I’m back on the cake-baking wagon with this sourdough cinnamon pecan coffee cake. It commemorates another Sourdough September.
Last year was the first year that I didn’t put my starter into hibernation for the winter… and it survived! I’ve learned a trick for keeping the conditions favourable for the wild yeasts to prosper even though our kitchen is cold. Every time I refreshed it, I put my jar of starter in the microwave alongside a mug of boiling water and shut the door (without ever turning it in, of course). I use the same method for proofing my loaves if I’m not doing a long, overnight rise.
Anyway – back to this week’s cake. I found this recipe in my Cultures for Health recipe book. The recipe is called a sourdough cinnamon pecan coffee cake… but there was no coffee in the list of ingredients. Perhaps the cake is meant to be a cinnamon pecan cake to have WITH coffee. Nevertheless, I added a couple of heaped tablespoonfuls of fine ground espresso to the mix. I also used half pecans and half Brazil nuts (as I didn’t have enough pecans in the cupboard!).
My decision was a stroke of genius – the coffee really worked – it added an extra layer of flavour. It’s a moist, sweet, sour, spiced, nutty, tasty cake that really suits the cooler autumn clime. I love the edges where the sugar and nuts came together to form a chewy caramel crust.
Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest
- 175g/6oz whole cane sugar (Muscovado, Rapadura or Sucanat)
- 1 tbsp plain white flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 60g/2oz softened butter
- 125g/4½oz chopped pecans & Brazil nuts
- 115g/4oz softened butter
- 255g/9oz honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 150g/5oz sourdough starter
- 60ml/2 fl oz milk
- 275g/10oz plain white flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 240g/8½oz thick buttermilk or sour cream
- Grease a 23x33cm/9x13-inch glass baking dish; set aside. Preheat oven to 175ºC/350°F/Gas mark 4
- Mix pecan topping ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside
- In a larger bowl, stir honey and butter together until well blended. Stir in vanilla extract, sourdough starter, milk and eggs
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl
- Using an electric hand mixer, stir flour into sourdough mixture alternating with buttermilk until the batter is smooth
- Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the topping. Cover with remaining half of batter and sprinkle remaining topping over top
- Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until a skewer inserted in centre of the cake comes out clean
- Serve warm or cold plain or with cream or vanilla ice cream
Cakes & Bakes: Sourdough coffee chocolate cake
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
Cakes & Bakes: Sourdough crumpets
I’m staying with the Sourdough September theme again this week with these sourdough crumpets. I hate wasting food and I despair at throwing away half of my sourdough starter each time it needs refreshing. To that end, I went in search of recipes that use this ‘discard’ and found this one for sourdough crumpets.
Crumpets aren’t usually my thing; I find the shop-bought ones rubbery and tasteless. To be honest, I only made these because Justin loves crumpets… slathered in butter, of course!
There’s been a set of metal rings in my baking station for ages, and I’ve not known quite what they were originally used for. This recipe called for ‘crumpet rings‘ – something I’d never heard of before. A quick internet search later – low and behold – I think that’s what my rings are!
If you don’t own crumpet rings, use cookie cutters – just make sure you oil them well before using. Also, if you don’t have a griddle (I used my pizza steel), a cast iron frying pan will do the job fine.
I don’t mean to boast, but these were miles better than any I’ve eaten before. Perhaps it was because I ate them straight off the griddle. They were lovely and soft and chewy without being rubbery – and the sourdough gave them a delicious depth of flavour. Crumpets have won me over!
Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest for later.
- 270g/9½oz sourdough starter
- 1tbsp runny honey
- ½tsp salt
- ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Mix together the starter, honey and salt then allow the starter to start bubbling
- Rub your griddle and crumpet rings with a little vegetable oil, then place over a medium heat
- Stir in the bicarbonate of soda into the batter. It should start bubbling
- Once the rings are hot, pour the batter into them, leaving a ½cm gap at the top to allow for rising
- When the edges are cooked (about 5 minutes), remove the crumpets from the rings and flip them over and cook for a further 3 minutes. Repeat the process until all the remaining batter has been used up
Cakes & Bakes: Caramelised onion sourdough loaf
It’s still Sourdough September, and it was also GBBO‘s bread week, so today’s bake celebrates them both; I’ve made a caramelised onion sourdough loaf.
The sweet caramelised onion is a wonderful addition – and you can intensify the flavour further with the substitution of onion salt (instead of ‘plain’) to the dough.
I often find timing sourdough bread proofing stages challenging. So, although I specify rises in this recipe at room temperature, I sometimes have to put my loaf in the coldest room (believe me, it can get really chilly!) in the house for an overnight rise. Then, first thing next morning, I switch the oven on to pre-heat and get baking. This long, slow prove makes the taste of the loaf even more delicious!
We’ve had this loaf as an accompaniment to a tomato pasta dish – it makes a great mopper-upper! The following day we had what was left with goats cheese and salad.
Click here to save my caramelised onion sourdough recipe to Pinterest.
- 2 medium-sized red or brown onions, finely sliced
- knob of butter
- pinch of salt
- 450g/1lb sourdough starter (100% hydration)
- 175ml/6⅛fl oz water
- 450g/1lb strong white flour
- 7g/¼ salt
- On a medium heat, cook off the onions in the knob of butter adding a pinch of salt. Allow to brown before setting aside to cool
- Mix together the starter, water and salt
- Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the starter mixture
- Combine until everything is thoroughly mixed together and the dough begins to feel smooth
- Cover the mixing bowl and allow to sit for about an hour
- Fold the dough 8 times (8 single folds)
- Re-cover the mixing bowl and allow to sit for about 12 hours at room temperature or until the volume of dough doubles
- Turn out the dough out on to a lightly-floured work surface and stretch it out into a rectangle
- Spread the cooled caramelised onion mixture evenly on to the rectangle of dough
- With the short side facing you, fold the dough on to itself in four, equal lengths ensuring that the mixture runs throughout the dough
- Shape the filled dough into your preferred loaf shape (boule, batard, etc.) trying not to have any of the onion mixture poking through the top
- Place it into a well-floured (rice flour is preferred) proofing basket/banneton; cover and allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour or until doubled in size
- Preheat the oven to 260ºC/500ºF
- Once the dough is fully risen and the oven pre-heated, gently transfer the dough from the proofing basket to the baking tray, score the top of the loaf and bake at 260ºC/500ºF/Gas mark 10 for 10 minutes
- Turn the oven temperature down to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6 and bake for another 30 minutes
- Remove the loaf from the oven and put it on a wire rack to cool for at least an hour before slicing