for a cracker recipe I’m working on, I’ll use it with caution!
I frequently use your site for amazing recipes, hoping this beauty of a Bundt cake would be the same. I made the oat flour in a good blender, and even sifted dry ingredients, but found I didn’t care for texture. Can oat flour be omitted? Also, flavour seemed flat, even with expresso grounds; any thing I might be able to perk flavour up, besides adding more cocoa? The ganache was the hit, which tempted more hands to eat the cake, but I will have to improve the flavours somewhat.
Sorry this didn’t measure up for you Andrea. You can definitely leave out the oat flour and just use more regular flour. You might consider using cake flour, that gives a nice texture as well. You can up the espresso powder to a tablespoon, and maybe even add a tablespoon of vanilla for extra flavor.
Yours is a favorite website for choosing recipes to bake items for the commercial kitchen I work out of. Unfortunately, THIS particular cake turned out mealy-textured from the ground Quaker oats I incorporated; The cake tasted downright bitter. It was something that a vegan-type might have preferred because of the inclusion of ground oats, but I had to throw the whole cake, chocolate iced and all. What a disappointment!!! I simply could NOT risk putting it out in the Deli case for people to purchase!
I’m thrilled that you find so many of my recipes work for your commercial kitchen, and sorry this one didn’t meet your expectations. I wonder if your oats weren’t ground finely enough, that could account for a texture change.
Just made your old fashioned doughnut Bundt cake — big hit. I’d like to now make this chocolate Bundt cake. I have begun measuring flour by weight (gms) rather than volume. When I use the “lightly scoop and level” method, 1 cup of flour weighs 138 gms. King Arthur uses 120 gms per cup. What weight would *you* recommend? (For your old fashioned cake I split the difference…) Giving this chocolate cake 5 stars based on your ingredients & how good the old fashioned Bundt cake turned out.
Hi Barbara! I measure 1 cup of flour at 125 grams. Thanks for your support, and hope you love this cake too!
Thank you for such a prompt response! Will adjust the recipe accordingly.
BTW, I brush my Nordicware pan with a mixture of 2 Tbsp melted butter + 2 Tbsp cocoa powder for a different choco bundt cake I make (no problem with releasing), so will try that with this recipe.
Love your recipes. Can you please tell me whether Dutch processed or just unsweetened cocoa powder is used for this recipe ? Does it matter which I use? Thank you.
It doesn’t matter, you can use any type of unsweetened cocoa powder, but I used regular cocoa powder.