My grandmother regularly prepared this traditional dish. It is quick and simple to make and pairs well with coffee. Lemon glaze is optionally available to go along with the mild lemon flavor.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 10-inch Bundt cake |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 (3.5 ounce) package non-instant chocolate pudding mix
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 ⅓ cups white sugar
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups chopped walnuts
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 6 tablespoons milk, or as needed
Instructions
- Make the filling: In a medium pan, combine 1 1/2 cups milk and pudding mix. Cook as directed on the package. Add chocolate chips and stir until melted. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt or tube pan.
- Make the cake batter: In a large bowl, combine white sugar, butter, and shortening. Beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs. Mix well.
- Add flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking powder, salt, and 1 cup milk to a bowl. Beat on low speed until moistened. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes, then stir in walnuts.
- Reserve 2 cups of the batter. Pour remaining batter into the prepared pan. Spoon the filling in a ring on top of the batter, making sure it does not touch the sides of the pan. Spoon reserved batter over the filling.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the cake springs back when touched lightly in the center, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool for 1 hour in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
- Make the glaze: In a small bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar and remaining 1/4 cup cocoa. Stir in enough milk to reach desired drizzling consistency. Spoon glaze over the cooled cake, allowing some to run down the sides.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 659 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 70 g |
| Cholesterol | 97 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15 g |
| Sodium | 279 mg |
| Sugars | 44 g |
| Fat | 41 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Just follow the directions I love the rich chocolate taste with a scoop of chocolate ice cream, yum
My oven at 5000 ft altitude was only 40 mins
I used a box cake mix with pudding but it wasn’t quite thick enough to keep the tunnel in the middle. It ended up tasting delicious, though! A happy birthday cake for sure!
I made this using pillsbury recipe but also added 1/2 pkg of instant chocolate pudding. It came out perfect. Fudge in the middle and delicious with vanilla ice cream. Reminds of my childhood. Don’t over bake and let cool completely.
No I will not make it again. Cake part was way to dry and not enough chocolate taste.
so delicious and beautiful
My SO made this for my birthday this past month and it was a hit at my party! I will agree with other posters that while the flavor is good and the filling is the best part, the cake part is a bit dry and dense, but that can easily be resolved by putting a slice in the microwave before eating. Adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side does wonders as well!
I made this cake for my husband and Step-son’s birthday. The cake was very good, but is very rich and VERY chocolaty. I may try it again but substitute vanilla or some other flavor in the middle just to break it up a bit. All in all though, it was a hit and for once, I didn’t have a lot leftover. I also frosted it with regular frosting instead of glazing it. I would also probably use vanilla frosting next time.
Dry, dry, dry. Made this cake for my daughters 18th birthday, she is a chocoholic and picked it out, she usually has chocolate ‘dirt’ cake but decided to be more mature this year. I had a piece and the bites from the inside of the cake, especially with the walnuts were quite pleasant, but the outer layer was so very dry I couldn’t enjoy it. She said the pudding tunnel tasted weird, but was good. Sorry, but I wouldn’t make this again. The idea is good, maybe made with a Texas sheet cake recipe?
This was so good. Everyone loved it. I added about 1/2 cup more chocolate chips. Reminded me of the bundtcake my mom used to make when we were kids.
This was a good cake but not as good as I was anticipating. The tunnel of fudge turned out wonderfully! It was the best part of the cake for me. I’m rating this a 4 because my husband and his family thought it was good but I personally would’ve rated it a 3. Thought the cake part was too dry. I will make this again because the fudge was the best but will be using a box cake mix next time and see how that works out instead!
The tunnel of pudding is really good and I had no problem getting it to not touch the sides. However the cake itself is on the dry side. Everyone around the table ate it, but only a few said they would eat it again. My sister ate the leftovers by just eating the pudding layer! Oh and I just sprayed the pan with PAM and skipped the flour part and had no problems with it sticking to the pan. If I made this again I think I will try a different recipe to make the cake, but I would definitely keep the pudding part the same.
This cake is the standard birthday cake in my family now! Absolutely the best, and easy to do. I’d give it more stars if I could.
This cake came out dark, rich and moist. The kids got into it when the pudding “tunnel” was still warm and they raved at how good it was. I followed the recipe exactly with spectacular results. The cake itself was much darker than in the photo with a delicious strong dark chocolate taste.
This cake tasted fine but it didn’t turn out as good as I thought it would. I agree with the comment about adding a white chocolate filling, that would have been much tastier. And if you have a solid chocolate cake recipe already, I would use that instead of making this one.
I’m giving this 4 stars because I like the idea of it and it was fun to make… and I would make it again, but with certain changes. I would use vanilla pudding with white chocolate chips or maybe butterscotch pudding with butterscotch chips and I’d use a different type of glaze on top. For me and my husband the cake was pure chocolate and for us it was way to rich and powerful. I took this cake to a church activity and it was gobbled up… apparently there are a lot of dark chocolate lovers at my church. So if you like dark chocolate – this cake is for you. If not, I’d say it’s a good idea to try your own ideas – like I will do next time using white chocolate… Tunnel of White Chocolate Fudge – I like the sound of that!
I don’t agree this cake is too dry. It does not taste like a boxed cake, more like my grandmother’s cakes she used to bake. I did use buttermilk instead of regular milk. Thanks for a great recipe!
This cake was very dry, but I loved the tunnel of fudge.I will use the filling in a regular cake mix! thanks!
I made this cake for my mother’s birthday, and it was a huge success! It is a very rich, dense cake… very impressive, unusual, and good for special occasions. The only suggestion I might have is to sift the cocoa and powdered sugar together before mixing with the milk for the glaze. My sugar was a bit clumpy and by the time I realised it, it was already on the cake.
I have attempted to make this cake with several different recipes. This is the best recipe I have found. The only problem I had was the first set of instructions. It said to make the non-instant pudding as directed, BUT with 1.5 cups of milk (directions on non-instant pudding called for 2 cups of milk). Overall, it was an easy cake to make that people awed at!!
It was the the T of F cake my husband grew up with but the flavor was good, it came out of the oven perfect, and made a pretty looking cake. Thanks.