Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate! This chocolate bundt cake recipe has it all from a rich and moist chocolate cake to an over-the-top (literally) deeply chocolate frosting.

A few things to note about this recipe:

I have never been to Brick Street Cafe in Greenville, SC. Which is the restaurant that apparently makes this most amazing of cakes. So I really have no frame of reference for how true-to-taste this copycat version is. But I can tell you that it’s really good.
All of the at-home chocolate bundt cake recipes I found online for this cake insist that you must use a convection oven ONLY to get correct results. I used a traditional oven, because that’s all I have to work with, and I thought it turned out really well. Just something to keep in mind, I guess.
Another thing I didn’t do– you are supposed to use a tube pan (like, the flat kind). But I only had a fluted pan. However I think this just affects the look. Best I can tell, Brick Street Cafe’s cake has a distinct look to their cake, and this isn’t quite it. Just another FYI.
Be sure to buy cake flour and buttermilk for this recipe. I know it can be tempting to make DIY subs for those ingredients if you don’t have them ready on hand, but I would strongly encourage you to NOT use substitutes when making this cake.
When I was making the frosting, it started out super lumpy and I was worried that I had done something wrong. But after the first addition or two of powdered sugar, it smoothed right out!
Don’t assume the time that I am giving you for baking is absolutely accurate for your oven. To prevent the cake from drying out, start testing it with a toothpick at the minimum time I have listed. Once it comes out clean, immediately remove it from the oven.

What’s my favorite thing about this recipe?

The frosting!!! Come to mama! That frosting fills up the entire hole in the center and spills out over the sides of the cake. It hardens slightly when cooled, forming a frosting that is similar to a ganache. And it. is. everrrrrrrrything.

Brick Street Chocolate Cake

Yield: 16

This cake has it all from a rich and moist chocolate cake to an over-the-top (literally) deeply chocolate frosting.

Ingredients

For the cake:

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
2-1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3.4 oz chocolate pudding mix
2-1/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the chocolate icing:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cocoa powder
3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream together the sugar, butter, and vanilla.
Mix in the eggs, one at a time.
In a separate bowl, mix together the cake flour, baking cocoa, baking soda, salt, and chocolate pudding mix.
Add the dry mixture to the sugar/butter mixture in three additions, alternating with adding the buttermilk in two additions*. Mix after each addition, and scrape the bowl as needed.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Generously grease a tube pan. Pour the batter into the tube pan and bake for 50-65 minutes.

Chocolate Icing:

Heat the water, butter, and vanilla together in a medium-large saucepan over medium-high heat until butter is melted.
Remove from heat and whisk in the 1 cup of cocoa powder (it will be lumpy).
Whisk in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, and whisk in 1 tbsp of cream with each cup of powdered sugar.
Mix in an additional tbsp of cream if needed to thin the consistency.

Ice the cake by filling the hole in the middle of the cake first and then spread it over the sides.

Notes

*add 1/3 of the dry mixture - add about half of the buttermilk - add 1/3 of the dry mixture - add the rest of the buttermilk - add the rest of the dry mixture