Easy Chocolate Fudge Cake
Chocolate fudge cake is a super easy, decadent, bundt cake recipe that starts with a box of cake mix and ends up as a delicious, moist, chocolate cake topped in a fudgy chocolate ganache frosting.
This is the ultimate chocolate fudge cake and it’s the perfect answer for that chocolate craving because it’s super easy to make!
You guys already know we like a good doctored up cake mix recipe. Our coconut cake (and sheet cake) starts with a box mix and it is one of our most popular recipes. We also use cake mix to make our pumpkin bundt cake, sock it to me cake, and triple chocolate cupcakes.
This one starts with a boxed chocolate mix and then you skip the recipe on the back of the box and instead add sour cream, oil, pudding mix, water, and eggs.
You end up with a super moist cake that isn’t dense. Top it with a homemade ganache frosting and it is absolute fudgy perfection!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
You’ll need ingredients for the cake and for the frosting. A lot of it you probably already have on hand. Here’s what to gather together:
- Boxed Chocolate Cake Mix – You can use your favorite brand or even the store brand if you prefer.
- Box Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix – You can use Jello’s pudding or anyone that you prefer. Just make sure it is not the kind you cook.
- Sour Cream – When baking a cake, make sure you use regular, full fat sour cream. This will give your cake the moist, soft texture you want in a cake.
- Vegetable oil – You could use another lighter tasting oil. Try not to use olive oil or coconut oil since the flavors can bleed through.
- Eggs – Make sure you use large eggs, either white or brown will work.
- 60-80% Cacao chocolate – I highly recommend a quality brand of chocolate instead of chocolate chips. I use Ghirardelli chocolate baking bars.
- Heavy Cream – Heavy cream or whipping cream will turn that chocolate into a creamy ganache.
- Vanilla extract – This gives a very subtle background flavor to the frosting.
You can make play around with flavors by using different cake mix and pudding combinations like we did with our pistachio cake and lemon cupcakes.
Instructions
Step 1 – Prep the oven and pan. Before getting started, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. As it starts to warm, rub softened butter all over the inside of your bundt pan, making sure to get all the corners. Once the pan is well-buttered, add in 2 tablespoons of flour and shake the pan until the flour covers all of the buttered surfaces. Tap the pan into the sink to pour out all excess flour.
Step 2 – Combine the cake ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, mix the boxed cake mix, chocolate pudding mix, sour cream, vegetable oil, and eggs until they come together. This will take about 2 minutes.
Step 3 – Bake the cake. Once the batter has come together, pour it into the prepared bundt pan. Place the pan in the oven and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes. You can check to see if it is done by inserting a toothpick into the center to see if it comes out clean with only a few crumbs on it. If it does, it is done.
Remove cake from the oven and let it cool for 20 minutes. Turn the bundt pan over and remove the cake from the pan. Once it is out, allow it to rest on a cooling rack and let it cool completely.
Step 4 – Make the icing. Finely chop the chocolate (the smaller pieces the better!) and place it in a bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a microwave safe dish starting with 1 minute and adding 15 seconds at a time until it begins to boil. Remove and pour over the chocolate immediately. Let sit for 3 minutes and then add the vanilla extract and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
Step 5 – Ice the cake. When the cake is cool but the icing is still warm, pour it all over the top of the cake. Allow it to cool and firm up completely before slicing and serving the cake.
How to Make it Ahead of Time
You can definitely make this cake ahead of time. Follow the directions and let the icing cool on the cake completely before placing it in a cake carrier or covering it tightly in another container. It will stay fresh at room temperature for about 4 to 5 days.
Looking for More Easy Cake Recipes?
- Sock It to Me Cake
- Apple Spice Cake
- Tres Leche Cake
- Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- Coconut Sheet Cake
- The Best Coconut Cake You’ll Ever Make
- Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- Lemon Pound Cake
- Sour Cream Pound Cake
- More Cake Recipes…
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Chocolate Fudge Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 15.5 ounces. Boxed Chocolate Cake Mix
- 3.4 ounces Box Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
- 3/4 cup Sour Cream
- 3/4 cup Vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup Hot water
- 3 Eggs
Fudge Icing:
- 8 ounces 60 – 80% cacao chocolate, finely chopped
- 8 ounces Heavy Cream
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare a bundt pan by rubbing softened butter all over the inside making sure to get into all of the corners. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and shake pan until the flour covers all of the buttered surfaces. Tap the pan into the sink to pour out all excess flour.
- In a large mixing bowl combine boxed cake mix, chocolate pudding mix, sour cream, vegetable oil, water, and eggs. Mix until ingredients come together, approximately 2 minutes.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean, or with just a few crumbs it is done.
- Remove cake from oven and let it cool for 20 minutes. Then turn bundt pan over and remove cake from pan. Sit cake on a cooking rack and let cool completely.
- While the cake cools make the icing.
- Pour the fudge icing over the cake and let it cool and firm up.
- Slice and serve.
Fudge Icing:
- Place the finely chopped chocolate in a bowl.
- Heat the heavy cream in a microwave safe dish starting with 1 minute and adding 15 seconds at a time until it begins to boil.
- Remove from the microwave and pour over the chocolate immediately. Let sit for 3 minutes and then add the vanilla extract and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
Nutrition
This cake looks absolutely delicious! Love serving something that tastes and looks amazing but doesn’t require baking genius on my end! This would definitely be perfect for game night! #client
Trying to eat better but this looks like it would be worth a cheat meal and my daughter loves M&Ms!
Lol, you and me both…this one was definitely worth the calories!
This looks so good! I am pinning for sure!
Hi there! Visiting from the Creative Spark Link party. Your cake looks delicious! I love Jenga!
Love chocolate and love easy! Looks amazing! Visiting from Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party. 😉
Sign me up for some of this yumminess! Looks great!
Cathy
Oh my gosh. This needs to be made in my house, like right now. Thanks for the inspiration! We do game nights with friends to save money over going out (plus we have toddlers and we can just put them all to bed in the spare room) and this would be a perfect dessert. (For after the kids go to bed of course… We
re totally not sharing!)
Wow, this looks really good. 🙂
Any chocolate delight covered in more chocolate goodness gets my vote. This recipe looks amazing.
Thanks for sharing at Marvelous Monday on Smart Party Planning.
I love a great chocolate cake and this looks so yummy.
Bev
Yum! This looks so amazing! I am going to be going home and trying this as soon as I can. Keep posting stuff like this and I will keep being a devoted fan!
Great looking cake! What size pan do you use? A 9 x 13″ or a bundt pan?
I used a bundt pan but you could definitely make this into a sheet cake in a 9×13 pan. Just adjust your bake time according to the cake mix instructions on the box.