Homemade cake with mild spices and cocoa in a bundt pan drizzled with white icing makes a beautiful Chocolate Spice Cake.

Chocolate bundt cake with light spices and cocoa drizzled with white icing on a glass tray on a red napkin

If you like this easy recipe you’ll also enjoy our Best Moist & Rich Chocolate Cake, Box Mix Turtle Cake and Sherry Wine Cake.

Homemade Chocolate Bundt Cake

Common ingredients can quickly be mixed together to make an easy and delicious bundt cake that you’ll want to eat again and again. Whether it’s our Glazed Rum Bundt Cake, this chocolate bundt cake, our Black Forest Cherry Bundt Cake or the holiday classic Blackberry Jam Cake we love how pretty the pan makes this easy dessert!

Bundt cake is simple to make, but looks and tastes fancy. So if you’re feeling fancy, but don’t have much time to invest in a recipe try this chocolate cake!

Buttermilk adds a rich flavor that adds to the bakery-quality taste. Don’t have buttermilk, mix 1 tablespoon of white vinegar OR lemon juice with enough regular milk to make 1 cup full. Or yogurt can be substituted but may change the consistency of the cake a little bit.

Don’t have a bundt pan? There’s a very basic bundt pan like the one I have for under $10 on Amazon. There are also several other fun designs and impressive shapes that would be fun to experiment with.

Slice of chocolate bundt cake in front of whole homemade bundt cake, both are drizzled with cream cheese icing

Do I Really Need to Mix Dry Ingredients in a Separate Bowl?

It depends on your experience baking and how good you are at getting all ingredients in the bowl and mixing them evenly.

The first time my husband made this cake it was smaller and a bit more dense than the second time he made it. I asked what changed.

On the first cake our preschooler was very excited about helping and spilled some dry ingredients (likely a good bit of baking soda( on the counter. The second time, he made it alone and more accurately followed the instructions.

Using the correct amount of baking soda, getting in the bowl, keeping it in the bowl and mixing it evenly throughout the other ingredients will make a less dense, lighter cake with a consistency that we expect.

I don’t typically measure and mix dry ingredients separately, but I understand the purpose of each ingredient and how to get it mixed properly.

Chunk of chocolate spice bundt cake with moist crumbles and covered in icing

Tips for Making Chocolate Bundt Cake

Follow the recipe closely and mix the baking soda in properly throughout all of the batter
Grease the entire bundt pan well since it will be flipped over and we want the entire cake to release from the pan
Allow cake to settle for about 10 – 15 minutes once removing from the oven
Use hot pads and be careful when putting a plate or platter on top of bundt pan when turning over to release the cake
During the flipping process, keep plate and cake pan pressed securely together to avoid shifting

How to Make Chocolate Spice Bundt Cake

Cream shortening with sugar
Add cocoa and egg. Mix well.
Sift dry ingredients together.
Alternate adding dry mixture and buttermilk to creamed mixture.
Add vanilla and mix well.
Pour into a well-greased bundt or tube pan.
Bake 30 minutes in a 375°F or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let cool for 10 minutes. Place a serving plate or tray on top of pan. Carefully flip over, so cake site on tray and remove bundt pan.

Pink banner with text Chocolate Spice Bundt Cake on a pink plaid napkin with chocolate cake and white icing

How to Ice a Bundt Cake

We like how quick this recipe is, so we use a can of store-bought icing to top off this easy dessert.

Use your favorite flavor of icing. We love cream cheese icing. Caramel icing would also taste great on this cake.

We’ve get the best results when allowing the cake to cool completely and then taking 1/3 to 1/2 of a can of icing and softening it in the microwave. Stir with a spoon. Before applying to the cake make sure the mixture is smooth and liquid enough to drizzle over the cake. If you pick your spoon up and a glob falls off the icing needs to be warmed a bit longer.

Begin by applying a thin drizzle of icing because you can always add more icing, but it’s difficult and not very pretty to remove.

We have applied cream cheese icing to a warm cake and it curdled a bit. Still tasted great, but not the best look.

Feel free to try the cake without icing or mix up some confectioners sugar and milk to make quick homemade icing.

Next time I make this cake I want to try making this Sweetened Condensed Milk Buttercream Frosting!