Tunnel of Fudge Cake
Tunnel of Fudge cake was made famous by the Pillsbury Bake-Off. This version from America’s Test Kitchen is chocolatey and indulgent, as the name would suggest.
Hello beautiful!
This cake just screams indulgent with it’s chocolatey cake filled with a gooey underbaked center and topped with a chocolate glaze. It’s the perfect dessert to impress friends, family members, or that special someone in your life.
I made this cake for dinner with some friends. We all went back for seconds. As you can see in the pictures, I overbaked mine a smidge since my tunnel wasn’t quite as gooey as other pictures I’ve seen of this cake. I can tell you that I’ve made it again since taking these pictures and baked it a few minutes less and it had a more gooey-underbaked center. So my suggestion is to take the cake out a little before you think you need to.
I served the cake with some fresh raspberries and at the last second added some freshly whipped cream to the table as well. Even for this chocolate lover, I enjoyed the berries and cream to cut through the intense chocolateness coming from this cake.
I love the tip from America’s Test Kitchen to paint the inside of the bundt pan with a melted butter and cocoa mixture. Not only was it fun to do, it yielded a cake that came out of it’s pan with no issues. I’m definitely going to be using that trick for other chocolate bundt cakes in the future.
Two Years Ago: Black and Tan Brownies and Cherry M&M Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Three Years Ago: Colorful Cumin Quinoa Salad and Black Forest Cupcakes
Four Years Ago: Chinese Restaurant Almond Cookies
Tunnel of Fudge Cake
Tunnel of Fudge cake was made famous by the Pillsbury Bake-Off. This version from America's Test Kitchen is chocolatey and indulgent, as the name would suggest.
Yield: Serves 12-14
Ingredients:
For the Pan
1 Tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
For the Cake
1/2 cup boiling water
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups flour
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
5 eggs, at room temperature
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
20 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
For the Glaze
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions:
For the Pan
Preheat the oven to 350 degF. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and melted butter. Use a pastry brush to evenly coat the inside of a 12-cup bundt pan.
For the Cake
In a medium bowl, pour the boiling water over the chopped chocolate. Let stand for a minute, then whisk until smooth. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and salt. Combine the eggs and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup and beat lightly.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add in the egg mixture just until combined. Add the chocolate mixture and mix until incorporated. Blend in the dry ingredients until just combined.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the edges of the cake begin to pull away from the pan.
Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for 2 hours before inverting onto a cake platter. Allow to cool completely, about 2 more hours.
For the Glaze
Combine the cream, corn syrup, and chocolate in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until smooth. Blend in the vanilla. Set aside for about 30 minutes, until slightly thickened. Drizzle the glaze over the cake and let set for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
Recipe from Cook's Illustrated Entertaining, Holiday 2010
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
These are absolutely GORGEOUS! I’ve never seen a treat so perfect! So impressed!!
Beautiful job! I love the addition of chocolate and peppermint on the bottom for additional texture!
Oh my goodness those are so pretty!
OMG these are adorable!! Great job.
wow, these are so pretty and look delish!
how great are these! you can’t buy something that looks so nice.
Thanks everyone. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. Everyone loved them.
Wow, I’m impressed. Those look great. What did you do with over 100 meringues?? 🙂
Hallie – I took half to a holiday potluck and the other have came to my in-laws with us for Christmas. They’re going on the cookie tray. The good thing is they keep well and go fast! And Hubby loves them so I have a hard time keeping his hand out of the bag of these guys.
These are beautiful!
Hi, these look great and I want to try them as gifts this year. Thanks! One question, how do you “paint” the red coloring into the bag?
Ali,
Using a small paint brush, I dipped it into the food coloring and painted stripes on the inside of the pastry bag prior to filling it with the meringue.
These as well as your Raspberry Meringue Cookies look wonderful. I wish I had come upon these before the holidays as they would have made a great addition to my cookie plate!
i realize these were posted 2 years ago… but i just found them and they look wonderful! so pretty!