Greetings, friends! I have resisted posting this recipe because it is not wholly from scratch, and I personally have a weird, foodie sort of dedication to baking mostly from scratch. That being said, this is my absolute favorite chocolate cake, ever, so after making it three different times I simply had to share it. I have made many different scratch versions of this cake, and none of them equal this one. Some were too fudgy, others too dry, others too bitter.
You may already have many of the ingredients on hand to make it, and it would almost certainly be a hit with your family as a holiday dessert. Here’s the recipe.
CHOCOLATE KAHLUA BUNDT CAKE
The cake part of the recipe:
1 Devil’s Food Cake Mix (I used Pillsbury)
1 box (3 oz.) Chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup of heated water containing 1 tsp. Medaglia de oro instant coffee, then cooled.
3/4 cup Kahlua
1 10 oz. pkg. mini chocolate chips, or 1 cup chopped nuts, to fold in last (optional for either)
Grease and flour a bundt pan or spray it with vegetable spray. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips. Mix just until blended and no lumps are visible. Stir in the chocolate chips if you are adding them.
Bake at 325-350 on the center shelf of your oven for about 45-50 minutes. Allow it to cool in the pan on a cake rack, at least 20-25 minutes before attempting to dump it out.
As you can see by the below photo, the cake will rise slightly above the pan while baking, but the visible, shallow surface cracks are a characteristic of this cake, and nothing to worry about.
Invert the bundt pan over a cake rack by kind of slamming the pan down onto the cake rack. It should release from the pan easily. If it doesn’t, give it another thwack or two. It dumps out easier when still faintly warm than it does at room temperature. If you try to dump it when it is too warm, it may crack or break the cake.
Ganache glaze for cake
8 oz. Bittersweet Chocolate/or high quality semi-sweet chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream, scalded!
1 Tablespoon liquor, if desired, added last after the chocolate is dissolved into the whipping cream.
If the chocolate is in bar form, shave it with a knife, starting from a corner of the bar. Place the shavings (or chips) in a bowl, and either pour the hot whipping cream over them, or dump the chocolate into the hot whipping cream. Stir and fold it together gently with a spatula. Stir in a Tablespoon of Kahlua if desired. Pour or drizzle over the cake when the chocolate mixture is about 70-75 degrees.
I usually make a double batch of the above Ganache, to entirely coat the outside of the cake. But you could make the above batch and drizzle it artistically over the cake. Up to you. I do like some left over to keep in the refrigerator or freezer because it makes the BEST hot fudge sauce!
My first choice would be Belgian Bittersweet couverture chocolate, which I became accustomed to when I baked professionally. Some stores sell some brand of Bittersweet in 10-12 oz. bars or you can get 11# of it by ordering from somewhere like King Arthur Flour Co. or other suppliers. It keeps for quite some time. European couverture chocolate has 35-39% cocoa butter in it, which makes it a smooth standout from most American chocolates.
The only bad thing about making Ganache is that it is SO good! There is inevitably a lot left in the bowl that must be dealt with, and I usually volunteer to just eat it.
Just remember…
Have a lovely winter-fest holiday, however you celebrate!
Green Magick 
That photo makes the cake look other-worldly . From the list of ingredients, I’m sure it tastes that way too.