Death By Chocolate Cake

Yum

Chocolate means different things to different people. To some, chocolate is a flavor choice. You know– vanilla or chocolate? Hmm. Let me think. To others, chocolate is a favorite flavor– you know. “I like all flavors but chocolate is my favorite.” These people have their own category– “I like chocolate.”

But then, there are others. Other, darker, more fiendish chocolate devotees.

These are the ones for whom chocolate is more of, oh . . . a religion? A cult? A goddess? hehe. They slip off to dreamland, only to be awakened by the whisper of chocolate from downstairs. “Darling? It’s me. Slip down here and spend some time with me. It’s been too long.” And when those devilishly dark chocolate thoughts hit, this is the cake you want downstairs, in the kitchen, calling your name. It is the most decadent, moist, delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever had, and my personal favorite. Make it once . . . dream of it always. 😉

What are we waiting for? Let’s do this!

Ingredients:

1 Duncan Hines dark chocolate fudge cake mix

1 (3.9 oz) package instant chocolate pudding

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

1 (12 oz.) bag chocolate chips

Chocolate Ganache Topping

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Whisk together cake mix, pudding, eggs, water, and oil until well combined. Stir in sour cream and fold in chocolate chips. Pour into buttered/floured bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for roughly 45-50 minutes, or until cake springs back lightly when touched. Do not overbake. Invert and allow to cool completely before drizzling with ganache (microwave ganache ingredients in 30 second increments, stirring each time, just until melted) and serving.

Now, in pictures! 🙂

This cake is so easy– and soon you will see!

It’s done in a flash, leaving so much time free! 🙂

Seriously. This cake is a cake mix in its Sunday best. From the first moment I tried this divine chocolate beauty, I fell in love. You *can* use any chocolate cake mix, but I absolutely recommend the Duncan Hines dark chocolate fudge cake mix. That is all I ever use, and it really does make the cake extra decadent and rich. In fact, when Duncan Hines cake mixes go on sale at the grocery store, I buy a few dark chocolate ones ahead, especially for this recipe. 😉 And this cake is so quick to mix up, and so delicious, that you just may find yourself bringing it to every get together as your signature chocolate cake. 😉 I won’t tell how easy it is, if you don’t. 😉

Start out by whisking together your cake mix, pudding, eggs, water, and oil. Bwahaha. The directions are so simple, it’s laughable. It seriously takes like 1 minute to make this cake. So while we are waiting and pretending to study this “recipe,” let me tell you where it came from.

When I was a kid, there was a big yard sale each year in a community near our house called Shadowood. There was one house in the development where a lady made this divine chocolate cake to sell at the yard sale each year. We kids looked forward to this cake all year and went to the yard sale with Mom solely for the purpose of imbibing our yearly chocolate fix. 😉 One sad year the lady told us this was her last hurrah–she was moving, and she would miss the kids each year who raced to her house to get a bite of this chocolate beauty. 😉 My mom asked her for the recipe. The lady quoted it from memory, and my Mom scribbled it down on a scrap piece of paper. Seriously. And the rest is history. We call it “Shadowood Chocolate Cake” to this day, and it’s still a favorite of my siblings and me. 😉

There. We bought a few minutes with the story, so that our tutorial extends past the 1 minute mark. Haha. Let’s finish this baby up. You need this chocolate cake in your life. 😉 Fold in your sour cream and chocolate chips. Done. I won’t tell if you don’t. 😉

Death By Chocolate Cake

The hardest part of this cake is preparing your bundt pan. I have a bit of a bundt addiction. A bid of a bundt. “Big BAD BUNDT!!” haha. Bodacious bundt? *thoughtful face* Anyway, I just love ’em. They make any cake recipe more fun.

Death By Chocolate Cake

The best bundt pans, in my humble opinion, come from the legendary Nordic Ware. They actually invented the bundt pan back in 1950, and in my opinion their quality and style selection is still unrivaled. When you are preparing a bundt pan for baking, use a paper towel to rub butter into every crack and crevice of the pan. Then use a flour duster to gently dust a layer of flour all over the butter, without globbing. Tap the floured pan over the trash to make sure that you get the extra flour out. And voila. Ready to bake.

Death By Chocolate Cake

Bake your cake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, just until the top springs back lightly when pressed. A toothpick will show a few moist crumbs but should not have any liquid batter or you might need a few more baking minutes. Just be careful with this cake– there is a lot of chocolate in there, and if you accidentally “pierce” a molten chocolate chip when you try the toothpick test, you might think the cake isn’t done, when it actually is. It is a travesty to overbake this moist, gorgeous beauty, so I suggest just gently touching the top of the cake after 45 minutes. If it springs back, the cake is done. If it presses in and leaves an indent, without springing back, then give it 5 more minutes and check again.

When the cake is done, carefully invert your bundt pan onto a cooling rack and (hopefully) see your perfect, gorgeous bundt smiling back at you. To make the ganache topping, just microwave your chocolate and heavy cream in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each heat *just* until melted (does not need to be hot). Drizzle the ganache over your finished, cooled cake. Cut yourself a big, decadent slice and pour a tall, frosty glass of milk. Somehow, it just works. I suppose childhood classics are classic for a reason. 😉

You did it. And I’m just so proud of you! 🙂

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