A Preamble: Apologies to the purists among us who regard boxed cake mixes with disdain. You can come back in a few days and I will have a from-scratch version, because this is a delicious cake that is worth baking.
For the rest of us lot, who like the speed, and —let’s face it— magic that comes with boxed mix recipes, this one feels fancy and isn’t.
I was intrigued by recipes I saw for brownie mix cakes I saw on the Internet, but found the results too cake-y. I tweaked the recipe to make it denser, but the good kind of dense.
A head’s up: There will be too much cake batter. You will be tempted to use it all and fill your bundt pan right up, as I did. You will then be cleaning charred bundt cake overflow off the floor of your oven. I didn’t learn the first time I tried the recipe and had to clean my oven twice. Hubris!
You can use the remaining batter to bake yourself a cupcake or two.
A note: If you’ve never replaced the oil in a boxed cake mix with melted butter, you most definitely should. It really elevates the whole experience.
Brownie Bundt Cake with a Raspberry Cream Cheese Surprise
What You’ll Need:
For the cake batter:
1 box brownie mix (I use Ghirardelli)
1 box devil’s food cake mix (I use Duncan Hines)
4 large eggs
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt.
1 cup neutral-flavored oil (sunflower, canola, etc.) OR 1 cup melted butter, lukewarm (this makes for a fudgier, richer, better—yes, better— cake)
1 cup chocolate chips (I suppose they’re optional…)
For the raspberry cream cheese filling:
1 8-ounce block of cream cheese (not whipped), room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons raspberry jam
1 cup fresh raspberries
What You’ll Do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Diligently spray a bundt pan with Baker’s Joy or Pam baking spray (or butter and flour). Place the bundt pan on a baking sheet that is lined with foil, on the off chance there is overflow.
Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg together in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the vanilla and 3 tablespoons of jam and mix until combined. Fold in the raspberries and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, water and oil (OR butter, if using instead of oil), salt and vanilla until well blended. Add the bag of chocolate brownie mix, devil’s food cake mix and chocolate chips to the wet ingredients and fold together until evenly blended.
Fill the bundt cake about half-full with the chocolate batter. Using a large ice cream scoop or two spoons, drop large spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture on top of the chocolate batter. The key is to make sure the cream cheese mixture is not touching either side of the bundt pan. Add enough chocolate batter on top to cover the cream cheese blend, but do not fill the pan more than three-quarters full.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, depending on your oven, until a toothpick comes out clean. Check it frequently after 50 minutes so you do not overbake.
Let the cake cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then place another cooling rack on top and invert. Lift the pan off, and because you used baking spray, it will come off like a dream and you will realize what a champion you are.
Let cool for an hour, then cover loosely and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Although I didn’t top mine with a ganache glaze, it sure wouldn’t hurt.
To make a ganache glaze, heat 6 ounces of heavy cream in a small saucepan until it just comes to the simmer. Turn the heat off, add 6 ounces of chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk the mixture together until smooth and lush. Let sit for 20 minutes or so until no lukewarm, then pour over the cake.
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I made this for Easter and everybody raved about the taste (I did add the ganache) and tossed fresh recipes into the hole in the middle. It isn’t overflow since I didn’t put all the batter into the pan. The only thing I’d recommend is to wait until the cake is fully cooled before removing it from the pan. I followed the directions and almost ruined the cake in trying to remove it when warm. It wouldn’t come out of the pan and the top was caved in on one side when I flipped it back over. I was able to patch and cover the flawed area with ganache but waited until the cake was fully cooled (and then ran a knife down the edge to loosen sides before trying to remove cake again (and I had used cooking spray on pan before cooking). Aside from this minor snag, the cake was delicious - fudgy and rich contrasted by the lightness of the fluffy raspberry cheesecake filling. People asked for the recipe and I gave full credit to the source. Thanks for a great dessert. Will make again.