This Nothing Bundt Cakes copycat recipe is a take on their classic vanilla bundt cake -- except with the addition of chocolate chips!
This past week, I craved a cake I've only had a couple of times. Isn't that bizarre? Parents will sometimes drop off goodies to the main office randomly for staff to munch on -- and when they have brought a Nothing Bundt Cakes bundt cake, my day is absolutely made. The bundt cakes are so moist, fluffy, and flavorful...I just don't know what's not to like.
Have you had one?
Their business model is ingenious and clearly they have a niche. There's only a handful of flavors done well. I can't say that I've had all of them, but the ones I have had are so good.
Nothing Bundt Love for Their Cakes
Since my craving didn't allow me to place an order in advance, I scoured the interwebs for the Nothing Bundt Cakes secret recipe that makes the cake so moist. I knew the recipe had to have pudding for sure -- and I also didn't really feel like making a cake from scratch because #kids. Thanks to some pantry staples, we ended up with our take on their classic vanilla bundt cake, with the addition of some chocolate chips because, again, #kids.
Feel free to leave those out if you want to stay true to the OG classic vanilla recipe.
Ingredients You'll Need for Vanilla Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Yesssss! This recipe uses a boxed cake mix -- making it a perfect cake to bake with small kids! They can basically do everything themselves except put the cake in the oven.
Here's what you'll need:
- vanilla or yellow cake mix
- 3.9 ounce box instant vanilla pudding
- sour cream
- eggs
- water
- vegetable or canola oil
- chocolate chips (optional)
Unlike some homemade cakes, this cake is very forgiving, so if you step away and your kids have added more sour cream -- no biggie. You won't have a sloppy mess of a cake if the measurements aren't exactly right. That's the beauty of boxed cake mix...very forgiving.
And I know Nothing Bundt Cake's vanilla bundt cake does not contain chocolate chips, so feel free to leave these out. This cake is a hybrid between their classic vanilla and chocolate chocolate chip bundt cakes. It also ended a tiresome argument about what kind of cake we're going to make because one is an adamant vanilla cake lover and the other chocolate.
Nothing Bundt Cake's Secret Recipe Adaptations
Once you know the basic recipe, you can really use ANY boxed cake mix for this. Simply sub out the kind of boxed cake mix that's most appropriate as well as the instant pudding. The rest of the ingredients remain the same.
- Nothing Bundt Cakes red velvet copycat recipe - use red velvet cake mix + vanilla instant pudding
- Nothing Bundt Cakes chocolate chocolate chip copycat recipe: use chocolate cake mix + chocolate instant pudding
- Nothing Bundt Cake's lemon bundt copycat recipe: use lemon boxed cake mix + lemon instant pudding
And with fall coming up -- ditch all of the above and buy a pumpkin cake mix and keep the vanilla pudding to replicate Nothing Bundt Cake's seasonal pumpkin spice bundt cake. You can also keep the cream cheese frosting (see below) because pumpkin and cheesecake are a dream pairing. Easy peasy.
Cream Cheese Frosting
One of the things I really appreciate about Nothing Bundt Cakes' marketing is how to do their frosting -- which is incredibly easy to make and apply. The visual of thick bands of frosting makes you immediately know it's from their store.
You don't need any special ingredients to frost -- just get a large plastic bag or pastry bag, cut the corner off, and pipe thick frosting lines from the outside to the center of the cake.
The actual cream cheese frosting is pretty standard and adds some butter for additional creaminess. Here are the ingredients:
- cream cheese
- butter
- powdered sugar
- vanilla extract
Other Bundt Cakes to Sink Your Teeth Into
- Double Chocolate Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache is one of my most popular recipes-- and for good reason!
- Cinnamon Apple Bundt Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze - perfect for fall coming up!
- Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Vanilla Maple Glaze -- to bookmark for the upcoming holidays!
- Lemon Buttermilk Bundt Cake -- bright and cheery, this cake is delicious year round.
Nothing Bundt Love for y'all,
kathryn
As always, if you make anything from the blog, be sure to let me know! I love hearing from you in the comments on this post below or find Worn Slap Out on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Nothing Bundt Cakes Copycat Cake Recipe - Classic Vanilla
Ingredients
- 1 package vanilla or yellow cake mix
- 3.9 ounce box instant vanilla pudding
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Grease and flour bundt cake well until all of the crevices are covered. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix all of the cake ingredients except the chocolate chips together until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips at the end. Pour batter into bundt cake pan and give cake a little shake to ensure batter is evenly distributed. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow cake to cool in bundt pan for EXACTLY 10 minutes before flipping the cake onto a cooling rack.
- Meanwhile, beat all of the frosting ingredients together in stand mixer with whisk attachment until light and fluffy. When cake is completely cool, frost the cake by placing frosting in large plastic bag. Cut one corner of the bag off and pipe frosting from the outside to the inside center hole. Repeat until the cake is covered.
Notes
Donna
What’s size Bundt pan do you use for these recipes? Thank You!
Kathryn
Hi, Donna! Mine is a 9 1/2" bundt pan!
Carrie Robinson
I could go for a slice of this with my morning cup of coffee right now! Yum. 🙂
Kathryn
DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! 🙂
Rachna Parmar
I like how your recipe is so forgiving because I am a bit jittery when it comes to the precision of cake recipes. And I totally get the chocolate chip addition because my younger son pushes me to add them to everything. Love how good the bundt cake looks.
Kathryn
Yes! This one is really forgiving! And I'm glad you can relate to the chocolate chip craze. I think my younger one would put chocolate chips in her steak if she could...
Jacque Hastert
Finally a delicious copycat dessert recipe! We love Nothing Bundt Cakes and I can't wait to make these at home to save some money. Thank you for sharing this!
Kathryn
Yessss! Enjoy!
Luci
I love this bundt cake recipe! It is delicious and perfect with my morning coffee! I might even have another slice this afternoon!
Kathryn
So glad you love, Luci! Thanks for sharing!
Clara
Sometines you just need an easy recipe that uses boxed cake mixes that your kids can help prepare.
Kathryn
That's this one -- and it tastes delicious!
Patricia
Can you do cupcakes? If so what's the time?
Kathryn
I've never tried but I bet you could! I would check them starting at 15 minutes to be extra safe, but I'm guessing it'll take closer to 20 minutes if they're about 3/4 full.
Lizet
Evything is better with more chocolate chips 🙂 this bundt cake was delicious. Some bundt cakes tend to be dry. This one was perfect!
Kim
Do you know how to make the carrot cake Bundt cake?
Kathryn
I haven't made that one yet -- but I'm going to add it to my list. I'm guessing you could use the boxed carrot cake mix and then add vanilla pudding to make it even more moist, but I definitely need to experiment with this!
Patty
Has you ever added white chocolate chips? Want to make this week and just wondered if it would make a difference or if it tastes good. Thanks
Kathryn
Hi, Patty! I haven't but I bet it would be delicious! I can't imagine it tasting bad!
Cori
White chocolate chips are AMAZING in this recipe!
Kathryn
Ooooooh, yes! That sounds amazing, Cori!
El
Now if we can just find the White Chocolate Raspberry cake....
Kathryn
You know, I haven't tried that one yet! I need to try it and see if I can recreate! Sounds delicious.
Rebecca
What’s the bake time for 9x13 cake pan?
Rebecca
Sorry, I actually need baking time for an aluminum disposable 9x13 cake pan
Kathryn
Hi there! I'd start testing at around 25 minutes and see if a knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If it's still mooshy in the middle, give it 5 more minutes. If it's close, I'd check on it every 2! Hope that helps!
Beth
Yummy! Looks amazing and so scrumptious! My family is going to love this recipe! So excited to give this a try!
Kathryn
Thanks! I hope they do!
Gail Montero Raines
Love that it's studded with delicious chocolate chips all over! YUM! Perfect with my morning coffee!
Kathryn
Yesssss, Gail. Cake for breakfast = very good decision! 🙂
Sara Welch
I love a good copycat recipe, and this is no exception! Excited to make this again for Easter brunch; so beautiful and delicious!
Kathryn
Thanks so much, Sara!
Vicky
Love it! Glad to be able to make one of these at home! Thanks for the recipe!
Kathryn
It's so good -- hope you love it, too!
Biana
This cake sounds amazing, I love the idea of adding chocolate chips to it!
Kathryn
Small touch but adding a little chocolate is never bad in my book! 🙂
Nicki Roehler
Could I use a mini bundt pans for this recipe?
Kathryn
Absolutely! That would be adorable (and delish)!
Lisa P
Great recipe! I made a lemon version. Changes I made were butter instead of oil and milk instead of water. It was a hit!,
Kathryn
Yumm! Thanks so much for coming back to the site, Lisa!
Lib
What about mixing in crushed Oreos instead of chocolate chips? Cookies and cream Bundt?!?
Kathryn
I like the way you think! I think that would be delicious.
Toni
Very moist! My kids said they like it even better than Nothingbundtcake! It didn’t last long. Now I have to make another one… 🙂
Kathryn
This made my day, Toni. Thanks so much for leaving me a note! You should try the lemon version next...it's also equally as amazing!
Natalie
Amazing cake! It was so good. My frosting was very runny though. Have you ever had that problem? It wasn’t a thick consistency like Nothing Bundt Cakes usually is. Not sure how to fix that.
Kathryn
Hi, Natalie! I wonder if your cream cheese or butter was too soft? You can remedy this by adding more powdered sugar to the frosting. I'm so glad it was really good though despite the frosting being too thin! I just made the cake again for my kids two nights ago!
Taccarah
When to add the pudding into the mixture?
Kathryn
You include the pudding mix (don't make the actual pudding) with all of the other ingredients. That's the beauty of this cake -- so easy!
Theresa
Great recipe! I replaced the eggs since we have an allergy and still came out great! 2 eggs replaced with an egg replacer powder and 2 eggs replaced with greek yogurt (1/4 cup per egg)! Made bundtinis and they were finished in 17 minutes! Thanks so much!
Kathryn
This is good to know for our other egg allergy friends. Thanks so much for coming back to give feedback to help others!
Mike
What size cake mix did you use? They’ve made the boxes smaller. Hopefully it still works with the smaller size mix
Kathryn
A 15.25 box is what I believe is average!
Tatyana
I used your recipe over and over again! It’s the best!
I even tried to make the marble one, and with the rest of the dough I made delicious cupcakes! Thank you for sharing this! I wish I can share my cakes with you, I ended up using frosting from a different website, that calls for 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, 1 package of cream cheese, pinch of salt and 4 cups of powdered sugar and 1 tea spoon of clear vanilla . It tastes just like burnt cake. I am pretty sure raspberry cake will be easy to make, but I think you would have to add dehydrated raspberries, because fresh ones will make your cake very soggy. I used what’s chocolate pudding with a box of white cake, it was delicious! Their pumpkin spice cake is easy to make as well! Your recipe is so versatile !
Kathryn
I'm so glad to hear this, Tatyana! It sure is versatile -- for whatever type of bundt cake you're in the mood for!
Tatyana
I meant to say white chocolate pudding!
Carrie
Tastes amazing
Kathryn
Thanks, Carrie. So glad you made the cake and enjoyed it!
Cathy
I made 8 “ Bundt cakes for my 23 year old daughters birthday I made 6 in total 2 banana, 2 birthday cake, and 2 chocolate she gave them as gifts to her boyfriends parent his sister an Her 2 brothers & us Everyone LOVED them 🙌🙌🙌🙌
Kathryn
Yayyy! So happy to hear this, Cathy! They're so easy and so delicious!
Tisha
Have you made the Strawberries & Cream
Kathryn
Hi Tisha! I haven't but I know it would be absolutely delicious. I'd get the strawberry creme instant pudding with strawberry cake mix and follow the rest of the directions. Let me know how it goes!
Angela Terracina
I don’t like using boxed cake mix and would like to make my own vanilla cake… what ingredients would I omit if I do that?
Kathryn
Hi Andrea. In that event, it would really be an entirely different recipe. I'm sorry I can't give you more guidance.
Me
Would it be ok to sub Greek yogurt for sour cream?
Kathryn
Yes, absolutely!
Mary from Salem
Thank you for the recipe! I made this with GF cake mix and it tastes delicious. The frosting is perfect! I used a Nordic Bundt pan at 350 for 50 minutes but the center perimeter didn’t cook all the way and the outside perimeter was slightly overdone. I’m new to Bundt baking. Did I do something wrong? How to correct this for next time? Thank you, great recipe!
Kathryn
Hi Mary! I wonder if your oven runs hot? Have you ever tested your oven? Is your rack in the center of the oven? Sometimes that can happen if it's too close to the heat source! So glad it was delicious though!
Chris
How would you make the cream cheese frosting to be chocolate?
Malia
This recipe is genius and is my go-to cake recipe. I make different versions, different flavors, different toppings and it’s ALWAYS a hit. My co-workers request my cake regularly and I love making it for them. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Kathryn
Thanks, Malia! I love that you've tried so many variations, too!
Rajean
Love this recipe - it has become our celebration cake! I use Betty Crocker French Vanilla cake mix 👩🏼🍳 💋
Kathryn
I love this so much, Rajean! I'm about to put out another cake that's been our celebration cake recently! Those cakes are always the most special -- whether you're celebrating something big or small! 🙂
Chelsea
I made this but I keep having issues with my cake shrinking half in size. Any suggestions?
Kathryn
Hi Chelsea!
That's very bizarre. Are you using a normal size box of cake mix -- like a 13.25 oz one? And are you using instant pudding, not the regular pudding mix? I've never had this happen but I'm guessing there might be something wonky in the type of pudding or boxed cake mix you may be using. Let me know how it goes!
--Kathryn
Karen
Way to much sour cream. We didn't like it at all. Threw the whole thing away.
Kathryn
I'ms orry, Karen! This is always the perfect amount for me to keep the cake full of moisture!