This recipe comes from Test Kitchen contributor Jessie Damuck’s grandmother, Kathy. The story goes that in a house devoid of sweets, this was the only dessert she ever made. It remains a family—and Bon Appétit Test Kitchen—favorite. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.
Recipe information
Yield
16 Servings
Ingredients
Chocolate Streusel
1
1
½
2
Cake and Assembly
1
4
2
2
½
2
4
2
2
Special Equipment
Preparation
Chocolate Streusel
Step 1
Combine walnuts, chocolate chips, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
Cake and Assembly
Step 2
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour Bundt pan, tapping out excess flour. Whisk 4 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat granulated sugar and 1 cup butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend and scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients in 2 additions, alternating with sour cream. Add vanilla and beat just to combine.
Step 3
Transfer half of batter to prepared pan; smooth surface. Sprinkle half of streusel evenly over batter. Scrape in remaining batter, smooth surface, and sprinkle with remaining streusel. Bake cake until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 70–80 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 30 minutes before inverting onto wire rack. Let cool completely.
Step 4
Do Ahead: Cake can be made 3 days ahead. Store tightly covered at room temperature.
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Reviews (497)
Back to TopAgree with everyone that it's a huge portion. It does fit in my bundt pan, but you might need to use two pans, depending on size. Additionally the streusel instructions don't really make sense. The first time, I made it according to the recipe, and I didn't like the way the streusel was at the bottom of the slice, and halfway in the slice. The cake ended up breaking in half because the streusel made it into two separate pieces. This time, I just alternated large spoons of the batter and small spoons of the streusel. It's great now. A tip: use room temperature eggs and sour cream, in addition to the butter.
G2
1/9/2023
After seeing all of the reviews, I prepared 2 bundt pans; one 10-cup and a "mini", 6-cup pan, and it was just right. Looking at the recipe, if you halved it, it would fit into a 10-cup bundt pan. I didn't make any other changes to the recipe and it's delicious!
Peggy KT
Oakland, CA
4/24/2022
As with all the others, this cake spilled over the top seriously! It's okay as far as taste but nothing over the top. The texture of the cake is good. And YES... the cake is upside down with the streusel. Whoever created this recipe must not understand the dynamics of baking. I'm going to try this again and tweak it so that it won't bubble over the top and will try to do something different with the streusel because it just doesn't work well this way!
Carolyn
Missouri
12/17/2021
super good. i made it without walnuts. i will say that i definitely overworked the dough, not only did it get HUGE because of the gluten but the texture was a little more spongey and less cakey. still great though. also i thought it was weird that this cake is made in a bundt pan and not a normal fluted pan because it's essentially upside down. the streusel is on the opposite side of the cute bundt design. right? just me? also no, lol, this cake doesn't contain coffee. but it would go great with coffee, or ice cream, or anything else really.
livgrasso
new jersey, usa
6/20/2020
A great cake! It’s super easy to make and really delicious. If you’re like me and you like a strong vanilla flavour, doubling the amount of vanilla makes it taste even better. I have also substituted the cinnamon for half cinnamon and half nutmeg to make it taste a little more Christmas-y. Just a note: you definitely need to both butter and flour the pan. It also rises quite a bit so make sure you have an adequately sized Bundt pan.
Anonymous
Canada
6/7/2020
Does this contain any coffee at all?
yjs
The Netherlands
4/26/2020
I have made this recipe probably 20 times over the last 2 or 3 years and I always get compliments when I make it. That being said, I have literally never made it in a tube or bundt pan because it always looks like way too much batter for such a pan. I always make it in a 9x13 glass pan and it always spills over the sides
Anonymous
12/2/2019