This will be my final recipe celebrating Sourdough September – fitting really, that it’s a recipe for a dessert – sourdough coffee chocolate cake. I’ve lifted the instructions from one of my new favourite websites – King Arthur Flour. Their recipes quick-convert between Imperial, metric and US cups – a really useful feature!
As well as Sourdough September, this cake also honours International Coffee Day which happens each year on 1st October… and while I’m at it, why not honour Chocolate Week which runs from 9th-15th October. There… I’ve covered all the bases and no one was left out!
Another good thing about this recipe is that it calls for ripe sourdough or discard. I love using up leftovers! It also lists espresso powder as an ingredient; I ground some espresso beans on the finest setting and that worked perfectly.
The resulting sourdough coffee chocolate cake is HUGE – almost a kilo of icing alone! You may want to halve the recipe. The two of us will be eating a slice every day for a week… not that I’m complaining. It’s soft, moist, sweet and gorgeous!
There are three separate parts to the process; the cake, the icing and the drizzle. If you don’t think you’ll have enough time in a single day to do all three, you can break it up into stages across two or even three days.
This would be a great one to make as a celebration cake. You could even divide the batter into two tins and make a layer cake if you prefer.
Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest for later.
Sourdough coffee chocolate cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 240 g/8½oz sourdough starter ripe or discard
- 225 g/8oz whole or evaporated milk
- 240 g/8½oz organic plain white flour
- 300 g/10½oz granulated sugar
- 200 g/7oz vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp salt
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 65 g/2⅓oz unsweetened cocoa
- 1 tsp espresso powder optional
- 2 large eggs
For the icing
- 680 g/24oz icing sugar
- 170 g/6oz butter
- 115 g/4oz plain yoghurt or buttermilk
- 1 tbsp + 1½tsp espresso powder
- 15 g/½oz hot water
For the drizzle
- 50 g/1¾oz dark chocolate broken into pieces
- 15 g/½oz milk
- 20 g/¾oz golden syrup
Instructions
For the cake
- Combine the starter, milk and flour in a large mixing bowl
- Cover and rest at room temperature for 2-3 hours
- Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350°F/Gas mark 4
- Lightly grease a 23 x 33cm (9 x 13-inch) cake tin
- In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, vanilla, salt, baking soda, cocoa and espresso powder - the mixture will be grainy
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
- Gently combine the chocolate mixture with the starter/flour/milk mixture, stirring until smooth. It will be gloopy at first; however, the batter will become smoother as you continue to beat gently
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes away clean
- Remove the cake from the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool while you make the icing
For the icing
- Sift the icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Set it aside
- In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter and add the buttermilk/yoghurt
- Dissolve the espresso powder in the hot water, add to the pan, and bring the mixture just to a boil
- Immediately pour the simmering liquid over the icing sugar in the bowl, and beat until smooth
- Pour the warm icing over the cake. If you wait too long and the icing stiffens up, just spread it over the cake with an offset spatula
For the drizzle
- Combine the chocolate pieces, milk and golden syrup in a microwave-safe container. Microwave until the chocolate softens, then stir until smooth (a couple of 10-second bursts)
- Drizzle the chocolate sauce over the icing
