Sourdough Chocolate Cake
Sourdough Chocolate Cake is moist, super-dark and slightly tangy. Top it with buttercream, whipped cream or just a sprinkle of powdered sugar.
Everyone loves a moist and tender chocolate cake. You know what helps make a cake super tender and moist? Sourdough discard!
This isn’t a “fancy” chocolate cake with layers and special fillings. This is a yummy snack cake that you can throw together in just a couple of minutes. Go ahead and serve it straight from the pan with nothing more than a sprinkle of powdered sugar.
Of course, you can also dress it up with a nice frosting and serve it to guests.
If you don’t already have one, I can show you how to make a sourdough starter and how to feed a sourdough starter.
If you’ve got your discard ready to go, let’s get started….
Scroll through the step by step photos to see how to make this recipe:
Tips for making and storing Sourdough Chocolate Snack Cake:
- A ripe unfed starter adds more tangy flavor to the cake. A recently fed starter gives a more mild flavor. I generally use mine after about 1 week without a feeding (kept in the refrigerator).
- When you’re ready to mix the batter, the discard should be at room temperature just like all the other ingredients.
- The recipe can be halved and baked in a 9″x9″ square pan.
- If you plan to serve the cake straight from the pan you can skip lining the pan with parchment paper.
- The cake keeps for several days at room temperature.
- Sourdough cake is quite moist and can be eaten with or without frosting. It’s also nice served with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream and some fresh fruit.
- Individual slices can be wrapped and frozen for up to 3 months.
Since you’ve got your starter fed, peruse the entire list of My Best Sourdough Recipes. Have fun!
I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.
Sourdough Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 2 oz Dutch process cocoa powder (½ cup)
- 4 oz boiling water (½ cup)
- 7 oz cake flour (1 ½ cups, see note)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 8 oz vegetable oil (1 cup)
- 4 large eggs
- 4 oz whole milk (½ cup)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 16 oz granulated sugar (2 cups)
- 8 oz sourdough discard (1 cup)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Butter and flour a 13" x 9" cake pan or use pan spray. Line the pan with parchment paper long enough so that covers the bottom of the pan and hangs over two sides.
- Put 2 oz Dutch process cocoa powder into a small heat-proof bowl. Whisk 4 oz boiling water into the cocoa. Set aside to cool while preparing the other ingredients.
- Sift 7 oz cake flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon table salt, set aside.
- Combine8 oz vegetable oil,4 large eggs,4 oz whole milk, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 16 oz granulated sugar in a mixer bowl. Mix on medium speed to combine the ingredients, continue mixing for 2-3 minutes to emulsify the ingredients. Add 8 oz sourdough discard and mix to combine.
- With the mixer running on low, add the flour and then add the cocoa mixture. Mix until completely incorporated.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
- Cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Use the parchment paper to slide the cake out of the pan onto a cooling rack.
- Serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar or your favorite frosting. Cool completely before icing.
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I have made loads of these cakes with this brilliant and easy recipe.
My son is a great fan of cardamom and white chocolate, so I decided I’d try to make a cardamom cake using sourdough discard. I omitted the cocoa and water and added 2 tsps of freshly ground cardamom and some white chocolate chips, otherwise, everything else stayed the same. It was really good !
I’ll never stop making the dark chocolate one though 😉