{"id":117152,"date":"2025-03-07T06:04:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T06:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/recipes\/category-a-b\/baking-category-a-b\/tunnel-of-fudge-cake-tunnel-of-fudge-recipe\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T06:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T06:04:17","slug":"tunnel-of-fudge-cake-tunnel-of-fudge-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=117152","title":{"rendered":"Tunnel of Fudge Cake | Tunnel of Fudge Recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"


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This updated version of the Tunnel of Fudge Cake is take on the classic nostalgic vintage cake that popularized the bundt pan. It features a creamy dark chocolate filling with nuts and cacao nibs!<\/p>\n

Jump to Recipe<\/a><\/p>\n

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Lately I\u2019ve been obsessed over nostalgic American vintage recipes like my version of the black bottom cupcakes<\/a> and secret ingredient peanut butter blossoms<\/a>. Next on my list was the classic Tunnel of Fudge cake that won Ella Helfrich second place in the 1966 Pillsbury Bake Off. What\u2019s remarkable is that it not only came in second place (the first-place winner, Mari Petrelli\u2019s Golden Gate Snack Bread is largely a footnote in the Bake Off history) but that it popularized Nordic Ware\u2019s bundt pan<\/a> (<\/p>\n

Nordic Ware started out in 1950 making bundt pans, but sales were slow until the Tunnel of Fudge cake recipe exploded in popularity. Soon, Nordic Ware had to run their factory 24\/7 to keep up with demands of their pan, cranking out 30,000 pans per day during the peak period. And once Pillsbury discontinued the key ingredient, Double Dutch Frosting Mix, bakers around the US complained so much that Pillsbury, brought back the mix temporarily, then eventually permanently discontinued it, finally posting a recipe for the cake that could be made without the frosting mix. Variations of the recipe have popped up here and there but the version that I ended up adapting was developed by Shirley Corriher, author of Bakewise<\/a> (<\/p>\n

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What is the Tunnel of Fudge Cake?<\/h2>\n

The Tunnel of Fudge cake is a cake that was initial created by Ella Helfrich for the 1966 Pillsbury Bake Off contest. It won 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0place and created a huge demand for the Bundt pan. The initial recipe used a powdered frosting mix which was discontinued in the mid-80s. The cake itself is a bundt cake that has a fudgy center, where the batter is slightly underbaked. Like a bundt pan version of the individual molten lava cake, the bundt cake is intensely chocolatey, and rich, with added nuts to give it texture and flavor.<\/p>\n

How this recipe is adapted<\/h2>\n

The original recipe used a powdered frosting mix that was discontinued. Though you can find similar powdered frosting mixes to replicate the original recipe, Pillsbury published a version of the cake<\/a> that you can make without this mix.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Food scientist and recipe developer Shirley Corriher built her version of the Tunnel of Fudge recipe from the ground up, creating a more reliable version of the cake. My version is adapted from Corriher\u2019s version, from her book Bakewise<\/a>. I did minor tweaks to the recipe, swapping out some of the nuts for roasted cacao nibs to amplify the chocolate flavor. I also added a little bit of espresso powder, again to amplify this chocolate flavor. Finally, I shifted the bake temperature so the oven is preheated to 400\u00b0F when you place the pan in, lowering the temperature to the more traditional 350\u00b0F after you place the cake in the oven. This initially hotter oven temperature helps sets the cake on the outside, ensuring that the outer part of the cake bakes and sets, while the inside stays moist and fudgy.<\/p>\n

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Is it safe to eat the undercooked center cake batter?<\/h2>\n

The more fudgy center of the cake is due to the cooked outer rim of the cake and the underdone center of the cake. The biggest concern some folks have is eating undercooked cake batter. The more concerning pathogen in undercooked cake batter is raw egg and flour. Both can harbor salmonella or E coli bacteria or other food borne pathogens. E. coli is killed at 160\u00b0F, salmonella is killed at 165\u00b0F. As long as the internal temperature of the cake reaches 165\u00b0F, there\u2019s no chance of getting sick from the cake. The internal temperature of the Tunnel of Fudge cake typically reaches about 180\u00b0F, which is high enough to kill common food borne pathogens, so it\u2019s perfectly safe to eat!<\/p>\n

How do you make this cake?<\/h2>\n

Making the tunnel of fudge cake is a little more labor intensive than just a typical bundt cake but don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s not THAT much more difficult.\u00a0\u00a0The first step is to toast the nuts and cacao nibs by cooking them slightly on a dry skillet. Toast them on medium heat, shaking and stirring, until they darken slightly and smell fragrant. Then add a couple tablespoons of butter and some salt to the toasted nuts. You can skip the toasting step, but it really punches up the flavor to the nuts.<\/p>\n

Then make the cake batter by placing the butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and mixing all the ingredients together until it\u2019s light and fluffy. This step is important because there\u2019s no chemical leavening (baking soda or baking powder) in the recipe. This would alter the interior fudge layer. So you really need to mechanically add air into the batter by creaming the sugar and butter together.<\/p>\n

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Once you have a fluffy and cream mixture, drizzle cooking oil into the batter, and then beat a little espresso powder into egg yolks. Add then add in the espresso egg yolks mixture and beat until incorporated.<\/p>\n

Add sifted powdered sugar (sifting makes sure the powdered sugar doesn\u2019t clump) along with sifted cocoa powder. Add eggs slowly, then the flour. Fold in the toasted buttered nuts and cacao nibs.<\/p>\n

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Generously grease your bundt pan and then coat it with cacao powder. Spoon the batter into the pan and then place it in an oven that has been pre-heated to 400\u00b0F. Immediately lower the temperature to 350\u00b0F and bake for 40 minutes. No longer, no less.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once baked, let the cake cool on a wire rack. About 20 minutes after taking it in the oven, while the cake is still warm, press down on the cake, all the way around, to reduce the air gap that might form inside the \u201ctunnel of fudge\u201d part of the cake. Then let the cake cool completely in the pan, about 2 to 3 hours total from when you took it out of the oven.<\/p>\n

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Once cool, invert the cake pan over onto a cake stand or cake plate and sharply rap it on the countertop or table, to release it. Dust with powdered sugar or an optional chocolate glaze and serve.<\/p>\n

Tips and substitutions for this cake<\/h2>\n