Life & Style

A Homemade Cheat for Warm Chocolate Cake

The holidays are the coziest of times, but at this juncture things can also start to get a little bit hectic. If you’re beginning to feel like time is actually accelerating, join the club! We can empathize, which is why today we’re sharing one of our favorite time-saving tricks for holiday baking. It all starts with a little magic box of the stuff they call cake mix—and with a couple of important hacks (including pudding!), ends with what can only be called a Darn Good Chocolate Cake.

See below for a recipe for a deliciously gooey warm chocolate pudding cake from Anne Byrn (aka The Cake Mix Doctor®).

Darn Good Chocolate Cake

SERVES: 16
PREPARATION TIME: 10 MINUTES
BAKING TIME: 45 TO 50 MINUTES

Ingredients

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain devil’s food or dark chocolate fudge cake mix
1 package (3.9 ounces) chocolate instant pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
½ cup warm water
½ cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower
1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, warm water, and oil in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 to 3 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thick and well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.

3. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto the rack to cool completely, 20 minutes more. Or invert it onto a serving platter to slice and serve while still warm.

Store this cake, covered in aluminum foil or plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to 1 week. Or freeze it, wrapped in foil, for up to 6 months. Thaw the cake overnight on the counter before serving.

For more recipes from the Cake Mix Doctor, check out The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrn—just $1.99 for the holidays!

Can’t get enough Anne Byrn? Make sure to tune in to In the Kitchen with David on QVC this Sunday, Dec. 8, between noon and 5 pm ET to see the Cake Mix Doctor show off some of her favorite cakes.