Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

If the number of bowls you dirty is an indication of how yummy a recipe is, then this one takes the (pun intended) cake!  THREE bowls, all your measuring cups and spoons, rubber spatulas, classic Bundt pan, and beaters will fill your sink . . . but the most moist and delectable chocolate cake you've ever had will fill your mouth.

Worth it, people.

For this chocolate cake (which recipe originally comes from America's Test Kitchen, but was introduced to me by my dear friend, mellifluous Melanie) you don't want to use Dutch-processed cocoa.  Natural cocoa is gonna give the cake a fuller chocolate flavor, and won't compromise the cake rise like Dutch-processed cocoa will.   You can dust it with powdered sugar when it's done, but I think it's perfect as is.

The recipe also came with the best Bundt cake advice ever: instead of greasing your Bundt pan with shortening and then dusting with flour (which doesn't really work and makes your cake look ugly and floury), make a cake release cocoa paste and brush it on the inside of your Bundt pan--it's just equal parts cocoa and melted butter.  I have NEVER had a Bundt cake slide out of the pan so perfectly!

This is the classic and original Bundt Pan design--I think it's perfect
for any cake.  You can get them for a great price on Amazon.

I am proud of myself for getting a photo of the cake before we started devouring it.  It is rich and moist and turns out perfectly every time, as most America's Test Kitchen recipes do.  I think these pictures speak for themselves.