Cake Fridays

 
This my friends is a showstopper of a cake.  Dark, moist and rich with the perfect amount of crumb, this dessert will make you the talk of the party.

First, I made the glaze 2 days in advance, which I would not recommend.

Here's why:

1. It needs to be reheated to make it spreadable since it is so incredibly thick.
2. When you reheat it, it becomes chewy and undesirable in texture.

The flavor is still there but I recommend making the glaze as the cake is cooling so it will be warm when the cake is ready to be enrobed in it, no reheating necessary.

Second, I had some minor temperature issues when baking this cake but I hold my new oven accountable. Whenever I bake cakes above 350 degrees in my oven, they burn on top and rise unevenly.  Since this is a new recipe, I followed the directions and started baking the cake at 375 degrees.  I have finally learned my lesson.  After 15 minutes in the oven, there was a burnt smell coming from the kitchen so I turned down the oven temperature to 350 degrees.  I covered it after the recommended baking time of 30 minutes because it was not done yet and baked it for an additional 8 minutes.  The burnt part got flipped over and the glaze took care of the rest so nobody noticed, thank goodness!

All in all, we absolutely loved this cake.  The only change I'd make would be to add chocolate chips to the batter.  Then it would be a triple chocolate bundt cake :)          

Here is the recipe.   

FYI: I sprayed my bundt pan liberally with non stick spray and it came right out after cooling on a wire rack (no need to butter and dust with cocoa powder). I reduced the granulated sugar in the cake to 1 C and substituted 2 flax eggs for 2 real eggs.  I also left out the instant coffee since I knew my kids would be having some cake and I'd be sharing with families with small children.  For the glaze, I only added 1 C chocolate chips, along with a pinch of salt.