This dark chocolate bundt cake is tender with a perfect crumb and deep chocolate flavor, finished with a silky Irish cream chocolate icing. A truly delicious dessert.
This time of year calls for chocolate cake.
This bundt is ideal for Saint Patrick’s Day, topped with a rich Bailey’s Irish Cream glaze. The chocolate icing is infused with Irish cream liqueur so the flavor comes through beautifully. It’s a comforting end to a busy day and makes a lovely weekend treat.
I love a good bundt cake. I’m not a patient layer-cake baker, so sheet cakes and bundts are my go-tos. Bundts are simple, elegant and often a showstopper on a dessert table.
I’ve made other chocolate bundts before and enjoyed them, but I wanted to try a different recipe this time—one that reportedly is a favorite of Ina Garten’s—so I gave it a go.
This cake is outstanding: deep chocolate flavor without being overly sweet, super tender with a great crumb. It’s the perfect base for an Irish cream chocolate icing drizzled on top.
Another bonus: this cake is easy. Combine the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients, beat for five minutes, pour into a greased bundt pan and bake. It calls for buttermilk, hot coffee and dutch-process cocoa, but the rest are pantry staples.
You can watch a short demo on Instagram today.
A few things that make this dark chocolate bundt cake work:
- Coat the inside of the bundt pan with dutch-process cocoa powder instead of flour for an even, professional-looking finish.
- Use dutch-process cocoa for a richer, darker chocolate flavor.
- The recipe uses an entire cup of hot coffee. It won’t make the cake taste like coffee—rather, it enhances and deepens the chocolate. If you prefer, substitute hot water.
- The Irish cream glaze combines chopped dark chocolate and powdered sugar with warm Irish cream liqueur and a little water. It’s silky, rich and packed with flavor. You only need to drizzle it over the top and let it drip down the sides.
This Irish cream icing is my new favorite. It behaves like a glaze when warm but firms slightly as it cools because of the chocolate—so it’s somewhere between a glaze and an icing. If you don’t want Irish cream, you could try a coffee liqueur or a different chocolate liqueur instead.
I have a few favorite chocolate cakes for St. Patrick’s Day, but this one is simple and universally loved.
It’s such a fun, special treat for the holiday.
Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake
Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake with Irish Cream Glaze
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Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup freshly brewed black coffee
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Irish Cream Glaze
- 3 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup Irish cream liqueur
- 3 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 12-cup bundt pan with nonstick baking spray that contains flour, then sprinkle a few tablespoons of dutch-process cocoa powder inside the pan. Shake and tap out the excess so the pan is evenly coated.
- Set aside 1 cup of buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 tsp vinegar) and 1 cup of freshly brewed hot coffee.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the buttermilk and coffee and mix on low until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and beat until combined, scraping the bowl. Beat on medium speed for 4–5 minutes, scraping down the sides occasionally.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake 45–55 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then invert carefully and finish cooling on a wire rack until completely cool.
Irish Cream Glaze
- Whisk the chopped chocolate and powdered sugar together in a bowl.
- Heat the Irish cream liqueur and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until just hot with bubbles around the edge—do not boil. Pour the hot liquid over the chocolate and sugar mixture and whisk continuously.
- Whisk until smooth and lump-free. The glaze thickens quickly, so as soon as it’s smooth, pour it over the cooled cake and let it set for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
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