When it comes to cake, some people love yellow cake and some crave chocolate cake. With this 1960s recipe you get the best of both, with a lovely swirl that makes for great presentation. The chocolate frosting on this cake is the last step to make it a special-occasion-worthy cake that has something for everyone.

This recipe got its start in the 1960s- the era when shortcuts in the kitchen were widely published in advertisements and magazines. It was the age of convenience foods recipes, although this cake is still made from scratch.

The secret to this recipe is the addition of chocolate syrup. You start by making the yellow cake batter and pouring 2/3 of that into a bundt cake pan.

Then the remaining batter is mixed with the chocolate syrup to create the chocolate swirl. The key is to not mix the two batters in the pan, instead simply pouring the chocolate batter over top of the yellow batter.

The addition of the optional orange or mint extract in the chocolate batter makes for a lovely flavor that isn’t too strong. We used orange for this recipe and it added just the right dimension to this yummy (and moist) cake.

The finishing touch for this cake is a nice chocolate frosting on top which makes this a cake that looks really nice on the table. This chocolate frosting recipe is one of our favorites, but you could also use store-bought or even a chocolate drizzle on top to complete this fantastic cake.

Served with a nice glass of cold milk or even a scoop of ice cream this dessert is sure to please the family.

Serves 16

20 minutes inactive, 60 minutes+ inactive

Ingredients
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cup sugar
  • 11 tablespoons butter (1/3 pound)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3/4 cup chocolate syrup
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon mint or orange extract (optional)
Preparation
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
  2. Sift dry ingredients together (except for baking soda) and set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar together and add eggs one at a time.
  4. Alternate adding milk mixture and butter mixture to dry ingredients.
  5. Dump 2/3 of the batter into prepared bundt pan.
  6. Combine the remaining batter with chocolate syrup, baking soda, and optional mint or orange extract. Mix well. Pour chocolate batter into bundt pan, but do not stir into the first batter.
  7. Bake for around 45 minutes. Then cover with foil and bake for an additional 10-20 minutes.
  8. Let cake cool completely before inverting. Top with your favorite store-bought or homemade dark chocolate frosting.

Recipe adapted from Click Americana.

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