Surprisingly Quick Root Beer Chocolate Bundt Cake

Admittedly we’re suckers for any kind of bundt. We love the festive shape and the reaction one will normally garner from a crowd. The problem is that all of our recipes are complicated and rely on a mixer and a lot of eggs. What’s great about this one is you don’t need a mixer and you can basically throw the ingredients together at the last minute and come out with an impressive and delicious cake.

Recently we stumbled on a great blog that inspired us in the realm of home decor, The Marion House Book. So when they posted gorgeous images of a Root Beer Chocolate Bundt cake and claimed that it was quick and delicious, we had to try it out for ourselves.

It was just as quick and delicious as they had claimed. The best part is that because you melt the butter on the stove, you don’t have to worry about getting it to room temperature first (and if you cheat the eggs, then you really can decide to make the cake at the last minute). Remembering to take the butter and the eggs out of the fridge ahead of time is one of the most major stumbling blocks we have around making cakes. With this recipe you can assemble and mix all the ingredients quickly and get it right into the oven.

The hardest ingredient to find was the root beer made with sugar and not corn syrup. We ended up using Trader Joe’s brand, but you could use anything (we’re curious about using cream soda, too). The result of the root beer plus the brown sugar is a cake that is moist, dense and has a richness to its sweetness that is more complex than a regular cake. It doesn’t necessarily taste of root beer, but the caramel tones definitely shine through.

For the frosting you could also throw the melted chocolate and the rest of the ingredients into a food processor instead of melting and then cooling it all, but we were going for a cake that didn’t involve plugging anything but the oven in.

Root Beer Chocolate Bundt Cake
10 inch Bundt Cake

Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers In Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito via The Marion House Book.

Ingredients

Cake
2 cups root beer (we suggest Trader Joe’s Old Fashioned Root Beer, or any root beer made with cane sugar)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

Frosting
2 ounces dark chocolate melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup root beer
2/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

For the cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour the bundt pan.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.

4. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten, then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy–do not overbeat, as it could cause the cake to be tough.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a small sharp knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

For the frosting:

1. Melt the chocolate over low heat on the stove. Add the rest of the ingedients and stir.

2. Take the mixture off the heat and allow to cool. (We put it in the fridge for about 2 minutes).

3. Whisk the cooled mixture to make sure it’s mixed well and stiff enough to frost.

(Images: Laure Joliet)