Chocolate Bundt Cake, Because It's Monday

Photo credit: James Ransom, Food52

You were really healthy this January. You ate a ton of leafy veggies and kicked your soda habit. Or you’re doing the meatless Mondays thing and are going to darn well stick to lentils for dinner (even though you’re totally craving a cheeseburger).

Now it’s the tail end of February. Your town/city/thatched hut looks muddy and sodden, and you’re pining for tulips and springy breezes. Or maybe you weren’t fed enough chocolate on Valentine’s Day. And it’s Monday.

Are those sufficient excuses? Make a cake. A big cake. A cake with a snowy powder of sugar. A cake “you can throw together in 15 minutes, and it will be out of the oven in another 45—making your total time to greatness about an hour,” as the wise women of Food52 put it.

There’s a reason this cake beat all others in a contest. Thanks to the addition of a full cup of fresh coffee, it’s so moist it’s nearly plush. It looks gorgeous, and it’s easy as all get out. So go to town. Eat it for breakfast tomorrow. Because then your excuse will be that it’s Tuesday.

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Courtesy of Food52

• 2 cups sugar

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cups dutch process cocoa powder, plus more for dusting

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 cup sour milk

• 1 cup freshly brewed strong black coffee

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 2 eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a bundt pan and dust the inside with cocoa powder, set aside.

2. Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

3. In a mixer on low add the milk, coffee, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla one at a time. mix until everything is incorporated. Then, with the mixer still on low speed, slowly add in the dry ingredients. Once all of the flour mixture is added, mix the batter for a full four minutes on medium speed.

4. Then, pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Then, dust with powdered sugar and serve.