Chocolate Bundt Cake

4.91 from 86 votes
277 Comments

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This Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe is rich, moist, and delicious! Our recipe tastes just like the cake you can get at the popular Nothing Bundt Cakes shop, but at a fraction of the price.

Spatula removing a slice of Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake.
Featured with this recipe
  1. A Nothing Bundt Cake Chocolate Chocolate Chip Recipe
  2. Ingredients in Chocolate Bundt Cake
  3. Secret to a Moist Cake
  4. Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting
  5. Frequently Asked Questions
  6. Nothing Bundt Cake Copycat Recipes
  7. More Chocolate Cake Recipes
  8. How to Make Chocolate Bundt Cake
  9. Chocolate Bundt Cake (Nothing Bundt Cake Copycat Recipe) Recipe

This Chocolate Bundt Cake is rich, moist, easy to bake and fun to serve! Perfect for any birthday party, anniversary gathering, backyard picnic or Sunday dinner. Take some help from the store with a boxed cake mix and add a few simple ingredients to make it taste especially homemade and delicious. Top with our luscious cream cheese frosting for a show stopping centerpiece that everyone will love.

A Nothing Bundt Cake Chocolate Chocolate Chip Recipe

There are few things I love more than a Nothing Bundt Cake. If you have one nearby, you know what I’m taking about. They are dense and moist and delicious, but they are also a little pricey. You can make this bundt cake for much less than the cost of one at the store. And I guarantee you have most of these ingredients already in your fridge and pantry.

This chocolate bundt cake recipe tastes just like the real thing – plus you can steal a taste of the cake batter and eat as much frosting as you want. I won’t tell!

Ingredients in Chocolate Bundt Cake

Save tons of money by making this copycat recipe yourself. Here’s all you need for a perfectly rich and delicious chocolate bundt cake:

  • Devil’s Food cake mix – one box of your favorite brand. Make sure to use the devil’s food cake mix instead of regular chocolate cake mix.
  • Chocolate pudding mix – one 3.4 ounce box INSTANT pudding mix.
  • Sour cream – one cup of regular sour cream. You can also use plain greek yogurt if you like.
  • Eggs – four large whole eggs
  • Water – about half a cup
  • Vegetable oil – half cup
  • Mini chocolate chips – one and a half cups. Add more as a garnish on top of the frosting too!

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

  • Cream cheese – two packages of 8-ounce cream cheese, softened to room temperature.
  • Butter – one cube, or half a cup, also softened. Remove the butter and cream cheese from the refrigerator abut a half hour before making the icing.
  • Powdered sugar – 3 to 4 cups, depending on how thick you like your frosting.
  • Vanilla extract – a couple of teaspoons of pure vanilla extract add such a rich flavor to the cream cheese frosting.
Side view of a Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake slice.


Secret to a Moist Cake

I have tried my hand at several bundt cakes and this truly is the best chocolate bundt cake recipe. What separates this cake from others that I’ve tried is how moist it is. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a cake as moist as this one.

The secret is adding instant pudding mix and sour cream to the mixture. And because you start with a devils food cake mix, it’s such an easy recipe to make. No worrying about the right amount of cocoa powder, baking soda, salt or all purpose flour. All of that is taken care of in the dry ingredients of the cake mix. All you have to do is whisk in the sour cream, water and oil in a large mixing bowl and you’re all set!

Don’t forget the chocolate chips, which adds an extra level of richness and chocolate flavor to the finished product. You could use milk chocolate or semi-sweet, whatever you have on hand.

Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting

You could top this chocolate cake with a simple glaze or a layer of ganache glaze, but if you want a true copycat recipe, you must try this rich cream cheese frosting. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to frost this cake like a pro! All you need is a Ziplock bag and some scissors. Put the frosting into the bag, cut a tiny hole in the bottom corner and get busy! Watch the video in the recipe card to see how it works.

Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake with a pom pom on top.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are bundt cakes different?

The way the pan is designed, round with a hole in the middle, the cakes come out very thick and moist. Unlike other cake pans, which allow for more expansion during the baking process, this pan keeps the batter from expanding, resulting in a moist, thick cake.

Do bundt pans need to be greased?

Yes! For best results, use baking spray or use a pastry brush to brush vegetable oil all over the inside of the bundt pan. That way the cake comes out in tact. Use a toothpick to check to see if it comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack until ready to frost.

How long to keep cake in bundt pan before removing?

Use a toothpick to check to see if it comes out clean. If it is, you’ll know the cake is done. Once it’s done, remove from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, but preferably closer to 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack until you’re ready to frost.

READ NEXT: 35+ Valentine’s Day Dessert Ideas

Nothing Bundt Cake Copycat Recipes

More Chocolate Cake Recipes

If you love chocolate cake you are in the right place! Check out some of our favorite cake recipes that make the perfect dessert for any occasion.

How to Make Chocolate Bundt Cake

Spatula removing a slice of Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake.

Chocolate Bundt Cake (Nothing Bundt Cake Copycat Recipe)

4.91 from 86 votes
This Chocolate Bundt Cake is rich, moist, and delicious! Our recipe tastes just like the cake you can get at the shop.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 16

Video

Equipment

  • Bundt Cake Pan
  • Electric Mixer
  • Mixing Bowls

Ingredients

Chocolate Cake

  • 1 (13.25-ounce) box devil's Food cake mix
  • 1 (3.4-ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 4 large eggs
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup oil
  • 1 ½ cups mini chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a standard Bundt cake pan. Set aside. Mix together cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, water, and oil. Stir in chocolate chips.
    Batter of Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake in a mixing bowl.
  • Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes.
    Top view of Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake batter in a Bundt pan.
  • Remove from oven. Let cool for 20 minutes.
    Baked Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake in a bundt pan.
  • Remove the cake from the Bundt pan by placing a plate upside down over the Bundt pan. While holding the plate firmly on top, flip both over so the cake comes out onto the plate. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge overnight before frosting.
    Unfrosted Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake on a cake plate.
  • In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the powdered sugar. Start with 2 cups, then keep adding more until it is nice and thick.
    Cream cheese frosting in a mixing bowl to frost the Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake
  • Spoon the frosting into a resealable zip-top gallon bag. Clip one bottom corner of the bag.
    Piping bag with cream cheese frosting for the Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake.
  •  Squeeze frosting out of the bag onto the cake in strips, as pictured.
    Side Close up view of a frosted Chocolate Nothing Bundt Cake with pom pom decoration.

Notes

*Prep time and cooking time does not include letting the cake refrigerate overnight.
For a true copycat recipe, frost with cream cheese frosting.
  • Place frosting in a Ziplock bag.
  • Cut a tiny hole in the bottom corner of the bag.
  • Frost cake in strips over the entire bundt cake.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 579kcalCarbohydrates: 64gProtein: 6gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 97mgSodium: 490mgPotassium: 182mgFiber: 1gSugar: 48gVitamin A: 745IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 112mgIron: 2mg

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About the author

Erica Walker

Erica lives in Boise, Idaho with her husband, Jared, an attorney, and her three beautiful girls. Beyond the world of recipes, she loves adventuring with everything from kayaking, to cruising, to snowboarding and taking the family along for the thrill ride.

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4.91 from 86 votes (42 ratings without comment)

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Comments

  1. 3 stars
    It certainly is a “nice cake” but side by side with a Nothing Bundt Cake, there is no comparison. Believe me, I wish it were as good, as I hate paying the $35.00 got the real cakes. The taste is very good, but the texture of the Nothing Bundt Cakes is superior – pure and simple. I made the recipe and followed the directions to a T, but it is not the same as the authentic cake.

  2. Salted or unsalted butter for the frosting? First time trying your recipes and I can’t wait to try them! THank you!

  3. HI,
    I would like to tell you how much I LOVE all of your Nothing Bundt Cake Recipes, I have tried most of them and enjoyed every one. I’m fixing to have a birthday and would like to make myself an Almond bundt cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting. My question is how can I by using your Nothing Bundt cake mix recipe into an Almond bundt cake?

  4. 5 stars
    Nothing bundt cakes are my sweet indulgence!! And, of course, the more chocolate the better!! Excited to make this whenever I am craving it!

  5. 1 star
    I have figured out after trying to bake this cake twice that the ratio of moist to dry ingredients is off. I would estimate the recipe requires additional flour (and a proportional amount of sugar) in order to bake properly. Otherwise, the cake falls and remains partially unbaked inside. I am going back to one of my original tried and true recipes for chocolate bundt cake.

    1. I’m so sorry this didn’t work for you. I’m not sure what is going on. I am at an elevation of 4,000 ft and have never had this recipe not turn out for me, and I have made it many, many times.

    2. 5 stars
      Hi Anne,

      I am wondering if you are in a high altitude and that might be affecting your results I have made 3 different flavors of the Nothing Bundt cakes (chocolate chocolate chip, lemon and red velvet) for a total of 6 cakes and they all turned out perfect. I use Duncan Hines cake mixes. Ensure that you are using instant pudding as well. I hope it is something like that so that you can enjoy the recipes!

  6. Why does this cake fall? I’ve made tons of bundt cakes over the years and I’ve never had one fall on me before. I’ve made this recipe twice. The first time, I substituted vegan sour cream and other vegan ingredients to accommodate someone with food allergies. I thought this might be the reason why the cake fell. The second time, I made the cake according to the recipe exactly, but it fell again. Any suggestions?

    1. I have never had this cake fall, so I don’t know what could be going wrong. Are you at a high elevation?

    1. You don’t have to refrigerate it overnight. We do this because Nothing Bundt Cakes serves their cakes cold out of the fridge. Wrapping it in plastic wrap keeps it moist.

      1. 5 stars
        I realized too late I had run out of plastic wrap after this came out of the oven and it was 12 AM. Ack!!!! But I had a cake carrier with a locking plastic lid that I planned to use to transport it the next morning. I placed it in there and stuck it in the fridge with no frosting. Came out perfect the next morning and and I frosted it per the recipe. Everyone loved it and so I shared your video and recipe.

  7. Does it mater what size/shape bunt cake pan you use for this? Also, do you cover the cake with plastic & refrigerate white still warm or wait until it’s cool? Thank you!

  8. I try to stay away from packaged foods so I’m not a fan of box cake mixes. Can you tell me how to make this cake completely from scratch?

  9. 5 stars
    We love this recipe! We make it for every holiday. On Christmas, we decided to use a French Vanilla cake mix with semi sweet chocolate chips in cupcakes. We forgot to buy the frosting, but it didn’t need it! So delicious. Again, we love your recipes!!

  10. 5 stars
    Just made this last weekend for my daughter’s 18th birthday and it was amazing- everyone raved about it! Very moist and full of rich chocolate flavor (and I normally don’t like cake.) We’re now preparing to make two for Christmas Dessert. Thank you for another delicious recipe.