Sometimes [chocolate bundt cake with chocolate glaze]

Sometimes my husband goes to grad school and he take the computer with him.

Sometimes that happens on a weekend.

Gone are my chances to laze around, pinning recipes to try and catching up on blog reading.  Instead, I’m forced off of my butt and into work mode.  Laundry happens, cleaning happens, I mean, really the possibilities are endless.  I used to shudder when he took the computer, but now I like it.  It makes me do stuff.  Like realize what a time-sucker this stupid machine actually is.  Whoa, that was harsh.

Let’s eat some cake.

One computer-less morning, I dusted off the cookbooks on my shelf when I realized it was my half birthday.  Because if Pinterest has taught me anything, it’s that half birthdays require half cakes.  Also because I’m working on celebrating this year.  I went straight to Joy the Baker because she’s always a good time.  My gut instinct was to go with cream cheese pound cake, because holy heaven, it looked so dreamy.  But, keeping in mind this was a half birthday cake, I thought cutting a loaf cake in half wouldn’t be exciting at all.  So I upped my game and made her chocolate Bundt cake with chocolate glaze.  Half a Bundt cake certainly makes a point.

I brought this half to my in-laws on the blessed day and brought the other half to work the following day.

And that half tasted better.  (And yes, the glaze is lumpy because I used yogurt instead of sour cream.)  So to all you cake-bakers out there who can’t seem to get it together to make things ahead of time: 1.  I hear you.  2.  This is so much better when made a day ahead of time.

To make Chocolate Bundt Cake to feed an army, you will need:

For the cake:

• 1 1/4 C hot prepared coffee
• 1 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 C all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 C granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 C sour cream (I used full fat plain yogurt)
• 1 C plus 2 T vegetable oil

For the glaze:

• 3/4 C unsalted butter
• 1 C (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate
• 4 T hot prepared coffee
• 1/3 C sour cream, at room temperature (I used the same yogurt and my glaze was both unimpactedly delicious and gloppy)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour a Bundt pan.  Because of all the cracks and crevices in said pan, I find reciting a quick prayer is also effective.  Take out a large, medium, and small bowl.

In the large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.  Set aside.  In the medium bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs until thick and pale.  Add sour cream and oil, and carefully whisk until well incorporated.  In small bowl, whisk together coffee and cocoa powder until smooth.  Add egg mixture, all at once, to flour mixture.  Once no lumps remain, add coffee mixture and gently mix to incorporate.  The batter will be loose and smooth.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 45-60 minutes, until skewer inserted in cake comes out clean.  Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan 20 minutes, before removing.  Let cool completely on wire rack.

When cake is cool, make the glaze.  Place butter and chocolate in heat-proof bowl over 2 inches of simmering water.  Stir until chocolate and butter are melted.  Remove from heat, stir in 2 T coffee.  Add sour cream, stirring gently till incorporated.  At this point, use the 2 remaining T coffee if the glaze needs thinning.  Mine was plenty thin already.

Depending on the chocolate you use, this glaze is super dark, and could easily be sweetened (and thus thickened) using some confectioners sugar.  Joy does that here.