buttercake bakery's chocolate chip marble bundt cake

This is the best cake I've made recently. It is certainly company quality, but it has an old-fashioned simplicity and hominess. It's the kind of cake you keep on the counter on a pretty cake plate and have a slice with a cup of tea in the afternoon. (Or any time you happen by the kitchen, really.)

The tempting photo on Tastespotting entitled, "Stupid Delicious," linked to a post from the blog Piece of Cake. This chocolate & vanilla swirl bundt cake recipe is from local LA bake shop Buttercake Bakery. I have been a fan of Buttercake for a long time; not only are their cupcakes tasty, but they are reasonably sized and priced, unlike a lot of others. I just discovered that someone I know casually recently helped to open a second Buttercake location!

Anyway, let's talk about the cake. Start with vanilla batter, studded with chocolate chips. Siphon off a third of the batter, stir in a homemade chocolate syrup, layer the batter in the pan vanilla-chocolate-vanilla, and swirl it with a knife. This kind of deliciousness emerges:

I didn't measure my batter very precisely, so I think more like half was chocolate. I also may have overswirled it. The taste was not compromised in the least, but there was less marbling effect than there might have been. I served it the night I made it, but the leftovers lasted most of the week, and I swear, it improved with age. The crumb tightened up just a bit but the cake remained moist and flavorful. The chips added tiny bursts of chocolate in each bite. I sprinkled mine with powdered sugar to disguise the fact that a little of the cake stuck in the pan (shh, don't tell), but it would be fine without. Best of all, perhaps because the cocoa is dissolved in liquid, the resulting taste is of chocolate, not cocoa.

You should really make this cake now.

Chocolate Chip Marble Bundt Cake

(Serves 12-16. Keeps well at room temperature under a cake dome. Or an inverted metal bowl.)

2 1/2 cups (17.5 ounces) sugar, divided

1/2 cup (1.5 ounces) cocoa powder (Valrhona is great, but I used Hershey's with great success)

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup (4 ounces) hot water

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, divided

2 2/3 cups (11 3/8 ounces) flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter, at room temperature

4 eggs

1 cup (8 ounces) milk

1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips (I like Trader Joe's)

Make the chocolate syrup first: in a small saucepan, whisk together 1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) sugar, cocoa powder, corn syrup, and water. Bring just to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and whisk in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray or grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. I sprayed mine with baking cooking spray, and I sprayed the heck out of it, and it still stuck. My cheapo bundt pan is the bane of my existence.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Use the stand mixer to cream the butter with the remaining 2 cups (14 ounces) sugar until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the bowl, then beat in the remaining 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Reduce the mixer speed to low. Beat in a third of the flour mixture just until the flour begins to disappear into the batter. Beat in half the milk. Beat in another third of the flour, then the rest of the milk, and then the rest of the flour; mix until smooth. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop out a third of the batter into a medium bowl. Whisk in the reserved chocolate syrup and set aside. Spoon another third of the batter into the bundt pan and smooth it with a spatula. Spoon the chocolate batter evenly over it. Pour the remaining vanilla batter over the top. Lightly (go easy!) swirl the batter with a wooden skewer or butter knife to achieve a marbled effect. Making a continuous figure eight motion around the pan works well.

Bake until the cake springs back lightly when touched, about 60-70 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Invert the cooled cake onto a cake plate and dust with powdered sugar if desired. Goes perfectly with tea or coffee!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.