Quick Chocolate Banana Bundt Cake

This is the cake-mix hack that fools everyone. Start with a box of devil’s food, then load it up with mashed bananas, sour cream, and a box of instant pudding, and you’ve turned a shortcut into a dense, bakery-moist chocolate bundt.

That trio of add-ins is the whole trick. The pudding and sour cream pack in moisture and richness, while the bananas bring natural sweetness and a tender, almost fudgy crumb that keeps for days.

Use very ripe, spotty bananas, the kind you’d usually toss. They mash smoother and carry far more flavor than firm yellow ones.

Bake it in a bundt pan for that handsome fluted shape, then a drizzle of chocolate icing and a dusting of powdered sugar dress it up with almost no effort. Optional walnuts add a welcome crunch against all that moist cake.

Pro Tips

• Grease and flour the bundt pan thoroughly, getting into every crevice, so the cake releases cleanly. This is the biggest bundt pitfall.
• Use the spottiest, ripest bananas you have for the most flavor and sweetness.
• Cool in the pan 10 to 15 minutes before turning out: too soon and it tears, too long and it sticks.
• Don’t overbake; test with a tester in the center and pull it as soon as it comes out clean.

Variations

• Fold in chocolate chips along with, or instead of, the walnuts.
• Skip the icing and dust with cocoa or powdered sugar for a simpler finish.
• Add a teaspoon of espresso powder to deepen the chocolate flavor.