Bursting with festive Halloween colors, this chocolate cream cheese bundt cake is filled with colorful swirls of cream cheese and topped with a white chocolate glaze covered with sprinkles. It's a fantastic way to celebrate Halloween!
The cake is unbelievably moist, chocolaty rich and so much fun to make too. Surprise everyone when you cut it open and reveal the vibrant colors of the rich cream cheese swirls inside.
It's the perfect cake for Halloween or change it up with seasonal cream cheese colors and sprinkles perfect for Christmas, Easter, or patriotic holidays.
Table of Contents
Halloween Bundt Cake
This dark chocolate bundt cake with cream cheese swirl takes a little time but it turns out deliciously moist and rich. There's nothing outrageously spooky about this cake, but the inside pops with brilliant purple, orange, green, and white colors associated with Halloween. The surprise inside makes this a fun cake to serve at Halloween parties.
I love baking up recipes for the holidays and Halloween desserts are especially fun to make! Make a table of Halloween s'mores cookies, Halloween Cherry Shots, slices of chocolate pumpkin swiss roll cake, and this chocolate cream cheese bundt cake and you'll be party-ready!
Why This is the Best Chocolate Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
Just looking at this cake tells you how delicious it tastes! Chocolate sour cream bundt cake is perfectly moist and rich at the same time. It melts in your mouth and just makes you smile with each decadent bite. Plus, it's an easy chocolate bundt cake recipe too. The cream cheese swirls might look complicated, but they are actually super simple.
Ingredients
Don't be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. It is really worth it and you'll make the best chocolate bundt cake ever.
For the chocolate bundt cake:
- Unsweetened dark cocoa powder - for the richest flavor
- Chocolate bar, 72% cocoa - use a darker chocolate for more intense flavor and less sweetness
- Espresso powder - enhances the flavor of the chocolate (see below for alternatives)
- Water
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Baking soda - is used as the leavening agent
- Sour Cream - gives the cake even more moistness
- Butter
- Light brown sugar
- Pure vanilla extract
- Large Eggs
for the cream cheese swirl filling:
- Cream Cheese - make sure it is at room temperature for a smoother filling
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Pure vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour - works as a slight thickening agent
needed for white chocolate glaze:
- White chocolate chips
- Heavy Whipping Cream or Half-and-Half
- Powdered sugar
- Sprinkles (optional garnish)
Why Coffee in Chocolate Cake?
Add coffee to anything chocolate to enhance and enrich the chocolate flavor.
You can use instant coffee granules if you don't have or can't find espresso powder. Or substitute the espresso powder and water with hot strong, brewed coffee or espresso. It will need to be hot enough (boiling) to melt the cocoa powder and chocolate.
How to Make Chocolate Bundt Cake
for the chocolate cake
- In a medium bowl, combine chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, and espresso powder. Add boiling water then cover and let set until the chocolate melts.
- Whisk well.
- Let it cool.
- Once cool, whisk the sour cream and extract into the chocolate.
- Add butter and brown sugar to mixing bowl. Cream the butter and brown sugar together for 5 minutes so that it's light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating in between.
- Continue beating while adding half of the dry ingredients
- Mix alternately with the chocolate mixture. Beat until smooth.
for the cream cheese swirl
- Combine cream cheese and sugar.
- Cream until smooth and creamy.
- Add eggs, vanilla extract, and flour.
- Beat again until smooth and creamy.
- Divide cheesecake mixture into 4 bowls and color with your favorite Halloween gel food coloring. I chose purple, orange, and green and left some white.
- Mix well and set aside.
to assemble chocolate bundt cake with filling
Gather the cake batter and the colored cheesecake batter. Prepare pan by greasing and flouring. Make sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Now comes the fun part!
- Pour half the cake batter into the bottom of the prepared bundt pan. Scoop dollops of different colored cheesecake batter on top.
- Take a knife and lightly swirl the colors then carefully pour the remaining cake batter on top.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from pan and place on wire rack to cool completely.
- Make white chocolate glaze by melting white chocolate chips with half and half then whisking in powdered sugar.
- Place the cooled cake on a serving plate and drizzle white chocolate glaze over the top.
- Sprinkle with sprinkles of the season. The sprinkles are totally optional but I think they add a little pizazz to the finished cake.
Doesn’t it look awesome with that white chocolate glaze and all those cool sprinkles? And wait until you cut into it.
Swirls of purple, orange, and green cheesecake run throughout the fudgy chocolate bundt cake and give it that perfect Halloween feel.
Now take a bite. You get the rich taste of dark chocolate and creamy, tangy cream cheese, and a hint of smooth white chocolate. Believe me, this is going to get oohs and ahhhs all night.
How to Store
Store the chocolate cream cheese bundt cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will last up to 3 days.
You can freeze the cake for up to 3 months. Wrap the cake or individual slices first with plastic wrap and then with aluminum foil. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
More Bundt Cake Recipes
- Apple Bundt Cake with caramel sauce.
- Banana Bundt Cake with coconut pecan filling.
- Blueberry Almond Bundt Cake with lemon glaze.
- Pistachio Bundt Cake from Savvy Saving Couple
- Milky Way Bundt Cake with chocolate glaze.
Find lots of delicious cake recipes here on 2CM!
LOVE QUICK & EASY RECIPES? FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, & PINTEREST FOR ALL THE LATEST RECIPE INSPIRATION! PLUS JOIN MY EMAIL LIST AND RECEIVE A FREE E-BOOK.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Cheesecake Swirl
- 16 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon & 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
Cake
- ¾ cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
- 6 oz chocolate bar with 72% cocoa content chopped fine
- 1 Tablespoon espresso powder
- ¾ cup water
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup sour cream room temperature
- ¾ cup butter room temperature
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 5 large eggs room temperature
White Chocolate Glaze
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips
- 3-4 Tablespoons whipping cream or half-n-half
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- Garnish: sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bundt pan with Crisco or other shortening and dust with flour. Make sure that every groove in the pan has been covered.
Cheesecake Swirl
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended and sugar has dissolved.
- Continue beating while adding eggs, vanilla and flour.
- Divide into 4 portions. Add the food coloring to 3 of them and leave one plain (in other words, white). Stir well.
Cake
- In a 2-cup microwave-safe measuring cup, combine chopped chocolate, dark cocoa powder and espresso powder.
- Bring water to a boil and pour over chocolate mixture. Cover for at least 5 minutes or until chocolate is melted.
- In a separate bowl, whiks together flour, salt and baking soda.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes.
- Continue beating while adding eggs, one at a time.
- Now that chocolate mixture is cooler, whisk in sour cream and vanilla extract.
- Add chocolate mixture to creamed sugar mixture alternately with the flour mixture. Blend until smooth.
- Pour half the cake mixture into prepared bundt pan.
- Put dollops of different colors of cheesecake on top of cake batter.
- Take a sharp knife and swirl colors.
- Spoon remaining cake mixture on top of cheesecake.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean. You don’t want the cake to be too done and dry out.
- Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. When ready to remove the cake, place a wire rack over the top of the cake and holding both the bottom and top racks, invert cake. Remove cake pan and invert back. Let cool completely.
White Chocolate Glaze
- Place white chocolate chips and 3 Tablespoon of cream in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second-increments, stirring in-between, until chocolate has melted, usually 60-75 seconds total.
- Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth. If the glaze seems to thick to pour, add another tablespoon of cream.
- Pour glaze over cooled bundt cake and immediately add sprinkles. Sprinkles are optional.
Notes
Store/Freeze
Store the chocolate cream cheese bundt cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will last up to 3 days. You can freeze the cake for up to 3 months. Wrap the cake or individual slices first with plastic wrap and then with aluminum foil. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.Nutrition
This post has been updated with step-by-step directions and more photos. It was first published on October 19, 2018.
