This is heaven! Thanks to other reviewers' comments, I made one major change. This is a lot of batter, and it would have overflowed my pan and been a disaster. So: I filled the Bundt pan to within 1.5" of the top and put the remaining in an 8 x 8 pan. I kept the baking time the same. They both turned out beautifully, and everyone raved! Also, I used 1/2 tsp. almond extract, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, which was great; and I used 12 oz. of mini chocolate chips (the regular-size chips would be too overpowering, too chunky). This is the best chocolate cake I've ever, ever had. One small slice is very rich (and addictive). I will definitely be making this a lot. It's really easy, too. Just be sure to really grease (butter) the Bundt pan. I did (I even had a Teflon Bundt pan, and stuff still sticks) and the cake slipped out wonderfully. Presentation is gorgeous: I swirled chocolate sauce on the plate, dusted it with confectioners' sugar, which I had also used to dust the top of the cake; and served with a small side of best-quality vanilla ice cream.
I made this cake twice and the first time it flopped. I read through reviews with one star and found mine flopped exactly the way others did. It fell after being taken out of the oven and was a gooey mess. So I spoke to someone who does cake making professionally and to make a long story short I found I had overprocessed it. I use a kitchenaid mixer which is more powerful than a hand held and I used the whisk attachment instead of the paddle attachment. So when I remade it I followed her instructions which were to mix the eggs, sour cream, butter, and vanilla together really well. Then I sifted the cake mix and pudding together and added the wet ingredients to dry and processed it for 2 min with the paddle attachment. This time I was successful. It made a very rich very chocolaty cake. My friend also said another reason cakes fall is the oven is not hot enough and so check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer and make sure the temperature isn't too low.
This cake was fantastic. A personal tip that I think would have helped all of the folks that had so much trouble . . . make sure you buy cake mix that DOES NOT already have pudding in the mix. I bet some people accidentally had double the pudding. Some other people's tips that I followed - 1 Tblsp of flour mixed in the mini chips before adding to batter. Really butter the non-stick bundt pan and leave 1 1/2 inches space between batter and top of pan. There will be batter left over. Vanilla instead of almond extract. Ovens vary so watch the cake carefully - mine was done in 60 minutes. Let the cake rest for 10 minutes and you will notice it falling significantly. That is supposed to happen. That's why the cake turns out so dense and fudgy! We drizzled the cake with a dark chocolate ganache and filled the center hole with fresh raspberries and chocolate leaves. It looked like something from Better Homes and Gardens! My 8 year old son won Most Chocolatey Cake at his Cub Scout cake auction. It also set a record for most money paid for a cake - $31.00!
I read many review on this recipe before I tried it. I took many of the recommendations listed and for those of you who have yet to try this recipe, I will share with you the success I had with this wonderful cake (so you don't have to waste time reading them)! First, I did use an angel food cake pan so that I wouldn't have the overflow problem. I sprayed it with cooking spray and floured it to prevent sticking. I had absolutely no trouble getting it out of the pan. I did bake in a dark (non stick coated)pan and had to decrease the oven temp. to 325. I increased the baking time to about 65 minutes. I used 2c. MINI chocolate chips that I mixed with 1 T. flour before mixing them into the batter. I used the vanilla instead of almond extract. When I took the cake out of the oven, I let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then inverted it onto a plate. It came out perfect. I made a chocolate glaze (which I chose from this website) and poured over while still hot. I allowed it to cool completely before serving. All the members of my family of 5 were in agreement that this recipe deserves a 10+ rating!!I'm sure I will be using it many times over. Enjoy!
5-STAR all-the-way! I followed the recipe exactly, except I made these subsitutions:
*Mini dark-chocolate chips (tossed in 1 tbsp of flour) as opposed to the reg. choc. chips
And added:
*The "Satiny Chocolate Glaze" (recipe from allrecipes.com) and drizzled it on the cake
*Mixed reg. and white choc. chips together (1 cup each) and sprinkled over the icing, before the glaze set
*NOTE!!!!! I do not have a bundt pan nor an Angel food cake pan. INSTEAD-I bought a "Flex Form" silicone pinwheel cake pan from Walmart for 6.99. and thoroughly greased and floured it.
After the cake cooled, the sides virtually rolled down and the cake was absolutely perfect.
With or without the icing and choc. chips, this recipe is simply outstanding.
VERY IMPORANTANT SIDE NOTES: I added sliced strawberries inside the middle hole of the cake, thus, refridgeration was required. This somewhat altered the texture and taste, which was very disappointing. Plus, the next day, the berries were wilting and obviously changed the appearance. Next time, I will not refridgerate the cake, and the berries will be kept separately and cut just before serving. DO NOT forget the powdered sugar, which adds class to every dessert.
LOW FAT SUBSITUTIONS: I have tried this recipe one time with egg whites and low fat sour cream. It was decent, but not as decadent as with the real thing.
I'm neither a dessert lover nor a cake lover but his recipe takes the cake! It's easy to make even a non-baker like me gets it right every time. I bake this in an angel food pan and then top it off with a chocolate ganache made by heating one cup whipping cream removing from the heat and stirring in one cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate. Stir till smooth. Pour on top of the cake and let it drizzle down the sides. Refrigerate and talk about decadent!
This cake is incredible! I make a lot of different cakes for work and my co-workers tell me this one is the best yet. I decided to sprinkle powdered sugar over the top and then drizzled Hershey's Double Chocolate Sundae Syrup over it when it was cool to make it look better. Hint: When you are baking it put a cookie sheet underneath because it overflows a bit.
Can't think of a more rich dense chocolatey cake that I've had! All I had was fat free sour cream but it turned out just fine. I had to bake it longer than 55 minutes because it was so dense. Thanks for the recipe!
Excellent and simple to make cake. I warmed up my slice in the microwave to soften up the chocolate chips for about 20 seconds and it was great. I would say you could even omit the chips and it would still be very good.
This recipe produced so much batter it overflowed from my 10 inch bundt pan while baking. The taste was good- very fudgy but not any better than the standard "Chocolate Better Than Sex Cake" which uses only 1 cup of sour cream and 4 eggs.
