Chocolate Cake for Valentine’s Day (or any other day)

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As part of the Valentine’s Day dinner I made for Lisa and Emma (yes, there was an empty chair at the table this year…) I made this awesome Chocolate Bundt Cake for dessert. It’s a very simple recipe, and really doesn’t need a glaze or frosting, although the fresh whipped cream and fresh blackberries added a nice touch. The bonus is the not-really-melted chocolate chips that float throughout the cake.

For the unsweetened cocoa I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa, and for the chocolate chips (and chopped semisweet chocolate) I used Ghirardelli semisweet chips.

I’ll also take an aside here to say that, for some reason, Bundt pans seem to be in high demand these days in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. I looked at several stores, including Goodwill, and nobody had one. I finally found one at Target, which was my 5th or 6th stop in my errands last Saturday. Have Bundt cakes suddenly become The Thing?

Enough grousing: make this and your loved ones will think you’re nothing short of spectacular. On to the recipe.

Chocolate-Buttermilk Bundt Cake
2 c flour
1 1/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa

1 oz finely chopped semisweet chocolate
1/2 c water, boiling
1 c low-fat buttermilk
1/2 c canola oil
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 10-inch Bundt pan with nonstick spray.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl.
Combine cocoa and chopped chocolate in small bowl. Pour boiling water over cocoa mixture, stirring until chocolate is melted.
Whisk together buttermilk, oil, egg, egg white, and vanilla in large bowl; stir in cocoa mixture. Add flour mixture, stirring just until no longer visible. Stir in chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 45–50 minutes.
Let cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Invert and remove pan. Let cool completely.

jtl