Guava and Chocolate Bundt - #BundtBakers

Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate. We all love chocolate, right? If you don't, don't tell me. Don't break my heart. Chocolate is the theme for this month's Bundt Bakers. The theme made me both excited and overwhelmed. I was excited because, well, do I need to say that I LOVE chocolate? In my last year of primary school, I'd buy two chocolate bars after school every day. Every. Single. Day. But when you tell me to make a chocolate cake, decision paralysis hits. A cake with just chocolate? Is it time to try chocolate and cayenne? Mint chocolate? Rum? Caramel? Coconut? Red wine? Nutmeg and cinnamon like Jamaican hot chocolate? Basil? If basil, how much is enough? I was stuck on this last question for 72 hours.

 

I finally decided on chocolate and jam, in particular, guava jam. I had no idea if it would work. I could have used white chocolate like I've done in sweet rolls before. But I wanted real chocolate. I had lots of pictures in my mind of how I wanted this to look. I ultimately decided on making the zebra-esque stripes because I wanted to practise them. (I always seem to give up halfway through.) But I think that when I make this next, I will do a jam crown, pour the white batter first, add jam and then the chocolate batter.

So how did it taste? Good,actually. The guava was very subtle. The guava portion is slightly pink (though not discernible in my pictures) but I didn't want to add more jam or food colouring. A few bits of jam weren't thoroughly mixed. This was actually deliberate because I wanted to see where they'd end up (so I'd know how to approach a jam layer in the future). Additionally, I was still thinking about a possible "jam crown" and was really hoping they'd end up at there. They did. I really loved biting into pieces that had little bits of jam. Burst of flavour.  To boost the flavour, I melted some jam with a bit of orange juice to eat with some slices.

And let me tell you, I had MANY slices of cake on Tuesday night. I gave up added sugar/refined sugar for Lent so this cake was my last hurrah. It was a very fat Tuesday night. Had I not been stuck in indecision land so long, I would have had more time to spend with this cake. Ah well. There are slices in my freezer now. See you in April, fair Bundt!

Now scroll down for all the chocolate goodness from my fellow Bundt Bakers. I have a feeling that looking at those 30+ cakes today will make me want to get back on the sugar wagon. I'll try to be strong. No guarantees.

Guava and Chocolate Bundt

Ingredients
1/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa
1/3 cup hot water
3 tablespoons sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons guava jam, softened

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Thoroughly grease and flour a 10 cup Bundt pan.
Mix the cocoa, hot water and the 3 tablespoons of sugar together until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
Beat butter on high speed for a minute. Slowly add the 1 1/2 cups of sugar and then vanilla. Beat for 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well mixed.
Add the flour in three parts alternating with half the milk. Beat until smooth.
Transfer a bit less than half of the batter to another bowl. Stir the cocoa mixture into this bowl. Stir the guava jam into the remaining batter.
To marble the batters, you can use ice cream scoops, to add scoops of each batter to the prepared Bundt pan. Gently swirl the batters together.
To try a zebra effect, add two tablespoons of chocolate batter to the pan. Pour two tablespoons of the guava batter directly in the middle of the chocolate batter in the pan. Keep alternating chocolate and guava.

Bake 45 minutes or until a long skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Invert Bundt onto a cooling rack after 10 minutes.

Here are February's chocolate themed Bundts:

• Apricot Almond Bundt Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache by Cassandra at Cassie's Kitchen
• Blackforest Bundt Cake by Anshie at SpiceRoots
• Chocolate and Almonds Bundt Cake by Kathia at Basic N Delicious
• Chocolate and Lavender Bundt Cake by Aisha at La Cocina de Aisha
• Chocolate & Rose Bundt Cake with Spiced Rose Ganache by Lara at Tartacadabra
• Chocolate Buttermilk Bundt Cake by Beatriz & Mara at I love Bundt Cakes
• Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bundt Cake by Julie at Eat, Drink, and Be Mighty
• Chocolate Crumb Bundt by Catherine at Living the Gourmet
• Chocolate Custard Floating Island Bundt Cake by Jelena at A Kingdom For a Cake
• Chocolate Honeycomb Bundt by Sue at Just Sew Sue
• Chocolate Irish Cream Bundt by Anne at From My Sweet Heart
• Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake by Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
• Chocolate Pound Cake by Renee at Magnolia Days
• Chocolate Strawberry Pound Cake by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cider White Chocolate Bundt Cake with White Chocolate Glaze by Patricia at Patty's Cake
• Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Bundt Cake by Linda at Brunch with Joy
• Devil's Food Chocolate Bundt Cake by Tanya at DessertStalking Blog
• Double Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake by Carola at En La Cocina de Caro
• False Chocolate Bundt Cake by Anna at Media RaciÛn Doble, Por Favor
• Guava and Chocolate Bundt by Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• How the Grinch Stole Valentine's Day by Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Kickin Chocolate Bundt Cake by Kaylin at Keep it Simple, Sweetie
• Lemon Glazed White Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake Mini Bundts by Laura at The Spiced Life
• Mars Bar Bundt by Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Marshmallows Chocolate Bundt Cake by Shilpi at SimplyVeggies
• Quadruple Chocolate Bundt by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Red Velvet Bundt with White Chocolate Roses by Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
• Sacher Bundt Cake by Esti at Mummy & Cute
• Spicy Chocolate Mini Bundt Cake by Rocio at Kids & Chic
• Triple Chocolate Buttermilk Bundt Cake by Teri at The Freshman Cook
• Triple Chocolate Threat Bundt by Jane at Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
• Tunnel of Fudge Bundt Cake by Rebekah at Making Miracles
• White Chocolate & Raspberries Bundt Cake by Samantha at Un Mordisco Un Pecado

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.