CHOCOLATE CHIP MARBLE BUNDT CAKE

I have been participating in a few linky parties lately and I have found some awesome looking treats to try!  The first one is from Meghan at Cupcakes with Sprinkles Blog.  She got it from another blog...so the circle continues. 

This is the cake my son selected from several blogs I showed him...although it was a difficult decision for him.  Here in Texas, we have TAKS standardized testing for the next 3 days...I thought this would be a great dessert to kick off the testing days.  Chocolate relieves stress...I'm a firm believer!

CHOCOLATE CHIP MARBLE BUNDT CAKE

Adapted from Recipe on Cupcakes With Sprinkles Blog

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups Sugar, divided
½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
¼ cup Light Corn Syrup

½ cup warm water
2 ½ teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract, divided

2 2/3 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
½ teaspoon fine grain Sea Salt
1 cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
4 Large Eggs, at room temperature
1 cup Milk, at room temperature (I used 2% milk)
1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips (I used Ghirardelli)

Method:

·    In a small saucepan, whisk together 1/2 cup of the sugar, cocoa powder and corn syrup with a 1/2 cup hot water. Bring to a simmer, stir occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.  Set aside.

The chocolate "syrup" after cooking - ready to cool

·         Place rack in the lower third of the oven, then preheat to 350 degrees.

·         Butter and flour a 12-cup bundt-shaped pan.

·         In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

The dry goods - whisked together

·     In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter with the rest of the sugar until light and fluffy, approximately two minutes.

Butter and Sugar after 2 minutes of beating

·    Beat in eggs one at a time until completely incorporated. Scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl.

·    Beat in the remaining vanilla.

Eggs and Vanilla beaten into batter

·    Reduce the mixer speed to low, and beat one third of the flour mixture just until just incorporated.

·    Beat in half the milk.

·    Beat in another third of the flour, then the rest of the milk, and finally with the remaining flour until the batter is smooth.

A lovely batter!

·    Stop the mixer and gently mix in the chocolate chips. (Note - next time I make this I will toss the chocolate chips in some flour before adding to insure they stay suspended in the batter)

·    Scoop a third of the batter into a medium bowl,  whisk in the chocolate syrup mixture and set aside.

·    Pour another third of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula (I'd do slightly less if you have a slant sided bundt pan - you'll need enough left to cover the wider bottom of the cake).

·    Pour the chocolate batter into the pan and spread evenly over the first layer.

·    Finish by pouring the remaining batter over the top. (Completely cover the chocolate - or the chocolate gets quite hard if not sealed in with by the vanilla)

·    Lightly swirl down through all three layers of the batters with a knife to give a marbling effect...a figure-8 motion works well.

Pretty - but more of a chocolate middle than I would have liked plus the chocolate
that lined the edge because I didn't get it covered became quite hard.

·         Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes.   If you have a dark  bundt pan you might want to check after 50 minutes as it bakes faster.

·         Cool the cake on a wire rack.

If you could only smell my house - it is a very fragrant cake! 
Can't wait to slice it!!!

·         Invert the cooled cake onto a serving platter.

Oh my - yummy, yummy!  I decided to add a drizzle glaze that was not in the original recipe...mostly because a small piece of cake stuck to the pan so it needs a little "make up" ...and several of the chocolate chips stuck to the pan - although I carefully lifted them off and returned them to their spots.  Very simple glaze I frequently use for bundt cakes with the added attraction of using my new vanilla bean paste!

VANILLA BEAN DRIZZLE

Ingredients:

1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar

2-3 tablespoons heavy cream (or more until it is to a thick drizzling consistency)

1 tablespoon butter, melted in microwave

1/2 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Method:

Whisk ingredients until smooth OR place in small bowl of food processor and pulse until smooth. Scrape down sides frequently if using food processor.

A thick glaze worked great on this cake

Drizzle over top of bundt cake, using a spoon, after it has completely cooled, allowing it to drip down sides.

Glazed and dotted with melted chocolate swirls

I then melted about 2 Tbsp of milk chocolate in the microwave and dotted chocolate across the top and drew a toothpick through the dots to make the chocolate swirls.

The chocolate syrup and the chocolate chips make for an intensely chocolate tasting cake.  I might try it without the chocolate chips...The vanilla portion of the cake was completely over-powered by the chocolate taste (not that THAT'S a bad thing!)...just would have liked a bit more balance.

The sample piece - yummy!

Will definitely make this recipe again.  It's a pretty cake, and both of the "sample pieces" were devoured by me and my chief tester (the teen).  Delicious!

A peek at the inside of the cake

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!