chocolate bundt cake

I bought a bundt cake pan the other day, so it was time to test it out.

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. It’s a good site, especially because it has a calculator right on the screen. Just put in the number of servings, and it re-calculates the recipe for you. Of course, since I was making cake, there was no need for this feature this time, but nice to know it’s there. Also, I had to choose a chocolate or chocolate chip cake because I am, after all, a chocoholic. This cake recipe was easy, and I am glad I found it because most of the other recipes I found involved cake mix and sour cream, and I wanted one that was made entirely from scratch. I had a slightly smaller pan (9 inches vs 10) but I think it’ll be okay. It takes a little over an hour to bake, so I am typing this while waiting for it to come out of the oven. (Pictures obviously added later.) I made the recipe almost exactly as on the site, but instead of shortening, I used all butter. This resulted in 3 sticks of butter, but that just adds more flavor and richness. I thought about adding in chocolate chips as well, but I wanted to see how it came out first, and will maybe add them next time.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 eggs
• 1 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, shortening, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add flour mixture alternately with the milk. Mix well.
3. Pour into 10 inch Bundt pan. Bake at 325 F (165 degrees C) for 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. 

Pretty straight forward, simple recipe. I can’t wait to try a piece!

I tried some and it is good and moist. Not much of a chocolate flavor, though. I guess using all butter instead of some butter, some shortening changed that because the shortening would have let the chocolate shine through more. I guess I will add chocolate chips next time. Or, I can make a vanilla cake with chocolate chips, hmm…