I am so excited to share one of my most special recipes to date with you. Our big girl turned five (and now 6 as I’m updating this recipe) this week, and she asked for a chocolate cake. And considering food made with care is one of my top love languages, I was so excited to make this request a great one. And I must admit, the final product was even better than I could have hoped. We enjoyed slices at her 5th birthday party, surrounded by friends we love, sitting around a campfire, in celebration of our sweet Evie Wilder.
This cake has a 12-24 hour ferment, making it easier to digest, extra delicious, and oh so moist. It’s just sweet enough and has that deep chocolate cake decadence that can’t be beat.
I look forward to making this time and time again to celebrate my favorite peoples’ birthdays. After all, making and sharing delicious food, especially sourdough, is one of my favorite love languages (alongside experiences, of course). So, combine this cake, my favorite people, and a birthday campout under the trees, and I am one happy mama.
I introduce to you a very special, very moist and delicious sourdough chocolate cake! I hope you’ll recreate and enjoy, celebrating the ones you love too (including yourself). Cheers, my friends!
In case you missed it, I have a super simple sourdough recipe and many sourdough offerings to share!
sourdough chocolate cake
WHAT YOU NEED:
- 1 cup room temp filtered water
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter
- 1/2 cup olive oil (we love Paleovalley’s – save 15% with code: RADICALROOTS)
- 2 cups organic unbleached white flour*
- 2 cups of organic cane sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 room temperature eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup of room temperature milk
- 2 teaspoons of baking soda
chocolate frosting:
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2 and 2/3 cups organic powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
*we’ve also used einkorn and sprouted spelt from Thrive Market with great success.
WHAT YOU DO:
The day/evening before:
Add olive oil, starter, and water to a large bowl and mix until combined. Add the flour and mix again by hand till the base is fully combined. Cover and let sit overnight or up to 24 hours at room temp.
The next day:
Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare two, 9-inch cake pans with butter.
Then, in another large bowl, combine sugar, cocoa powder, and sea salt; then, use a hand mixer (or a standing mixer would work here too) to add one egg at a time, fully combining before adding the next.
Next, add vanilla and milk and mix to combine until smooth, followed by the baking soda, mixing again to incorporate well.
Finally, gently fold in the sourdough starter ferment until combined into a batter.
Pour cake batter evenly into the two cake pans (dividing relatively evenly), and bake for 35-45 min until the cakes aren’t jiggly and a toothpick comes out mostly clean (it’ll keep baking a bit after you pull it out); be sure not to over bake!
Let cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then flip it out onto a cooling rack; continue to let it cool entirely (at least 30 min).
Now, make your frosting:
Place butter in a bowl and beat until creamy.
Add sugar and cocoa and mix again until well combined.
Mix in milk portions, a little at a time, until you have a creamy frosting; then, mix in vanilla and you’re done!
Once the cakes are completely cool, cover the top of one with frosting, top with the next cake, and frost all around the sides and top. We sprinkled with ColorKitchen dye free sprinkles for one happy 5-year-old, and enjoyed at her campfire birthday party around a fire!
ENJOY friends! Happy whatever you’re celebrating!
Enjoy friends! This will forever be a special recipe for us because its creation was inspired by our big girl’s birthday. It will now be a family tradition, one I hope to pass to my girls and am grateful to get to share with you. There is something so very special about the way food made with love serves to connect, remember, celebrate, and bring us together. This cake was created with love and I love the thought of you sharing that love in your kitchen too! If you do enjoy this one, I’d love to hear about it! Comment below or tag me on social media. Sending love and nourishment, now and always!
Hugs, Laura
Do you use discard or active starter for this? Thanks!
Either works!