This rich, chocolate chip Bundt cake is my husband’s favorite and a reader favorite too—saved over 15,000 times with rave reviews. Quick to prep in just 10 minutes and bakes up like a bakery-style treat! It’s even better than the Nothing Bundt Cakes bakery version.
Reader Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tammy said, “Made for a friend and she commented it was the best chocolate cake ever and it was so moist! I made it again, except in mini Bundt pan (made 12)! Absolutely delicious!! Thank you for the recipe! Will definitely make many more times!!”
I originally posted this Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake recipe because it was too good not to. Turns out I wasn’t the only one who thought so. It’s been saved over 15,000 times, and the comments keep rolling in. It’s been one of our family favorite desserts for years. Requested at Christmas or as a birthday cake!
I’ve tested and tweaked this recipe too many times to count to make sure it always turns out right. It has that soft, bakery style crumb and rich chocolate flavor that’s special enough for a party but easy enough for a weeknight dessert. All of my friends tell me it’s even more delicious than the version from the Nothing Bundt Cakes store!
Whether you’re baking for the first time or need a dessert to bring to a party, this chocolate chip bundt cake is one of those never-fail recipes. And every time I make it I’m reminded why it’s a favorite—not just in my house but in so many of yours too.
This recipe was originally published in 2020 and has been thoughtfully updated in 2024 and 2026 to improve clarity and the overall reader experience.
We devoured the bundt cake before dinner! I hope you have the recipe on your blog – all those chocolate chunks and that icing – yum!
Kristin
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
- Devil’s Food or dark chocolate fudge cake mix*—I do not recommend using all-natural or Ghirardelli cake mixes for this recipe, as the volume is different and will yield a very dense cake. If you do, make sure to make up in flour (or additional cake mix) the difference.
- Instant chocolate pudding mix – I used Godiva Dark or Milk Chocolate, or regular Jell-O Chocolate pudding works too!
- Sour Cream – I use full-fat sour cream, and have also substituted with whole-milk plain Greek yogurt. Lower fat products will still work, but your texture will not be quite the same.
- Vanilla Extract – Vanilla adds those delicious undertones.
- Eggs – I use large eggs in all of my baking, and room-temperature is best.
- Milk – Whole milk is what I used, but may substitute plant-based milk, water, or buttermilk.
- Vegetable Oil – I love using Avocado oil
- Chocolate chips – try mini chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, chopped chocolate, semi-sweet, milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate.
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Cream cheese: Room temperature for best smooth frosting
- Butter: Use softened real cream butter. I used salted; if using unsalted butter, add ¼ teaspoon additional salt.
- Light Brown Sugar: Lends a little caramel flavor to the frosting, wow!!
- Vanilla extract: Because every frosting deserves real vanilla.
- Pinch of Salt: Just a little bit of kosher salt.
- Powdered Sugar: Also known as confectioners’ sugar.
Get the full recipe in the recipe card below.
Kathleen’s Tip: This is a great dessert to make a day in advance. I think it tastes better the second day (and my family does too!).
How to make a Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Step 1 – Make Batter Mixture
Super easy, add the cake mix, pudding mix, oil, eggs, sour cream (or Greek Yogurt), milk and vanilla extract to the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer. Mix on low until combined, then for 2-3 minutes on medium. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
Pour chocolate mixture into well sprayed 10 or 12-cup bundt pan (<<my favorite) — I like using Bak-Klene bakers spray with flour already in it. But you can use Baker’s Joy or brush with butter and then dust with cocoa powder.
Step 2 – Bake Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Bake at 350°F (175 °C) for 40-55 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer comes out clean or a few moist crumbs. If the cake appears done but still seems gooey, retest in another location; you may be hitting chocolate chips. If it springs back lightly when touched and is starting to look dry at edges and is not wobbly at all, those are good signs, remove from oven. Or place a skewer into the center of the cake and it should come out clean, with a few moist crumbs at most.
Cool cake in pan for 30 minutes, then invert onto cooling rack and cool cake completely.
Step 3 – Make Frosting
Make sure your cake is cooled completely before frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment whip the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy about 2-3 minutes. Add the brown sugar and mix on medium-high for 3-4 minutes, then and this is important, allow the frosting to sit for 10-15 minutes to allow the brown sugar to melt into the mixture.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add powdered sugar, vanilla and once incorporated, slowly increase the speed back up to medium-high, whipping until light and fluffy for 3-4 minutes. Spoon into a pastry bag fitted with a wide piping tip, starting at the top of the cake (near the center), frost “fingers” or thick lines of frosting onto the cake. Be sure to watch my video in the recipe card that shows how.
How long to bake Mini Nothing Bundt Cakes
Scoop the batter into prepared pans (not quite ⅔ full, makes about 14 bundtlets, probably closer to 18 cupcakes or bundtinis. Bake as directed above; 20-25 minutes bundtlets, 18-22 minutes cupcakes or bundtinis.
Done when cake springs back when lightly touched and no longer jiggly, don’t over bake. Cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.
Remove to cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert cake onto wire rack and let the cake cool completely. Once completely cooled, frost as desired with below frosting.
Expert Tips
- Don’t over-mix the cake batter. This could result in a tough and dense cake, rather than one that melts in your mouth.
- Grease your bundt pan very well. When using this type of pan, there are so many crevices, the cake can be hard to get out! I like to use a cooking spray with flour already in it. It’s truly the foolproof method to greasing your pan.
- Make a large bundt cake or mini bundt cakes. You can make either with this recipe! Bake the mini bundt cakes for 20 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping upside down. This is so important to help the cake to set correctly.
- When you are ready to ice, make sure the cake is room temperature. If it’s warm or hot, the icing will melt and the cake will become messy.
High Altitude Baking Instructions
- For light-colored pans, increase oven heat to 375° F (190° C); for darker pans, keep heat at 350° F (175° C).
- Bake less time than called for in the original recipe. Typically, you start checking the cake for doneness about 10-15 minutes before the original time.
Make a Box Cake Mix Better
By changing out a few ingredients in a box cake mix; you have a richer, more moist and dense, delicious cake!
- Ditch the Water: Substitute whole milk, your favorite plant based milk (coconut would be divine) or even better, buttermilk, but due to the thickness of buttermilk add a few tablespoons more.
- Flavor in the Fat: Normally, I’d swap out cup for cup; melted butter for oil, but today I stuck with heart healthy avocado oil.
- Add an Extra Egg (or two): Being at high altitude, I have always added an extra egg to my cake mixes, why? The egg white contributes strength and the yolk contains a natural emulsifier that allows batter to hold extra sugar without weakening the overall structure. (source) If you want a boxed cake mix to taste like a bakery cake or homemade then add an extra egg!
- Amp Up the Flavor: Chances are the vanilla might be a little blah in the cake mix, so for all cake mixes add a teaspoon of your favorite vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste or other extract; or try homemade bourbon vanilla!
In chocolate cake mix, add a teaspoon of espresso powder.
Lemon cake mix, add the zest from one lemon, za-zing!
Spice or Carrot Cake Mix, use fresh grated nutmeg (this microplane is the best), an extra teaspoon of cinnamon, definitely a teaspoon of vanilla or tablespoon of rum, brandy or whisky. - Add Moisture: Add up to a cup of sour cream, plain greek yogurt or ¼ – ½ cup of creme fraiche. The richness, moisture it lends to a cake is amazing! You could even try a few tablespoons of mayonnaise, after all it’s just eggs and oil!
Storage
Store covered in an airtight container on the counter for up to 6 hours frosted, up to 3-4 days unfrosted. You keep this cake in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 7 days.
If you want to freeze this cake, go ahead! It freezes beautifully. If freezing before frosting, simply cool completely (very important so you don’t form ice crystals), then wrap well in plastic wrap and then in foil.
If freezing after icing, simply place in the freezer for 30-50 minutes to harden the icing, then cover with plastic wrap well; then again in foil. Keeps frozen for up to 3 months, if you can resist digging in.
What to serve with Chocolate Chocolate Chip Nothing Bundt Cake
Rich chocolate cake is always and forever delicious with a cold glass of milk or a cup of rich hot coffee, try this Irish Coffee for an adult twist or perhaps instead of frosting it you prefer to go lighter, enjoy with this homemade Cool Whip. Or make it totally decadent and serve with a scoop of chocolate ice cream or this old-fashioned vanilla ice cream.
FAQs
Use both sour cream and oil in the batter. Both of these ingredients make this cake so tender and moist!
Their cakes are full of delicious flavor and truly just melt-in-your-mouth with every bite.
Insert a toothpick into the cake and if it has dry, moist crumbs on it, then you are ready to remove it from the oven.
I hope you enjoy this dreamy, easy recipe for this Copycat Nothing Bundt Cakes Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bundtlets and Bundt Cake. My family is chocolate cake connoisseurs and they went ga-ga over this cake! Perfect for a special occasion, like a birthday party. It’s one of those spot-on copycat recipes you’ll come back to again and again.
Recipe adapted from Tastes Better from Scratch.
More of Favorite Bundt Cake Recipes
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Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 15.25 ounce Devils food cake mix or dark chocolate fudge cake mix*
- 3.9 ounce instant chocolate pudding like Godiva Dark or Milk Chocolate, or your favorite brand
- 1 cup sour cream or try plain Greek yogurt
- 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs room temperature (set in bowl of warm water for 5-7 minutes)
- ½ cup Whole milk may use other %, or substitute plant based milk or water, or ⅔ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup avocado oil or other vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips try mini chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, semi-sweet, milk chocolate
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese softened (can use Neufatchel)
- ½ cup butter softened
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1-2 teaspoons vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C) At regular altitude 350 for light pans, 325° F (165° C) for dark pans. Butter and flour bundt pan well! I used Bak-Klene release spray. Or use soft butter and a paper towel or pastry brush to get in all of the crevices, then splash in a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder and toss around pan to coat (over sink or trash). Knock out any ecess.
- Add all ingredients except chocolate chips to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer. Mix on low speed until just combined, then increase speed to medium for 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Stir in 1 ½ cups chocolate chips by hand.15.25 ounce Devils food cake mix, 3.9 ounce instant chocolate pudding , 1 cup sour cream, 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 4 large eggs, ½ cup Whole milk, ½ cup avocado oil
- Pour batter evenly into prepared bundt pan and smooth down top. Give the pan a couple of firm taps on a cutting board to settle any bubbles. Bake for 40-55 minutes until cake tester comes out mostly clean (if looks done and seems gooey, retest in another location, you might be hitting chocolate chips. If it springs back lightly when touched and is starting to look dry at edges and is not wobbly at all, those are good signs, remove from oven.
Bundtlets, Bundtinis or Cupcakes
- Scoop batter into prepared pans (not quite ⅔ full, makes about 14 bundtlets, probably closer to 18 cupcakes or bundtinis. Bake as directed above; 20-25 minutes bundtlets, 18-22 minutes cupcakes. Done when cake springs back when lightly touched and no longer jiggly, don't over bake.
- Remove to cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then invert cake onto wire rack and cool completely. Once completely cooled, frost as desired with below frosting.
Nothing Bundt Cakes Frosting
- Using a paddle or whisk attachment, beat together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add brown sugar and mix on medium high speed for 2-3 minutes. IMPORTANT allow to sit for 10-15 minutes for the brown sugar to "melt" into the ingredients, thereby avoiding gritty frosting.8 oz cream cheese, ½ cup butter, ⅔ cup light brown sugar
- After 10-15 minutes, scrape sides down and mix on low speed, adding vanilla, salt and powdered sugar. Mix until combined on low, then increase speed to medium-high for 3-4 minutes until creamy (really, set a timer, it should be lighty, airy and no longer gritty).1-2 teaspoons vanilla, pinch of salt, 3 cups powdered sugar
- Scoop into piping bag with or without tip and frost as desired. Frosting may also just be spread on top, you may have some frosting leftover, it freezes great and is delicious on top of cinnamon rolls, between graham crackers with strawberries and more!
Notes
Nutrition
Tammy Bailey
Made for a friend and she commented it was the best chocolate cake ever and it was so moist! I made it again, except in mini Bundt pan (made 12)! Absolutely delicious!! Only change I made was omitted brown sugar. My husband is diabetic, so didn’t want to add additional sugar. Thank you for the recipe! Will definitely make many more times!!
Love your twist Tammy!! Thank you for your sweet comment!!
Anjuma Chowdhury
This was incredible! I am pretty picky about cakes. NB cakes are okay, in my opinion, and this cake was soooo much better! I actually said, “Oh wow!” after the first bite. Thank you so much for this incredible recipe!
Oh you made my day Anjuma! Thank you!
Sarah
Quick question-I am making a chocolate mousse cake-would this be a good cake for that? I’m pretty sure I just burned my first cake and then I remembered how moist NBC are and found your site…. Any different instructions if I’m using 5” round pans?
Hi Sarah, This is a fabulous cake, I don’t think you should have to adjust anything but baking time for round pans. I’ve never baked it in 5” so I would just start checking at the normal time you use for 5”. Hope that makes sense! Best of luck, send me a pic when it’s done! I hope you love it!
Jennifer H.
Followed the recipe for the cake and the icing exactly as written and my family raved about it! Will definitely make again and again!
Thank you Jennifer, so glad you and your family loved it!
Amy
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday and it was a hit! It was a dense but very moist cake. Next time, I’ll make a buttercream frosting. I highly recommend this recipe!
Thank you so much, Amy!! So appreciate your sweet words!
Cheri
Fantastic!! I made mini bundts. Basically bite sized. First batch I put too much batter in the pan & had some delicious rejects!
Wonderful to hear — somehow my family never minds the “rejects” lol! Thanks for your kind comment.
Dawn Vandermillen
Made this yesterday. Delicious! Since I only had a Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix in my cupboard (Betty Crockers mixes are only 13.25 oz instead of the 15.25 oz), I added 3 tbls of flour to the mix to even it out. It ended up baking almost an hour in my oven. It turned out delicious. Loved the brown sugar cream cheese frosting.
Thank you!! So appreciate your tweaks for the smaller cake mix volume!
Amy
The icing in the photos looks so white, mine comes out of white almost yellow. Whole still delicious I’m just wonder if I’m I doing something wrong?
Probably not, could be your butter is a bit yellower and so it tints it. Sometimes the pictures don’t quite show the true color either. The brown sugar definitely gives it a yellow-y tint.
Tori Hopkins
Hi! I made this recently and it is better than the nothing bundt cakes! Just curious, if I wanted to make the white chocolate raspberry one, would I obviously just need to change the cake mix and pudding? Thank you for a great recipe!
Thanks so much Tori, So glad you loved the cake, it’s a family favorite of ours too! Oddly enough I am just about to hit publish on a white chocolate raspberry copycat bundt cake, check it out!
Julie Menghini
I used to buy those cakes for work functions but they were so pricy. This is my favorite recipe and they’re even more delicious. Your tips are great too!
Donna
Can I use vegetable oil in lieu of avocado oil?
Hi Donna, yes of course! Any vegetable oil will work, thanks I will amend the recipe to reflect that!
Caeles
Cake was very dense and eggy. I used Ghiradelli cake mix.
Nearly all NB Coppycat recipes I’ve seen call for four eggs. Maybe just use the yolks? Good flavor just not the right texture.
Thanks for letting me know, I have made this more times than I can count and it’s never come out eggy, dense maybe but that’s the way my family likes it, but I wouldn’t say eggy. I believe the Ghirardelli cake mixes are several ounces less ingredients than a standard cake mix, I will have to try sometime using Ghirardelli as I love their mixes, but that could have something to do with the reason it came out more dense and eggy.
Caeles
@Kathleen, interesting. I didn’t notice that. I just thought the Ghiradelli mix would be higher quality and have less cake mix “aftertaste” My family are big fans of the brownie mix. I can see how having less dry ingredients would make a difference. I will try again with a full size mix. Thanks for pointing that out!
You bet, I have tried recipes with higher quality mix ingredients and they are usually a lesser quantity and have discovered they don’t usually turn out as well. I might play around with this and see if I can’t come up with a modification using a cake mix like Ghirardelli! Thanks and hope it turns out for you!
Debbie
I just found your site and signed up for your newsletter. The main reason is because the recipe has high altitude instructions. We moved to northern Colorado about 10 yrs ago, and I’m still trying to figure out high altitude cooking. We are at 5100′. I am also here because my faith is important to me, too.
Thank you so much Debbie, for taking time out of your busy day to write this kind comment! So glad to meet another Coloradan whose faith means a lot!
Karen
First thing I do on Friday’s is look for your email. I so look forward to your recipes! My sister Julie would be so thrilled!
Awe, thank you so much Karen! Love hearing this and sure do miss your sister!
Lisa
So moist and delicious!
Love hearing this, thanks for commenting Lisa!
Lisa
Very moist and delish! I get requests for this!!
Erin
We made this decadent chocolate bundt cake for Easter weekend, and there was NONE left. The cake is so moist and delicious and that frosting… wow! We’ll definitely be making this again.
Carol A Hudson
Really enjoyed this chocolate bundt cake. Moist, rich, delicious!
Deb Clark
The magical thing about Nothing Bundt Cakes is how moist their cakes are. This did not disappoint! It was so chocolatey and delicious. 5 stars!!!
MICHAELA KENKEL
I made this yesterday and I can tell you I won’t be needing to visit nothing bundt cakes anymore!! This is SO MUCH BETTER!
Lynn Spencer
OK, I have a problem. It seems that everytime I read one of your recipes, my scale just automatically adds 5 lbs! Argh! This looks OUTSTANDING!!
Bwah, ha-ha!! So if I read a blog post about exercising or an uber healthy meal plan, the scale will shed the lbs!?
Nikki Lee
This checks all the delicious boxes! Yum!
Tasia ~ two sugar bugs
Loving all the tips on how to doctor a box cake Kathleen! This bundt cake looks amazing!! I bet it’s even better than the original too!
Thank you Tasia! We think it’s better, especially for the price!
Debi
My mom always made her cakes by adding pudding to the mix. When I saw your recipe I knew I had to try it & this did not disappoint. Great moist yummy cake!
Yippee!! So glad you loved it!
bob
Wowzer…this is pure decadent … right? Good thing, no calories…! To bad it’s not Father’s Day! And, happy Mother’s Day to you!
Thank you, thank you kind sir! Maybe you could make this for Mother’s day and then you get to enjoy it as well! Blessings and thank you!