Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake

Dark chocolate cake baked up in a bundt pan and then drizzled with chocolate peppermint ganache and sprinkled with crushed peppermint candies. It’s a surprisingly easy recipe with enough wow-factor for all of your holiday gatherings.

Bundt cakes seem intimidating because of how beautiful they are, but in reality, they’re way easier than any layer cake I’ve ever made. The hardest part is flipping the cake out of the bundt pan, but if you know the right tricks, it’s a breeze.

This cake is rich and decadent and will have everyone asking for the recipe. My little Griffin and I could NOT STOP EATING IT. I was trying to photograph and he kept saying “Eat cake mama!” and trying to grab at it. I really can’t blame him though, and once I got a few shots of it, we 100% shared three slices of it. Oops!

Alright, like I said, making this cake is super easy and delicious so enough talk, let’s get to it!

How to Make Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake

It’s very important when making cake that all of your ingredients are room temperature. So the butter, eggs, milk, and sour cream, need to sit out on the counter for at least 2 hours before starting this cake. Once everything is at room temp, preheat the oven to 350.

Make the Cake Batter

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars for 5 minutes, scraping down the bottom and sides of the pan as needed. Add the sour cream and mix to combine.

Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. (Add half of the dry, then add all of the milk, then add the remaining half of the dry.) Mix until just combined, with a few streaks of flour remaining.

While stirring with a rubber spatula, slowly pour in the hot coffee. Continue to stir until well combined. Prepare your bundt pan by spraying it with non stick spray. I suggest using one that contains flour, like Baker’s Joy. If you don’t have any, you can spray with regular non stick spray and then dust with cocoa powder. You want to give it a good coat, but not too much so that the spray pools up at the bottom of the pan.

Bake the Cake and Remove it From Bundt Pan

Pour the cake batter into the bundt pan and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached. The cake will continue to cook a little bit after you take it out of the oven, so if you wait until a toothpick comes out totally clean, the cake will end up over baking in the hot pan.

Let the bundt cake cool for 10-15 minutes, then flip it out onto a cooling rack by placing the cooling rack on top of the cake, then quickly and confidently flipping it over. Tap the top of the cake pan and you should feel the cake release from the pan. If it doesn’t release, flip it back over and let it sit in the pan another 5 minutes, then try again.

If you let it sit in the cake pan too long, it might stick. If a few pieces do stick to the pan, you can easily cover them with the chocolate peppermint glaze. Let the cake cool completely on the cooling rack, then transfer it to your serving dish.

Make the Chocolate Peppermint Glaze

In a medium microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate, heavy cream, and corn syrup. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract paste.

Pour the glaze over the cooled chocolate bundt cake and then sprinkle with the crushed peppermint candies. I like to use the “Soft Peppermint Candies” rather than actual candy canes. They aren’t actually soft like gummies, but more like those melt-in-your-mouth mints you get at weddings. You can find them at Target, Walmart, on Amazon, etc. And they’re much easier on your teeth than crushed candy canes.

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If you loved this recipe, be sure to check out my Triple Chocolate Macarons, and my Pumpkin Caramel Snickerdoodles.