Pomegranates are packed with antioxidants, which means that there are a lot of potential health benefits packed into each fruit. Pomegranates are a bit difficult to eat, since each little seed – although tasty – doesn’t have a lot of juice or flesh surrounding it, so it takes quite a while to consume one. This is where pomegranate juice comes in, making it easy to enjoy the flavor of pomegranate without the work involved in eating a whole fruit. The juice can be used in many different types of dishes, and while I often see it reduced in a sauce, I used some to sweeten up a chocolate bundt cake.
This cake is moist, chocolaty and has a tender, but slightly dense, texture. It’s a great bundt cake because it’s easy to make and each slice is satisfying to eat. I used pomegranate juice as the primary liquid in this cake, where I might use milk, buttermilk or coffee in another chocolate cake. There is a lot of cocoa powder in here, so you can’t directly taste the pomegranate flavor in the cake. You can definitely tell the juice is there, however, because there is a lovely fruity sweetness to the cake that adds some complexity to the flavor. Not wanting to skimp on the chocolate, I incorporated some chocolate chips into this cake, too.
I used POM Wonderful pomegranate juice in this cake, because it is pure pomegranate juice and not simply flavored white grape juice. Definitely take the time to look for pure juice when you make this cake, both for that fruity flavor and for the antioxidants (don’t forget that there are also plenty in the cocoa powder in this cake!). It’s pretty easy to justify having a second piece when you can say you’re doing it for health reasons!
Chocolate Pomegranate Bundt Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups pure pomegranate juice (such as POM) 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, sugar, baking soda and salt.
In a medium sized, microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Whisk cocoa powder into melted butter until smooth. Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, so mixture is warm but not hot. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Add chocolate mixture, pomegranate juice and chocolate chips to the flour mixture and stir until batter is well combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain visible. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached.
Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes, then turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool.
Dust with cocoa powder or confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Store in an airtight container.
Serves 12-16
gillian
March 15, 2010LITERALLY my 2 favorite things- pomegranate and chocolate!!! Diabolical!!! Can’t wait to try it!
dani
March 15, 2010i LOVE pom juice but never tossed it into any of my sweet treats… great idea 🙂
Tamara
March 15, 2010This sounds delicious! I LOVE pomegranate and chocolate!
Sue
March 15, 2010I love bundt cake and this combination of flavors sounds/looks fabulous! I’ll have to try it, especially for the health benefits;)
Aunt LoLo
March 15, 2010Oooh…I’ll have to try this! I have a few small bottles of pomegranate juice in the fridge. Mmmmm.
Jenny
March 15, 2010Do you think these could be made into muffins or in a square baking pan or loaf pan? I don’t have a Bundt pan!
Valerie
March 16, 2010This looks so good. I haven’t tried pomegranate juice yet, but it seems like I’ll be buying it now!!
the wicked noodle
March 16, 2010I’ve used POM in just about everything, but never cake! Looking forward to giving it a go.
Wanda
March 16, 2010I think this will work. Im excited to try this.
Linda
April 13, 2010I noticed Trader Joe’s carries a chocolate covered pomegranate seed that is quite tasty. Would it upset the balance to use those in the place of the chocolate chips to give it even more “health” benefits? They are a bit chewy–that’s my only concern but maybe the baking would relax them in the cake.
Nikki May | Copywriting Services
September 26, 2010I LOVE Pomegranates. I LOVE Chocolate.
I used this Chocolate Pomegranate Bundt Cake recipe this weekend and the cake came out really YUMMY! The cake was very moist and chocolaty.
I just wanted to say thank you so much. I had guests at my house, and it looked like they were very impressed.
I will be baking this cake again soon!
Thanks again – mich appreciated
Nikki May