Blender Chocolate Cake
I realize that 90% of the chocolate cakes you see here are bundt cakes. There are two reasons for this: 1) I like dense, damp, not-too-sweet (even squidgy) chocolate cakes best. And 2) I’m pretty lazy; I’d rather not deal with the layers, which require to be dressed with frosting, and I like the sort of cake you can eat by the wedge – it’s easier to shave off a nibble here and there.
And so last Sunday, having just made a round of smoothies, I decided that while the blender was out I’d fast-track the batter for a chocolate cake I had decided to bring my mother in law, who likes a wedge of cake to nibble every night before bed. My standard chocolate cake has a very thin batter anyway; I figured it could be blitzed up like a smoothie and poured into the pan. Right?
I was being so lazy about it all that I didn’t even go upstairs to get my camera, but just pulled my phone out of my pocket, and the photos of brown goo it took won’t encourage you to want to make it. You still get the gist? The verdict: it worked, although I wish I had a blender that didn’t require so much scraping. The first cake I dusted with icing sugar to help it not look naked; the next time I warmed some cream on the stove, added some chocolate chips (a ratio of about 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream), took it off the heat and let it sit a minute, then stirred it smooth and dribbled it overtop. (If you want to get fancy, go ahead and call it a ganache drizzle – you won’t be lying.)
Blender Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 350F and spray a bundt pan really well with nonstick spray.
Put the sugar, milk, oil, eggs and vanilla into a blender and pulse until well-blended and smooth. Add the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the hot water or coffee overtop (it will start to bubble as it hits the baking powder and soda) and pulse, scraping down the sides of the blender once or twice, until smooth.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or until cracked on top and springy to the touch. Let cool for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F and spray a bundt pan really well with nonstick spray.
Put the sugar, milk, oil, eggs and vanilla into a blender and pulse until well-blended and smooth. Add the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the hot water or coffee overtop (it will start to bubble as it hits the baking powder and soda) and pulse, scraping down the sides of the blender once or twice, until smooth.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or until cracked on top and springy to the touch. Let cool for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.
Such easy pound cake sounds just like cake for me 😀
These are the best kind of cakes. I love simple bundt cakes too. Mainly because they are never heavily frosted and I love cake but not so much the frosting.
My favourite line: “…who likes a wedge of cake to nibble every night before bed.” For some reason, this has me thinking alternatively of Winnie the Pooh and a Hobbit. Of course, if I had THOSE cakes, I’d be nibbling every night (and most likely every morning)as well!!:)
Photos look good to me, as does the cake!
This is my mother in law’s recipe for chocolate cake too. Easy and satisfying!
and who doesn’t want a slice of cake before bed?
Can this be made in a food processor instead of a blender?
My son and I just finished putting this in the oven for our St. Paddy’s day dinner tonight – heated up a cup of guinness instead of coffee – yikes, hope it works! Julie, will it work or have just put into play some crazy chemical reaction that’s about to blow??? 🙂
Would it work to spray the inside of your blender with non stick spray first maybe?
Bette – I think the volume would be too much for a food processor… and if it’s anything like mine, it would leak with such runny batter!
Danzy – how did it turn out???
Janet – not sure it would help.. the batter is so thin it wouldn’t pour out cleanly regardless. And blenders tend to have so many ridges! Will give it a try though!
Oh man, who DOESN’T want a wedge of cake to nibble on each night? This sounds fantastic
Turned out beautifully moist and with the perfect texture that soaked up the cream/butter/irish whiskey/sugar sauce we poured over it! We are adding it to our list of favourites. Thanks for the recipe Julie.
Serves 8 to 16! Love that so much…at my house only 8 for sure.
Made the vanilla version of this cake. Just skipped the cocoa and hot water .I just took out the cake from the oven. It looks very moist and spongy.
Thanks for the recipe.
I combined this with your chocolate zucchini cake. Added about 2 c rough-cubed zucchini before dry ingredients. Also added 1 tsp cinnamon. Omitted coffee. Oh man! Very moist and delish!
Sounds wonderful and easy to make
I will make this for a friend Rose when she comes over tomorrow
Thank you so much
This looks great and very easy! Is it for a 6-, 10-, or 12-cup bundt pan? I have the 6-cup; should I cut the recipe in half?
Easy to make, followed recipe exactly, didn’t need any extra cooking time, fell out of the greased and floured pan perfectly, dusted with confectioner’s sugar, and it tastes delicious. Excellent recipe.
So good to hear it!
We made this cake for my son’s birthday yesterday and it turned out beautiful! I split it into two 8″ cake pans and baked for about 30 minutes. It made a moist and lovely cake!
So great to hear it Caroline!
For high altitude adde2 Tablespoons of flour!
Thank you
How long in the oven?
For high altitude add 2 Tablespoons of flour
How long is the baking .
This cake didn’t fit in my blender! I mixed the sugar and wet ingredients and tried scooping in the flour and it filled right to the top so I tipped it into a bowl and mixed it by hand. It’s in the oven right now.
Oh no! I guess some blenders are smaller than others!
I’ve made this a couple of times. Easy and tasty! Foolproof!
yay!!