Otis’s Easy Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake Recipe (Made from scratch)

This is easily a top 5 chocolate bundt cake recipe made from scratch! It’s melt in your mouth moist, with a delicious fingerlicking good homemade chocolate frosting.

It may be your first time trying this, but it definitely won’t be your last and It reminds me of my crunchy moist chocolate cookies recipe. It’s very easy to make so give it a shot, you wont regret it.

My Pop’s Inspired This Recipe

Chocolate cake brings back so many childhood memories for me, some good and some not so good because it makes me think of my father, who has transitioned.

He made the BEST chocolate cake EVER, and it was so incredibly moist! I’ve spent years trying to replicate his secret recipe and I think I finally got it down pack. This delicious moist chocolate cake literally melts in your mouth.

It tastes so good with a cold cup of milk and makes the perfect dessert for family movie night. It’s also the perfect cake for a romantic dessert with your boo. This chocolate cake recipe is top tier and chocolate cake cant get too much better than this. I’ll put it up against anyone’s chocolate cake and you would too. Lol!

Childhood Memories Of Dad’s Chocolate Cake

It’s been a while since I posted a dessert recipe but I was in the mood for some chocolate cake and decided to attempt making my father’s famous moist chocolate cake.

And boy… was it just as good as I remember his cake being as a kid when he would make it back in the day. My mom was probably the biggest fan of my dad’s cake; she absolutely loved it like we all did.

Every time I make it, she says, “This reminds me of your father’s cake,” and she never forgets to remind me that, “It ALMOST TASTES AS GOOD AS HIS”! It’s like… Mom, I get it, his is better. She cracks me up with her little backhanded compliment. Lol!

But listen, I’ve tried FOR YEARS to make a recipe that tastes as close as possible to my pops’ chocolate cake. I’m just glad that it’s finally about 75% as good—it was just half as good years ago. Haha!

Now, after a few updates, I think this is about as close to how my Pop’s Otis chocolate cake as it’s ever been. I don’t know EXACTLY how he made it, but I know he didn’t follow the box instructions. 

Now one thing I would say to my dad, because as men we were very competitive and always trying to outdo each other, is that my cake is made COMPLETELY FROM SCRATCH!

Pops would buy boxes of “BETTY CROCKER”, “PILLSBURY” and “Duncan Hines” cake mix and he would spice it up and add additional ingredients to it.

He never followed the instructions to a T. One thing I know is he would boil hot water and add it to the cake mix. He would also add buttermilk, melted butter, and more oil than what the box instructed.

The cake mix would be so soupy! But that’s how you know the cake will come out super moist. It has no choice but too because it cant possible go from soupy to dry within 45 mins to a hour in the oven. Lol!

I would always sit in the kitchen as he prepared the cake like a darn addict waiting for him to get done blending all the ingredients and adding it to the cake pan.

I always enjoyed sticking my fingers in the bowl and finger out the little remaining cake mix left in it… I enjoyed that so much I would lick it clean! Hahaha! 

That was probably my favorite part of my dad making cake, eating the leftover cake mix. My mom wouldn’t let me because she thought it would make me sick because of the raw eggs I guess? I don’t know, just mom being a mom.

My dad, however, was the cool one, like most dads who let their kids get away with almost anything. So I was happy when he prepared cake without mom being around to stop me from cleaning out the bowl. Lol!

Remember Matilda’s chocolate cake?

Another ’90s childhood memory for me was watching Matilda and the chubby kid eating that big, moist, dark chocolate cake! As nasty as the kid looked eating it, the chocolate cake itself looked darn good.

The frosting was chocolatey, and the cake looked so moist it almost looked like pudding. But I remember always asking my dad to make me a chocolate cake every time I’d see this movie.

If you don’t like chocolate cake looking at the one in this movie might change ya heart. Just don’t watch the kid eat it. Yuck!

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Ingredients you’ll need:

Dry Ingredients

Ok so first, here is a list of all the dry and wet ingredients and why we’ll need them.

• Sugar: Sugar sweetens the cake and locks in moisture, which helps the cake stay soft after it’s done baking. Use a good brand like domino’s.
• All-purpose flour: This is obviously the main ingredient for the cake. Cant make it without flour.
• Cocoa powder: This is used to give the cake its chocolate flavor. We’ll be using Hershey’s Unsweetened Special dark Cocoa Powder.
• Baking powder & soda: These are leavening agents that are both essential in helping the cake rise.
• Salt: Salt enhances/strengthens every layer of flavor in the cake.

Wet Ingredients:

• Hot Water: This is what helps get the cake nice and moist. It thins out the cake batter, making it nice and soupy, ensuring a moist cake.
• Buttermilk: The buttermilk not only adds moisture and balances out the sweetness with its tangy flavor from its acidity, but it also activates the baking soda, producing gas, which helps the cake rise.
• Vegetable oil: The oil adds moisture, helping to soften the cake along with the hot water. It’s essential because it keeps the cake moist why it’s cooking and after it’s done.
• Butter: Butter adds richness in flavor. Make sure you use unsalted butter and a good brand of butter like Land O’Lakes.
• Egg Yolks: The eggs are mainly for structure and in lighter cakes add color and flavor. We’ll be using large eggs and the yolk only.
• Vanilla extract: Vanilla flavor is so vital in sweets. The cake won’t taste right without it. Make sure you use a good brand like McCormick.

Baking pan ingredients

• Pam cooking spray: This keeps the cake from sticking as well! Don’t want to put in all this work for nothing and I cant find one thing that works better than preventing sticking than Pam spray!
• Vegetable Oil: Just use a small amount to help the cake from sticking
• All-Purpose Flour: You want to lightly dust the pan with a little flour.

Chocolate frosting ingredients:

• Confectioner’s sugar: We’ll be using powdered sugar to sweeten the frosting, obviously, and I think confectioner’s sugar is the best option. Granulated sugar crystals will make for a crunchy frosting. So always use confectioners. Use a good brand like Domino’s as I stated earlier about the white sugar.
• Cocoa powder: The cocoa powder is what gives the frosting it’s amazing chocolate flavor and I like to use Hershey’s unsweetened special dark cocoa powder.
• Melted butter: The butter gives the frosting flavor and a silky texture and consistency
• Whole Milk: Milk helps to produce a thinner consistency.
• Vanilla extract: This is super important; without the vanilla extract, the frosting will lack flavor and have a bland taste.

Cooking utensils you’ll need:

For the best results and to make cooking and preparing the cake as easy as possible, make sure you have all the cooking utensils and cookware on hand. We want this process to go as smoothly as possible! 

• 2 large mixing bowls: You need 2 big mixing bowls to combine and mix the ingredients.
• Strainer: You need this to sift the dry ingredients.
• Whisk: To combine the dry ingredients.
• Hand mixer: To blend the dry and wet ingredients and add air to the batter.
• Spatula: I always have a spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure the cake batter is well blended. Parts of the batter tend to seep to the bottom of the bowl, and I use the spatula to scrape as much of the cake mix from the bowl to the cake pan.
• Bundt cake pan: You need this to bake the cake in, since it’s a bundt cake we’re making.
• Brush: The brush is needed to smooth out the frosting after adding it to the cake.  Make sure you have all these utensils.
• A Cooling Rack: You need this to turn the cake upside down and sit the cake on when it comes out of the oven. You also use a big wide plate to coat your cake on.
• Cake lifter: Now this is what you need to lift the cake from the plate onto its final destination, like a cake holder as seen in some of the recipe photos. 

Hot water and Moistness of cake

Cake moisture is probably the most important aspect of making a good cake. I mean, who wants a dry cake? That defeats the whole purpose right. And we’re definitely dont enjoy it because of the frosting/icing. That moistness is the number thing we aim for and there are different ways to achieve that.

First and foremost, vegetable oil, for me is the most effective and important ingredient when it comes to creating a moist cake. But you dont want to add too much creating a greasy cake.

So you have to add just enough to moisten the cake but use other ingredients that create moisture to reach the level of moistness you desire without creating a greasy cake.

Ingredients, like, buttermilk, apple sauce, hot coffee, hot water, and sour cream are common ingredients used to add moisture to cake. Here are the ingredients I like to use to give this cake moisture.

• Vegetable oil: As I said the most effective ingredient for moisture. I prefer it in cakes over butter because it keeps the cake moist unlike butter which becomes solid once the cake chills taking away from the moisture of the cake.
• Buttermilk: Buttermilk moistens cake and gives it a hint of tanginess, which adds richness and depth of flavor. It also contributes to the cakes final texture.
• How to make buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk, which can be hard to find in certain places, just combine milk with an acidic like lemon juice or vinegar. Use one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice per cup of milk and let it marinate in the frig for a day, and you’ll have buttermilk.
• Hot water: I learned about adding EXTRA WATER, more than needed to cake to provide moisture way back in the day when I saw my dad making a soupy cake batter. Hot water or coffee doesnt just enhance the taste of the cocoa powder but it creates a smooth batter resulting in a more tender cake.

Cake Sticking to the pan

We’ve all been through this before!!! Don’t beat yourself up if your cake doesn’t just easily slide from out the cake pan. That’s what we all want but sometimes things don’t go so smoothly. This dilemma kind of reminds me of when I’m trying to remove the shell of an egg and it doesn’t just come off easily.

I was just faced with this cake problem the other day actually when I was testing this recipe. I was busy on the phone yapping, got distracted, and forgot to add the flour to the cake pan. I must’ve subconsciously thought I was making cornbread or something. LMBBO!

This usually happens when you don’t add enough fat or flour or the Pam spray, which is amazing, is expired, and no longer effective. If you find the cake won’t come out of the pan, DO NOT TRY TO SHAKE IT OUT because you’ll ruin the structure of the cake and it may break apart.

First, get a butter knife and slide it around the sides of the cake just to ensure its not sticking to the sides of the pan.

Then place a plate over it and turn it upside down and sit A DAMP, WARM RAG or towel over it. This should help loosen the cake it its sticking to the bottom of the pan. Give it 30 minutes before trying to lift the pan. You can tap the pan to try and loosen it up as well.

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If after 30 minutes it still doesnt slide out, repeat by turning it over again and placing a damp warm rag or towel over it and tapping it so it seperates from the bottom of the pan.

If by chance it comes out but a piece breaks off the top, just pay it back and place. No one will notice once you cover it with frosting. Haha! Trust me, it’s happened to me quite a few times before I started using Pam spray. Dont sweat it, it will be alright.

The Reason Frosting Isn’t Added At Once

Ok, so let me explain why I add the frosting in parts, not all at once. I want to get into this because it’s more than just a frequent question I get about cake. Lol! So what I like to do is add 1/3rd of the frosting to the cake while it’s loose and runny.

The reason I do this is to provide the cake with a protective layer of frosting. Once this first protective layer of frosting hardens, it’s easy to brush on the remaining frosting which stiffens as it chills because the protective layer gives you a harder surface to brush the remaining frosting onto.

 If you don’t add that first layer of frosting while it’s loose and try to brush the soft crumbly surface of the cake with thick cool frosting, it will cause crumbs and small pieces of cake might break off and we don’t want that. It’s all about providing the cake with a hard layer of frosting so that it’s easy to add and smooth out without the cake breaking.

I hope I explained that in a way that makes sense.  After that… you ARE ALL DONE!!! BAM!!! All you need now is a good movie and a big cold cup of milk, and you’re on ya way to heaven. LMBBO!

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How To Make Otis’s Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake

Below, I’ll provide instructions and visuals for each step. First, we’ll be making the cake, then the frosting.

1.  Sift dry ingredients as you add them to a big mixing bowl, then whisk well.
   

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2. Melt the butter in a skillet or microwave, then set it aside for a few minutes.
3. After it chills, add it to a mixing bowl with the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, then stir well.
4. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites, add them to the wet mixture, and blend well with a hand mixer on low speed.
   

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5. Preheat the oven to 350°F
6. Place a small pot of water over high heat until it comes to a rolling boil.
7. Meanwhile, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, then blend well with a hand mixer on low speed just until everything is well incorporated.
8. Once the water comes to a boil, scoop out a cup worth, add it to the cake mix, then blend it in with the hand mixer on low speed.
9. Wipe some oil around all parts of the cake pan and lightly spray all parts with Pam spray.
10. Add the flour, shake the pan to ensure all parts are well-coated, then flip it upside down and hit the back to remove any excess flour. 
11. Pour the cake mix into the cake pan, then lift it an inch above the table or counter and drop it. Do this 3 times. 
12. Place the pan on the lower rack in the oven and bake for 1 hour, then remove it and let it chill. 
13. FROSTING: Add all the frosting ingredients to a medium mixing bowl, then whisk until it’s nice and smooth.
14. Once the cake cools, place a wide plate over it and turn it upside down to remove it from the pan.
15. Pour 1/3rd of the frosting over the cake to ensure all parts are covered, then set the frosting in the refrigerator to chill.
16. Gently brush the remaining frosting over the cake once the frosting stiffens.

Storage

• How to store a chocolate bundt cake? Place it on a cake holder, cover with a lid, and keep it at room temperature.
• Can you freeze this cake? Yes, wrap it in plastic wrap really well, then cover it in aluminum foil. It will last up to 2-1/2 to 3 months. To defrost it, just unwrap it and let it stand at room temperature for a 3-4 hours.

Chocolate Bundt Cake FAQ’s

Why was my cake wet on top after baking?

• Too much liquid: If the cake isn’t cooking all way through it’s due to excessive liquid in the batter… so whether you’re following my recipe or creating your own, make sure to be mindful of not using too much liquid.
• Didn’t cook long enough: Another reason for a wet, mushy top is that the cake didn’t cook long enough.. If you experience this, add the cake back to the oven and bake it longer, or increase the cooking time by a few minutes in the future. 

Why do I see a bunch of mushy patches of flour on my cake?

Ok, so when you see big light wet uncooked flour on the cake, I’m sure you get very annoyed. First off, it’s not only undesirable but sometimes you can taste the raw flour as you’re eating the cake, which is a no-no! Unfortunately, there’s no easy fix to this, but to avoid the following things in the future.

• Overgreased pan: You overgreased the pan by either adding too much oil or a combination of oil and Pam cooking spray, which left puddles of liquid in the pan. This will create a thick, wet layer of flour after you add the flour, resulting in a bunch of mushy patches of flour on your cake after it’s done.
• How to properly grease the pan: As I mentioned earlier, ensure you remove any excess oil and/or Pam cooking spray. You can do this by wiping the oil around the pan with a paper towel and lightly spraying the pan with Pam spray.
• How to properly coat with flour: First off dont add a lot of flour, just a tablespoon or so. Shake the pan around making sure all parts of coated, then turn it upside down and tap the back to remove any excess flour, leaving the pan perfectly lightly coated.

Why did my cake sink after baking?

This is probably all of our biggest nightmares and the most traumatic baking experience you could possibly have, and never want to experience. Here are common reasons a cake sinks and preventive measures you can take to avoid it from happening again.

• Overmixing: Overmixing can incorporate too much air into the batter. This excessive air can weaken the cake’s structure, resulting in it collapsing.
• Underbaking: The most common reason for a cake sinking is removing it from the oven too soon, not allowing it to bake and rise to its full potential. Since it’s not fully baked, still soft, and the structure hasn’t been developed, it will obviously collapse. So make sure not to remove your cake too early.
• Opening the oven door before it’s done: This happens when we get too excited, want to check on the cake, and open the oven door, which causes a sudden drop in temperature. The incoming cool air stops and disrupts the baking process, causing a sudden stop in it’s rise, leading to a collapse of the cake.
• Outdated leavening ingredients: If the baking powder and or soda, which are the two ingredients most responsible for the cake rising, are outdated, it won’t be effective, and therefore the cake won’t rise to its full potential and just sink when removed from the oven.
• Incorrect ratio of ingredients: If you don’t use ENOUGH baking powder for the amount of flour and liquid used, for example, it won’t rise, or it will rise initially, then sink because it is not enough baking powder to support the amount of flour and liquid used. Using too much baking powder can cause this too.

Why does my cake have a gummy texture and streaks?

• Underbaking: This usually happens when the cake it slightly underbaked. If the cake is underbaked, the center will be left wet and dense, resulting in a gummy texture.
• Overmixing: When you overmix the batter, the gluten can become too strong and overdeveloped, resulting in a tough, gummy-like texture.
• How to prevent this? Mix batter until everything is just incorporated and dont mix it on high speed when using a hand mixer. Stick with a low to medium speed for a short mix and or combine everything with a big spoon.
• Too much liquid: I’ve found that using too many liquids to provide moisture can result in a gummy cake, as it prevents the flour from developing a drier, cake-like texture. Excessive amounts of oil, buttermilk, or water can cause this.

How to keep the cake moist?

Keep the cake at room temperature, covered under a lid, typically on a cake holder. I don’t put my cake in the refrigerator at all. I leave it out that keeps it moist. You can even keep it sitting in the microwave just make sure it’s covered.

Hope yall enjoy my father’s cake! Please leave a comment below and give me a good rating if you love it as much as I do. Follow me on social media if you want to stay connected. Here are my handles Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube. And please subscribe to receive notifications everytime I post a new delicious recipe.

Enjoy, later!
PBJ~

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