Sour Cream Chocolate Bundt Cake (Williams Sonoma Copycat!) (2024)

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This rich, dense Sour Cream Chocolate Bundt Cake is a copycat of the famous Williams Sonoma recipe. Perfect for those chocolate cravings!

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Serve this Williams Sonoma Sour Cream Chocolate Bundt Cake after a dinner of One Dish Ranch Chicken Veggie Bake or Slow Cooker Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Soup.

SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE INGREDIENTS

Flour – all purpose flour
Cocoa Powder – you’ll want to use unsweetened cocoa powder
Baking Powder – leavening agent to help the cake rise
Baking Soda – without it, you’ll have a dense, heavy texture
Salt – to balance the sweet
Butter – use unsalted, room temperature butter
Sugar – granulated sugar
Eggs – room temperature, large eggs
Vanilla Extract – EXTRACT, not imitation, please
Sour Cream – sour cream makes for a light and moist cake texture
Bittersweet Chocolate – I like to use Ghirardelli baking chips, because I always have those on hand, or a bar of good baking chocolate
Water – to make the glaze
Chocolate Liqueur – Godiva chocolate liqueur can be pricey. Make your own with this homemade chocolate liqueur recipe.

WHY DO YOU USE SOUR CREAM IN BAKING

Adding sour cream to your cake batter creates a light & moist cake. I like to use full fat sour cream, but light will work as well.

DO YOU COOL A BUNDT CAKE UPSIDE DOWN

I like to cool my bundt cakes right side up on a wire cooling rack for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I like to flip them upside down onto the rack. If you’re lucky, they’ll slide right out!

CAN YOU MAKE A BUNDT CAKE IN A REGULAR CAKE PAN

Yes, you can bake a bundt cake in a regular cake pan. Most bundt cake recipes (this one included) call for a 10-12 cup capacity bundt pan. So, if you want to make a 9-inch round cake, you’ll have to divide the batter into two 9-inch pans and bake for less time. Or, you can put the entire recipe in a 13×9 pan, which should take about the same amount of time. Either way, bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

WHY IS MY BUNDT CAKE STICKING TO THE PAN

To avoid your bundt cake sticking in the pan, make sure you properly grease the pan before you start. I have good luck with non-stick spray (often Trader Joe’s coconut oil spray or just Target brand baking spray). Once greased, sprinkle with flour or, in this case, cocoa powder, to match the chocolate cake. If it still sticks, gently run a knife along the edges to release any spots that are sticking.

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE GLAZE FOR BUNDT CAKE

This recipe calls for a really simple, 3-ingredient, glaze for the cake. Water, sugar, and chocolate liqueur. Now, chocolate liqueur can be a bit pricey. You can either make your own (recipe linked above) or swap it out with something like brandy. All you do is add all three ingredients to a small saucepan and stir over low heat until dissolved.

TOOLS TO HELP YOU MAKE SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE

Hand Mixer – as much as I love my stand mixer, I find myself reaching for my hand mixer more often than not.
Stand Mixer – in this recipe, when you’re adding flour, sour cream, and eggs in parts, it’s nice to have your hands free.
Bundt Pan – there are SO many pretty bundt pans in different shapes. I really need to add more to my collection.
Spatulas – I love using spatulas for everything. They’re especially helpful in scraping down the sides of the bowl while mixing.

NEED MORE BUNDT CAKES IN YOUR LIFE? TRY THESE:

Butterscotch Bundt Cake
Hershey Bundt Cake
Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake
Orange Banana Bundt Cake
Lemon Bundt Cake
Sock It To Me Cake
Butter Pecan Bundt Cake

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HOW TO MAKE A CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE

4.48 from 194 votes

Williams Sonoma Sour Cream Chocolate Bundt Cake

Created by Melissa Williams | Persnickety Plates

Servings: 16 servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 1 hour hr

Total Time: 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

This rich, dense Sour Cream Chocolate Bundt Cake is a copycat of the famous Williams Sonoma recipe. Perfect for those chocolate cravings!

Ingredients

For the cake

▢ 2 ¼ cups all purpose white flour
▢ 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
▢ 2 teaspoons baking powder
▢ ¾ teaspoon baking soda
▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
▢ 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
▢ 1 ½ cups granulated white sugar
▢ 4 large eggs lightly beaten
▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ 1 ½ cups sour cream full fat
▢ 6 oz bittersweet chocolate melted & cooled

For the glaze

▢ 1 cup granulated white sugar
▢ ½ cup water
▢ 1 Tablespoon chocolate liqueur or Brandy

Instructions

To make the cake

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Spray your bundt pan with non-stick spray and flour or sprinkle with cocoa powder.
To a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In another large bowl (or bowl of your stand mixer), beat the butter on medium speed until creamy (30-45 seconds).
Gradually add the sugar while beating on low until blended.
Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and continue beating, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until the mixture is light & fluffy (3-5 minutes).
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition and making sure they're fully incorporated before adding the next. The mixture will be thick and creamy after 1-2 minutes.
Beat in the vanilla extract.
Reduce speed to low and fold in the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the sour cream. Flour/sour cream/flour/sour cream/flour. Mix until just blended with no lumps of flour remaining.
Gently fold in the melted chocolate.
Pour the batter into your prepared pan.
Check for doneness after 50 minutes. Some are done at this point. Mine takes closer to 1 hour. A toothpick inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.

To make the glaze

While the cake is cooling, to a small saucepan over low heat, add the sugar and water and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate liqueur.
Once cooled, flip the cake onto a piece of parchment/wax paper and brush the warm cake with the glaze.
Let cool to room temperature and then dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Video

Notes

Make sure you're properly scooping and measuring the flour - spoon into the measuring cup and level off. Don't scoop directly from the bag/container - it packs in too much flour.

Use regular unsweetened cocoa powder (like Hershey's).

Start with room temperature butter, eggs, and sour cream for best results.

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Nutrition

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Originally published November 24, 2011