Chocolate Espresso Bundt Cake
How do you turn a simple box of regular old cake mix into a moist, Chocolate Espresso Cake that tastes like a delicious Starbucks infused, bundt cake? Simple, follow the directions below to really jazz up a plain, box mix into something SPECTACULAR! Super simple and easy to make for a quick birthday cake or potluck, especially when drizzled with Chocolate Ganache.
Read on to figure out how to redeem a cake that sticks to the pan, coming out into a million pieces, into a tolerable birthday cake, just in time to fly out the door to Bible study on a cold winter night. Just keeping it real over here at Chez Baughn!
- 1 box Chocolate Cake Mix
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup strong espresso (or super strong coffee!)
- 1 cup buttermilk, or coconut or almond milk (or combination - 1 cup TOTAL!)
- 1 box pudding mix
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons Organic dark chocolate powder (we used Rapunzel brand)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a bundt pan, or 2 8-inch round cake pans. Set aside.
In a food processor, or mixing bowl, dump the cake mix, eggs, oil, milk and vanilla. Mix for 30 seconds to blend. Scrape sides of bowl down. Blend for another minute, scrape sides of bowl down. Blend 30 more seconds, the batter should be thick. Pour into prepared pans and bake as directed.
Bake 53-58 minutes in a bundt pan, or until toothpick inserted in center of bundt comes out clean. Cool cake for 10 minutes, then flip onto a platter.
Chocolate Ganache Frosting
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup whipping cream, coconut cream or almond milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
In a small saucepan, gently melt chocolate chips over low heat. Add 1/4 cup whipping cream, or if making a casein free ganache use coconut or almond milk. Stir frequently until melted. We use a mini wire whisk to keep things moving properly without burning. Add vanilla and stir. Let cool for a minute or two, thickening slightly.
Drizzle over cooled cake.
Can top with nuts, coconut, shaved chocolate or candies for additional flavor and beauty.
How to Fix a Cake Disaster
Or
How to Fix a Bundt Cake Disaster That Falls Apart into a Million Pieces and Get it To Bible Study on Time
Humility being our specialty - we are just going to admit how spectacular this cake ended up!
Well, as life would have it, we made this luscious Chocolate Espresso Bundt Cake in a hurry for a friends birthday. We decided at 3:30 to make it for our Precept Bible Study class that night, needing to leave at 6. Perhaps this was not the brightest, but it was the ideal birthday surprise!
We charged ahead without the pudding mix, since we did not have one on hand.
To make matters better, our can of non-stick spray was half full, but clogged and would not spray for the life of us. We cleaned it, soaked the top, and scrubbed it - to no avail. I finally gave up and threw it in the trash.
Thinking we could easily use coconut oil, I melted some VCO and generously greased my Pampered Chef Bundt Pan. It had worked many times before, so we happily mixed the cake and plopped it in the oven.
We had made this cake a dozen times before and it was always gorgeous and perfect.
But that was my night for humility.
When the cake came out of the oven - it looked fabulous, although a little lopsided on the bottom. Undeterred, I sliced off the bottom of it and well, we sampled it. That is right, Emily and I flat out gobbled it down, being on the grain free/sugar free diet (uh-hem).
We let the cake sit and rest for a few minutes, then tried to flip it.
Nothing.
Not worried in the least - we went around it with a knife, gently loosening the cake on both the inside and exterior of the bundt pan. Then flipped it again confidently.
Out popped the bottom half of the cake.
The top half, stubbornly stuck to the bundt pan. Emily painstakingly pried it off, section by section, trying to piece the cake back together.
Meanwhile, I ran around the kitchen vainly (emphasis on VAIN here) going thru the cupboards. If only we weren't on a gluten free, casein free, sugar free, grain free diet, I could fix this. If only I had INGREDIENTS and had a NORMAL kitchen.....I could fix this 20 ways. A disaster cake makes a beautiful layered trifle dessert, only we had nothing to convert it into a trifle.
Did I mention the book we are studying inductively, LAMENTATIONS??? I was certainly about to lament my paltry baking kitchen.
Sigh.
We would have to glue it together with ganache, then drizzle with ganache, then top with something to hopefully fool the eye! Yes, fool the eye, so they concentrate on the chocolate espresso lusciousness, not the million piece disaster!
I whipped up the ganache while Emily worked like Michaelangelo, trying to chisel David out of the remains of cake sticking stubbornly unto my well seasoned stone!
We glued some of the top pieces on with ganache, then I set about drizzling the ganache.
GOAL-> drizzle Chocolate Ganache to hide errors!
Once drizzled with ganache, it was a rather pitiful looking birthday cake. The temptation was to let pride rule and throw it in the trash! Or at least the back fridge. But we really wanted to take it for a surprise....decisions.
Realizing we had some EarthFare Coffee Truffles hiding in the back of the pantry, we pulled them out. I set Emily to slicing the truffles in an elegant steak knife slivered pattern (cuz we are nifty like that) while I placed them on the hot ganache.
The beautiful Coffee Truffles melted.
It was just NOT my night!
About that time, hubby called home and said that something was desperately WRONG with his truck, some weird noise, smelled like gas and he did not know if he would make it home.
So, we put the cake and worries about the truck aside, and went on with dinner prep, allowing the cake to cool. Waiting as long as we could, we finished placing the truffles on top of the cake. I threw the lid on it, and took it out to my freezing car, to let it finish cooling out there. If I had to go get Dave, I knew we would forget it.
Do you have days like this?
.....Dave made it home, we ate dinner, headed out the door and made it to Bible study in plenty of time.
Once we got there, we realized that we had forgotten a knife to cut it with, a spatula to serve it, plates and napkins and utensils....
Normally, I am such a planner!
But living in Tennessee, we have resourceful people with multiple talents that helped us pull it off! Justin got a big hunking knife out of the truck and brought it in to cut the cake. John found napkins to serve it on! Susan served it up and we were able to sing Happy Birthday to Gerald and hopefully - he somewhat enjoyed it!