This chocolate milk bundt cake is a chocolate lover’s dream! A rich chocolate bundt cake, made with chocolate milk and loaded with chocolate chips, is topped with a rich and thick chocolate frosting. Ideal for any celebration or simply to satisfy your sweet tooth, it’s a must-make dessert.
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Why I Love This Chocolate Bundt Cake
This chocolate milk bundt cake with a thick chocolate icing is kind of life-changing. It truly is one shockingly good cake! I first made it several years ago for a birthday party. Since then, it’s become a fixture in my kitchen and I use any excuse to whip one up. It’s the BEST cake for when that chocolate craving strikes. Here’s why you won’t be able to stop with one slice:
- Moist and Tender: Like most bundt cakes, this chocolate milk bundt cake has a dense and tender crumb texture and stays super moist for days!
- Easy to Make: This cake comes together quickly without any advanced baking techniques. It’s so good on its own, but even better with a simple chocolate ganache drizzled on top.
- Unique Flavor: Each bite tastes just like chocolate milk! It’s not overly sweet and is loaded with lots of chocolate chips speckled throughout.
- Travels Well: This cake is perfect for bringing with you to a party or giving as a gift to friends and neighbors.
If you love chocolate cake as much as I do, make sure to also try out my favorite best chocolate cake recipe or this easy peanut butter and chocolate sheet cake!
Key Ingredients
This made-from-scratch treat contains ordinary baking ingredients you probably already have at home! Below you will find helpful notes for key ingredients used to make this chocolate milk bundt cake. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and exact amounts!
- Chocolate Milk: Any brand works, but I highly recommend using a whole milk version to ensure your cake comes out moist.
- Chocolate Chips: Semi-sweet chips are my favorite to use for this chocolate bundt cake recipe. They’re not too sweet and not too bitter – they’re just right.
- Baking Powder: This is the main leavening agent that creates the rise in the cake. Make sure it’s not expired! Check your expiration date – if it’s outdated, it won’t be potent enough to get the job done.
- Heavy Cream: This is used for the chocolate ganache topping only. I don’t recommend swapping it out for any other dairy product as the texture will not be the same.
How to Make Chocolate Bundt Cake with Ganache
Easy to prep, easy to bake and even easier to eat. Use an electric mixer if you have it or a strong arm and a whisk! Below is a quick recipe overview, but please scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions and to watch the step-by-step video.
- Dry Ingredients: Use a whisk or fork to mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
- Wet Ingredients: Combine the eggs and sugar and beat until well combined. Add in the melted and slightly cooked butter and vanilla.
- Combine: Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate milk and stir until smooth. Toss the chocolate chips in a tablespoon of flour and then fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
- Bake: Pour the batter into a greased 12-cup bundt cake pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Cool: Leave cake in the pan to cool for about 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
- Make the ganache: Microwave the cream until simmering, then pour in the chocolate morsels and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Whisk until shiny and smooth.
- Top it off: Drizzle the ganache all over the cooled bundt cake. You can slice and serve it immediately, or allow the ganache to set up before serving.
Chef’s Tips and Variations
- No Sticking: Grease every nook and cranny of your bundt cake pan with butter or shortening. Follow this by sprinkling about a tablespoon of flour around the inside. Tap the pan firmly while moving it around to coat the interior. Discard any excess flour.
- Baking Spray: Or, you can give the inside of the bundt pan a healthy spray with a non-stick spray for baking that includes flour, like Baker’s Joy.
- Proper Measuring: Fluff the flour in the bag or canister with a fork. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup. Then scrape a knife across the top of the measuring cup to level the flour. Dipping measuring cups into a packed bag of flour will create an overly dense and/or dry cake!
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Leave the eggs and milk on the counter for about 30 minutes before starting. Both are easier to incorporate, which helps to produce moist, tender cakes.
Test Kitchen Review
See what our test kitchen had to say!
Haley
Rich, dense, and super moist, we love this chocolate bundt cake! I used fair life chocolate milk as it is super creamy and it worked out great. I dusted mine with powdered sugar and it was perfect served with a cup of coffee!
Yield: 12 servings
Chocolate Milk Bundt Cake
This rich and perfectly dense Chocolate Milk Bundt Cake is a tender and moist homemade chocolate bundt cake that is loaded with chocolate milk and chocolate chips! Topped with an optional thick chocolate ganache icing, it is seriously irresistible!
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup chocolate milk, use full-fat, not low-fat
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Chocolate Ganache
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt cake pan.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 1 3/4 cups flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt until smooth.
- In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until the mixture triples in size. Add the melted butter and vanilla extract, whisking until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and start mixing. Slowly add the chocolate milk, whisking until smooth. Toss chocolate chips in 1 tablespoon of flour and then fold them into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, with a few crumbs attached.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack or serving plate to cool completely. Once cooled, dust the cake with powdered sugar or add the chocolate ganache!
Chocolate Ganache
- lace cream in a large microwave safe bowl and heat for about 2 minutes, or until the cream is simmering.
- Carefully pour chocolate morsels into cream and allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Whisk the chocolate and cream until shiny and smooth, about 1 minute. Use a large spoon to drizzle the ganache over the cooled cake.
Video
Notes
Store With Ganache: The general rule is that classic ganache may stay at room temperature for up to 2 days, then must be refrigerated. So you can store the cake at room temperature, but to be safe, I recommend storing it in an airtight container in the fridge. Allow cake to warm to room temperature before serving.
Store Without Ganache: Store cake in an airtight container, or covered tightly, at room temperature for up to four days.
Freeze: You can freeze the cake without the ganache. Wrap cooled cake in a layer of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of foil. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 slice, Calories: 641kcal, Carbohydrates: 75g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 35g, Saturated Fat: 21g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 10g, Trans Fat: 0.4g, Cholesterol: 111mg, Sodium: 375mg, Potassium: 383mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 53g, Vitamin A: 671IU, Vitamin C: 0.3mg, Calcium: 121mg, Iron: 4mg
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Can you freeze this
Hi Tracey! Yes, just wrap each slice tightly in plastic wrap and then place in a freezer safe ziptop bag. Freeze for up to 3 months, thaw at room temperature or in the fridge before serving. Hope you enjoyed it!
Just shared this cake with the clients at quit smoking group on Sunday ( today ) at work . They loved it !! It’s moist and delicious … they declared that this recipe is a “ keeper “!!
Can this recipe be used to make muffins instead of a Bundt cake?
Hi Vini, yes you could cook it in muffin tins if you prefer mini bundt cakes! But they will be a denser cake texture, not like a muffin.
Well, I guess reading the comments may have steered me away from making this cake. I had the same problem with the top of the cake staying in the pan. I don’t think a newer pan would have helped (Beverly’s comment) as my pan is almost new.
Why would you use semi-sweet chips in a milk chocolate cake. Wouldn’t milk chocolate chips make better sense?
For those who have trouble with the chips settling. I’ve tried all of those tricks. They generally don’t work! I dust the chips with flour then I pour some batter, then sprinkle some chips. More batter, more chips etc. Have never had a problem with chips settling.
I don’t have the whisk beaters. Can I use regular beaters?
Yes, just be careful to make sure everything is well combined!
thanks for a delicious sounding cake. I am lactose intolerant though and will be substituting non dairy ingredients. So far I have not had any issues with my baking using vegan items. I will let you know how it turns out.
My granddaughter wanted me to make a chocolate milk cake, and this recipe seemed to fit the best. But I was concerned about all of the negative results so I changed up the directions and also followed Dandy’s advice about pouring in 1/3 of the batter, adding some chocolate chips, and then mixing the rest into the remaining batter. The chocolate chips did not sink. Also instead of melting the butter, I creamed it with the sugar and then added the eggs one at a time. The cake was perfect! It dropped right out of my Bundt pan! Yay!
I love this cake. My problem was that the chocolate chips sank to the bottom and couldn’t get the cake out of the pan. My pan is old but did everything the recipe said. Don’t know why. Will try again and use a different bundt pan. Still love the cake.
I think it’s a good batter, but like the others my mini chips stuck to the pan and sunk to the bottom. It didn’t ruin the cake a bit. Next time I may leave the chips out and do a chocolate sundae drizzle on top.
Cake was delish! Make exactly per directions except for milk. I used choc almond milk as i had it on hand. I probably wont make again because of the disaster….. Batter was very very thin and soupy, choc chips went straight to bottom of pan where they melted and stuck in the bottom. So when i turned my cake out they stuck & ripped the top off my cake.
I’m a notoriously bad cake maker. There was no exception for this one, unfortunately. I’m not sure what I’m doing incorrectly. I followed the directions exactly. With the measurements given, the batter was thin so the chocolate chips all sank to the bottom. Not sure what went wrong there. Also, I may have left the cake in too long. Any suggestions?
Mine can out delicious but very dense. Any ideas why? I substituted the milk with chocolate almond milk…
Can I use a tube pan for this?
Should the milk be cold or at room temperature before using in recipe?
Cold!
I wish the Novice Chef would have mentioned the issue with the chocolate chips, or I had listened to Sandy in the comment above. Chocolate chips sunk to bottom of pan (top of cake) making it difficult to remove from the pan. Easy to make, not a lot of ingredients (my kind of recipe) flavor was good, texture somewhat coarse and even though I stored it in an air tight container by the second day it had dried out some. A little disappointing. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I just made this bundt cake. Followed directions and also put chocolate chips in some flour. Would not come out of pan. The chocolate chips all sank to the top. When I removed the cake it stuck and the top half of cake stayed in pan. It’s tastes good but the cake is not. Very disappointed in this recipe!
My boyfriend’s family has a dairy and their own creamery, so I’m going to make this with their fresh bottled chocolate milk today! If you’re having problems with chocolate chips sinking to the bottom and making your cake stick to the pan try this…
Pour 1/3 of cake batter into pan without chocolate chips, take the remaining batter mix your chips in and then finish filling pan. This is what I do with any bundy cake recipe that calls for chocolate chips. Works like a charm!
Tried this method thanks
It came out perfectly
I used whole chocolate milk. Cake spilled out all over oven.
If I make this in 2 loaf pans can I freeze one of the cakes for later use?