Making a bundt cake is a do or die event – it can be a fabulous success or equally a dismal disaster. Last week I decided to make a bundt cake to celebrate the birthday of one of the team members and fortunately it was a success.

The recipe is taken from the Delicious web site: https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/chocolate-and-soured-cream-bundt-cake-with-ganache-topping/

 

Ingredients for cake

200 g butter, softened

100 g good quality (70%) dark cooking chocolate, chopped

55 g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

300 g plain flour

160 ml sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

80 mL boiling water

400 g castor sugar

3 medium size eggs at room temperature

 

Ingredients for ganache

70 g good quality (70%) dark cooking chocolate, chopped

150 ml double cream

 

1. Preheat oven to 170°C (150°C for a fan forced oven). Melt some extra butter and generously brush a 2.4 litre bundt tin, making sure all the lines and corners of the bundt tin are covered well with the butter.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda and salt into a clean bowl.
3. Melt the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. When melted, remove the bowl from the pot and sift in the cocoa powder. Add the vanilla extract and then add the sour cream alternating with the boiling water in 2-3 lots, stirring well after the addition of each ingredient.
4. Use electric beaters to cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl, until pale and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6. Stir in the chocolate mixture until well combined, but don’t over mix.
7. Fold the flour mixture into the liquid mixture using a metal spoon.
8. Pour the mixture into the prepared bundt tin and bake for around 55 minutes or  a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven and leave in tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
10. To make the ganache, combine the chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. The ganache can be cooled slightly before pouring over the bundt cake or hot if serving immediately
11. Use a warm knife to cut the cake cleanly.

 

Tips

I tried a tip I had read for a successful bundt and it seemed to work. After buttering the tin generously, put the bundt tin in the fridge until ready to fill with the cake batter.