SOURDOUGH CHOCOLATE CAKE

THIS SOURDOUGH CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE ELEVATES CLASSIC CHOCOLATE CAKE TO A NEW LEVEL OF DELICIOUSNESS! DROP DEAD GORGEOUS AND WONDERFULLY DECADENT, THIS IS SURE TO BE YOUR GO-TO RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE CAKE. I HAVE BEEN MAKING THIS CAKE SINCE MY CHILDREN WERE YOUNG AND NOW IT IS THEIR MOST REQUESTED BIRTHDAY CAKE. ANOTHER LITTLE DETAIL THAT MAKES THIS CAKE EVEN MORE SPECIAL IS YOU STORE IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR AND SERVE CHILLED. 

First, let me tell you about this SOURDOUGH CHOCOLATE CAKE. A 9 inch, round, two layer SOURDOUGH CHOCOLATE CAKE iced with sweet cream and drizzled with chocolate ganache, then chilled in the refrigerator. We also call this cake a TUXEDO CAKE. 

Long-fermented sourdough is used in this recipe but you could also make it without fermenting. I only feed my sourdough starter the amount I will need for a recipe so I don’t have discard sourdough starter too often. If you have lots of discard, you have a great excuse to make chocolate cake! The sourdough adds a depth of flavor without being sour at all. For help maintaining your sourdough starter, watch my video:

 

 

 

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE QUALITY INGREDIENTS USED IN THIS RECIPE.

I am a Valrhona chocolate lover and I use this special cocoa in this recipe. Of course I only use grass-fed butter in all my recipes and our own farm-fresh eggs. For sweetener, I like to use sucanat sugar or sometimes coconut sugar, but regular sugar will work also. This cake is slightly less sweet than most cakes which only adds to its beauty. In this recipe I used organic unbleached flour but about half of the time I use this flour from Barton Springs Mill. There are notes of cinnamon in Rouge de Bordeaux which compliment chocolate. You should try this flour, you will love it and your family will not be able to tell the difference!

SOURDOUGH

Our farmstead highly regards fermentation because of its health benefits but also because it adds a depth of flavor. We use our sourdough starter daily and love all the delicious ways we can use it in our baking. Our love for sourdough actually led us on a journey of growing organic heirloom wheat on a large scale using no-till regenerative farming practices. If you would like to follow our progress please watch here!

 

 

IS SOURDOUGH CHOCOLATE CAKE EASY TO MAKE FOR BIRTHDAYS?

To make this cake, you start the night before which breaks up the process. So helpful for busy moms! I mix the sourdough batter right before bedtime and let time do it’s magic. Sometime before noon I will finish baking the cake then let it cool before freezing it. Of course you can mix the sourdough mixture in the morning and bake the cake in the afternoon, but I find starting the night before is easy for me. I always make this cake several days or weeks in advance, because I always freeze it before icing it with sweet cream. The night before the event I ice the cake with sweet cream so it will be really chilled when I pour chocolate ganache over it the next day.

EQUIPMENT

2-9 INCH ROUND CAKE PANS

2 BOWLS

SPOONS

MEASURING CUPS

MEASURING SPOONS

STAND MIXER

CAKE PLATE

A CAKE SPATULA MAKES FROSTING THE CAKE EASY

 

BAKER’S SCHEDULE

CAKE

• I always make the cakes at least two days – two weeks before I will need it. This breaks up the process of baking and decorating the cake while getting ready for an event. Cake baking and decorating is very enjoyable using this model.  
• The night before make the sourdough starter.
• The next day bake the cake.
• Freeze cake layers.

FROSTING

• I find it best to frost the cake the evening before you will need it.
• The cake needs to be really cold before you start and you need to make sure you have a space for it in the refrigerator. 
• For this recipe it is very important that the cake layers are chilled since the icing is a whipped cream icing. When icing the cake, I constantly move the cake and icing back and forth from the refrigerator.
• I apply the final layer of icing when the cake has chilled for several hours for a smooth coating.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

• Leave cake stored overnight in the refrigerator. This is the secret to getting the chocolate ganache to cascade beautifully down the sides of the cake.
• The next day make the chocolate ganache and drizzle over cake.
• It is a great idea to chill the cake for several hours before serving. 
• Remove cake from refrigerator right before your event, it needs to stay chilled. 

HOW TO MAKE A SOURDOUGH CHOCOLATE CAKE

CAKE INSTRUCTIONS

1. The night before mix sourdough starter (active or discard), flour, and milk and water. Cover and sit aside at room temperature.
2. The next morning when you make the cake, butter two-9 inch round cake pans. Then here is something special I add to my chocolate cakes: Instead of dusting the pans with flour I use cocoa. When you remove the cakes form the pans you won’t see white flour on the outside of your cakes. A good thing!
3. Preheat your oven to 350.
4. The next morning in a bowl add dry ingredients: cocoa, sugar, soda, and salt. Mix.
5. Then add butter, eggs, and vanilla.
6. Add cocoa mixture to sourdough. 
7. Very gently combine ingredients.  This will take some effort to incorporate everything so be patient and don’t over mix the batter. This could cause the cake to be tough.
8. After careful mixing, divide the batter equally between the 2-9 inch cake pans.

BAKING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes, checking for doneness by sticking a toothpick or skewer in the middle of the cake. It is done if the toothpick comes out clean.
2. Let cake cool for 20 minutes then run a knife between the cake and cake pan to loosen the cake. Do this very gently! I try to loosen the bottom of the cake by turning the pan on its side and slightly lifting the cake. It is best to watch the video to see how to do this!
3. Leave the cake in the cake pan to cool completely.
4. Put the cake still inside the pan into a large bag with parchment over the cake. Then put the cake layers into the freezers until the day you need to start icing your cake. It doesn’t take long for the cake layers to defrost enough to remove them from the pans.

SWEET CREAM FROSTING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pour 3 cups of heavy whipping cream into the bowl of a stand mixer with whip attachment.
2. Whip until soft peaks form.
3. Add 1/2 organic powdered sugar-this will help stabilize the icing.
4. Whip until stiff peaks form.

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1. Measure 2/3 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips into a glass pyrex or heat-proof measuring cup.
2. Bring 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream to a simmer.
3. Add steaming cream to heat proof measuring cup with bittersweet chocolate and stir until melted.
4. Only add 1/4 cup of honey after chocolate is completely melted.
5. Stir in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
6. Cool chocolate ganache slightly before pouring over cake so sweet cream frosting won’t melt. If you wait until the ganache is too cool then it won’t spread over the top of the cake. The chocolate ganache is easy to make first thing in the morning and put on the chilled cake.
7. Store the cake in the refrigerator. It taste great the second day also! 

 

 

Yield: 12 servings

SOURDOUGH CHOCOLATE CAKE

Print

THIS SOURDOUGH CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE ELEVATES CLASSIC CHOCOLATE CAKE TO A NEW LEVEL OF DELICIOUSNESS! DROP DEAD GORGEOUS AND WONDERFULLY DECADENT, THIS IS SURE TO BE YOUR GO-TO RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE CAKE.

Ingredients

• CAKE
• 2 CUPS OF FLOUR (MAY USE ORGANIC UNBLEACHED OR ROUGE DE BORDEAUX FROM BARTON SPRING MILL
• 1/2 CUP OF SOURDOUGH STARTER (ACTIVE OR DISCARD)
• 1 CUP OF MILK or BUTTERMILK
• 1/2 CUP OF WATER
• 1 & 1/2 CUPS OF SUCANAT OR SUGAR OF YOUR CHOICE (ADD ANOTHER 1/2 CUP IF NEEDED)
• 1 & 1/2 TEASPOONS OF BAKING SODA
• 1/4 TEASPOON OF SALT
• 1/2 CUP OF COCOA-WE USE VALRHONA COCOA
• 2 EGGS
• 1 CUP OF UNSALTED BUTTER
• 1-2 TEASPOONS OF VANILLA EXTRACT
• SWEET CREAM FROSTING
• 3 CUPS OF HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM
• 1/2 CUP POWDERED SUGAR
• CHOCOLATE GANACHE
• 2/3 CUPS OF BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS
• 1/2 CUP HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM
• 1/4 CUP HONEY or AGAVE
• 1-2 TEASPOONS VANILLA EXTRACT

Instructions

MAKE THE CAKE:

1. The night before mix sourdough starter (active or discard), flour, and milk and water. Cover and sit aside at room temperature.
2. The next morning when you make the cake, butter two-9 inch round cake pans.  Then here is something special I add to my chocolate cakes-instead of dusting the pans with flour I use cocoa.  When you remove the cakes form the pans you won't see white flour on the outside of your cakes. A good thing!
3. Preheat your oven to 350.
4. The next morning in a bowl add dry ingredients: cocoa, sugar, soda, salt. Mix.
5. Then add butter, eggs, and vanilla.
6. Add cocoa mixture to sourdough. 
7. Very gently combine ingredients.  This will take some effort to incorporate everything so be patient and don't over mix the batter.  This could cause the cake to be tough.
8. After careful mixing divide the batter equally between the 2-9 inch cake pans.
9. Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes, checking for doneness by sticking a toothpick or skewer in the middle of the cake.  It is done if the toothpick comes out clean.
10. Let cake cool for 20 minutes then run a knife between the cake and cake pan to loosen the cake.  Do this very gently!  I try to loosen the bottom of the cake by turning the pan on its side and slightly lifting the cake.  It is best to watch the video to see how to do this!
11. Leave the cake in the cake pan to cool completely.
12. Put the cake still inside the pan into a large bag with parchment over the cake. Then put the cake layers into the freezers until the day you need to start icing your cake.  It doesn't take long for the cake layers to defrost enough to remove them from the pans.


SWEET CREAM FROSTING

1. Pour 3 cups of heavy whipping cream into the bowl of a stand mixer with whip attachment.
2. Whip until soft peaks form.
3. Add 1/2 organic powdered sugar-this will help stabilize the icing.
4. Whip until stiff peaks form


HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1. Measure 2/3 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips into a glass pyrex or heat-proof measuring cup.
2. Bring 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream to a simmer.
3. Add steaming cream to heat proof measuring cup with bittersweet chocolate and stir until melted.
4. Add 1/4 cup of honey after chocolate is completely melted.
5. Stir in 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
6. Cool chocolate ganache slightly before pouring over cake so sweet cream frosting won't melt.  If you wait until the ganache is too cool then it won't spread over the top of the cake.The chocolate ganache is easy to make first thing in the morning and put on the chilled cake.
7. Store the cake in the refrigerator.  It taste great the second day also! 


BAKER'S SCHEDULE:

CAKE

1. I always make the cakes at least two days - two weeks before I will need it. This breaks up the process of baking and decorating the cake while getting ready for an event. Cake baking and decorating is very enjoyable using this model.  I make a special cake for the birthdays of my five children and husband. Even as adults they enjoy this tradition.
2. The night before make the sourdough starter.
3. The next day bake the cake.
4. Freeze cake layers.

SWEET CREAM FROSTING

1. I find it best to frost the cake the evening before you will need it.
2. The cake needs to be really cold before you start and you need to make sure you have a space for it in the refrigerator. 
3. For this recipe it is very important that the cake layers are chilled since the icing is a whipped cream icing. When icing the cake I constantly move the cake and icing back and forth from the refrigerator.
4. I apply the final layer of icing when the cake has chilled for several hours for a smooth coating.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1. Leave cake stored overnight in the refrigerator. This is the secret to getting the chocolate ganache to cascade beautifully down the sides of the cake.
2. The next day make the chocolate ganache and drizzle over cake.
3. It is a great idea to chill the cake for several hours before serving. 
4. Remove cake from refrigerator right before your event, it needs to stay chilled. 

 

This special cake makes a perfect birthday cake for young men. It is not too frilly and very elegant. This fall I have made three cakes for my sons’ birthdays and they all want to take the leftover cake home with them. Actually, next week my son Jack will come home to celebrate his birthday and he requested that I teach him how to make this cake. The beautiful cake in the photos is the birthday cake I made for my son Zane.

Family traditions are very important in building strong family bonds. I bake a special cake for each birthday of my five children and husband. Even as adults they treasure this tradition. Start a tradition today!

Happy Baking,

Caren