Whole Grain Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache Recipe
Most days I am a cheerleader for plant foods in their simplest form. I believe kale’s hype and I think too much turmeric is a good thing. But I warned you that this was coming. We are going to take a brief break from carrots and millet to celebrate the day of chocolate. I mean the day of love for chocolate. I mean the day of love. Which should include chocolate.
People often ask me if I regularly serve dessert after dinner. Definitely not. We never eat dessert on a weekday, and if the kids are hungry for something sweet after dinner they’ll grab a piece of fruit. There are so many occasions for sweets and those times should be special. Valentine’s Day is a special day and my kids know that no matter on what day of the week Valentine’s Day falls, there will be a special dessert and it will most definitely involve chocolate.
I made these flourless chocolate cakes with raspberry sauce for years and last year I made these chocolate chip “cookie dough” bites. But this year, I’m going big with this incredible chocolate bundt cake with ganache and raspberries galore. I actually taught this cake in my December classes and Jenni Kayne already posted it on her website, but you know I like to share my own thoughts about my recipes.
Like most of my desserts, this one uses whole grain flour and arrowroot powder (to keep things light) and unrefined sugar. I have of course tested a gluten-free, dairy-free version. Believe me when I tell you that you’ll love this cake any which way you try it. It is moist and unapologetically chocolaty — chocolate cake with chocolate chips with a rich chocolate ganache. The I fill the cavity of the cake with loads of fresh raspberries which is a great friend of chocolate. If you can find freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries, they make the most perfect natural sprinkles! As my students said in December, this cake is a showstopper! I mean, look at that ganache!
I think you could also make this in mini bundt pans and how cute would that be? I have made this cake the day before serving and it sits perfectly well NOT covered in ganache, but wrapped well in plastic wrap. The next day, unwrap and drizzle away.
Let’s just try to keep this cake to special occasions, though. Because even though we’ve got whole grain flour and unrefined sugar happening here, it’s still a cake and not a salad so we can’t lose our minds. But we also have to enjoy our lives for goodness sake and I think a slice of this deliciousness will make anyone’s Valentine’s Day pretty fantastic.
I mean….just look at that!
- Cake:
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature + extra for greasing pan
- 1 ½ cups muscovado sugar or unbleached cane sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
- 6 Tablespoons arrowroot powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Ganache:
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (1 ½ cups)
- ½ cup full-fat coconut milk, well-shaken
- 1 Tablespoon unrefined virgin coconut oil
- pinch of sea salt
- Suggested garnishes:
- Fresh raspberries, pomegranate seeds, crushed freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries or crushed macaroons
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch bundt or tube pan with butter.
- In a medium bowl, combine boiling water and cocoa powder. Whisk until the mixture is completely smooth. Set aside to cool and stir frequently to cool down more quickly.
- In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, arrowroot, baking soda and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, add half of flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and buttermilk. Then add the remainder of the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Lower temperature to 325 degrees and continue baking until cake is set and a tester comes out clean, about 15-20 more minutes. Check the cake early in case your oven runs hot.
- Cool cake for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely before adding ganache.
- To make the ganache: in a double boiler or heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt together the chocolate, coconut milk and coconut oil. Whisk until completely smooth.
- Drizzle ganache over top of cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Garnish cake as desired.
For a dairy-free version: omit the butter and sub 1 cup room temperature coconut oil; omit the buttermilk and sub 1 ½ cups plain unsweetened hemp milk + 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar. Also look for certified dairy-free chocolate.
To make a chocolate mint ganache, add ⅛ teaspoon of pure peppermint extract to the ganache mixture.
16 Comments
My husband doesn’t like the taste of coconut oil. What can i use in the ganache to replace coconut oil? He loves chocolate.
You can use an equal amount of butter or refined coconut oil since it doesn’t have a coconut flavor.
Dumb question. Can I use cacao powder simultaneously in your recipes that call for cocoa? Also, your buttermilk trick is 3/4c plain yogurt & 3/4c of whole milk? Thank you! I adore your blog!
It’s a great question! Yes, cacao is an acceptable swap. IT’s just more expensive so I tend to use it in raw recipes. And yes, you can use 3/4 cup plain yogurt + 3/4 cup whole milk in place of the 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.
I just made this cake and it didn’t come out of the bundt mold, the mold has very sharp edges so it’s a hard mold to begin with. In my case, the chocolate chips melted into the crevices of the mold and got stuck there. Should I try the recipe without the chocolate chips?
Yes, I would do that next time. The bundt pans with lots of crevices can be difficult to work with. Also try greasing with melted butter and a pastry brush. Allow the butter to solidify on the sides of the pan before adding the batter. If you think your pan is very stubborn, you can also try flouring it after greasing it. Just tap the excess flour out before adding the batter so it doesn’t give a white coating on the cake.
Hi,
I made this for a Christmas gathering. Taste was wonderful, but the cake both stuck to the pan and didn’t hold together well. Next time I’ll grease and flour the pan. Any ideas as to why it didn’t hold together?
Thanks for your great recipes.
Bundt pans need to be greased very well. I would use more butter next time. You can flour it too for extra insurance, but there may be traces of the flour on the cake when you turn it out. I’m sure the ganache will cover it though. I never had any issues with the cake not holding together though. It should be allowed to cool completely before cutting it.
I made the cake yesterday and wrapped it in plastic wrap like you recommended. It looks amazing and it was so hard not to try it right away!. I was wondering how early in the day I can make the ganache and drizzle it on the cake to serve tonight. Does the ganache firm up like a regular ganache or stay soft? Thank you!
Hi! Sorry for the late reply. You could have done the ganache at any point today and drizzled it on. It stays somewhat soft. I hope you enjoyed it!
I love your blog and read it weekly. The chocolate cake looks amazing. This is the second bundt cake recipe I have found and wanted to try; however, I do not own a bundt pan. Any recommendations for a line of bakeware (looking to replace other pans too) that does not have non-stick coating? I have been doing a lot of looking online but have yet to find a non-non-stick bundt pan. Thanks!
Thank you, Elizabeth! I cannot find a bundt pan that is not non-stick. I have an old angel food cake pan from the seventies that I believe is stainless, but I haven’t seen anything else. Considering how often I make bundt cakes, I don’t worry about it.
Chocolate is a separate food group for me! This looks wonderful and can’t wait to try it!
It’s the best chocolate cake, I swear! And I consider chocolate its own food group, too!
Oh wow. Just wow. Love this!!
Thank you! I hope you give it a go!