Taking my inspiration from the King Arthur Flour recipe for sourdough chocolate cake, I made a cake last weekend to help celebrate a friend’s birthday. I thought it was great that King Arthur shared the history of sourdough, but why stop there? Why not make the cake as old-worldly as possible?
Instead of their white flour, white sugar, vegetable oil, I used spelt flour, evaporated cane juice, and virgin coconut oil. In addition, I let the sourdough starter/flour/milk mixture rest for 8 hours plus, instead of just 2 to 3 hours, making a more complete job of neutralizing the phytic acid in the spelt. Honestly, my cake was delicious and I doubt anyone would ever suspect it was a whole and healthy cake.
We don’t often use sweeteners any more, so we indulged with the evaporated cane juice in this recipe. When my evaporated cane juice runs out, the next sweetener I get will be Sucanat – and when that time comes, I think I’ll grind it up fine and use it that way for this recipe. Grinding really helps blend with those grainy, hard-to-dissolve sweeteners.
Update: I now use Sucanat or Rapadura in this recipe – sometimes ground up fine and sometimes not. All delicious! I also think powdered coconut sugar (palm sugar) would work wonderfully.
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The Cake Ingredients
- 1 cup fed sourdough starter
- 1 cup raw goat or cow milk
- 1-3/4 cup spelt flour
- 1-1/2 cups evaporated cane juice, Rapadura, or Sucanat
- 1 cup unrefined, virgin coconut oil, just barely melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda (not sure this is necessary)
- 3/4 cup traditional cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
- 1 teaspoon finely ground Teeccino – (optional) (I used the Mediterranean Hazelnut blend)
- 2 large pastured eggs
The Frosting Ingredients
Note: I now recommend using this basic chocolate coconut cream frosting! You’ll be glad you did!
Note: Double the frosting if making a layered cake and you desire to use this creamy frosting between the layers.
- 3/4 cup coconut cream (the cream part of a can of whole coconut milk)
- 1/4 cup raw honey
- 1/4 cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Make the Cake
Combine the fed starter, milk, and spelt flour in a mixing bowl. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 8 hours. If not ready to bake the cake, transfer this mixture to the refrigerator until ready to finish the cake, but allow it to come back to room temperature before proceeding.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease (1) 9″ x 13″ cake pan or (2) 8″-9″ square or circular cake pans with coconut oil and set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine the evaporated cane juice, coconut oil, vanilla, salt, baking soda, cocoa powder, and Teeccino. Beat. Add the eggs and beat well.
Combine the sourdough mixture with the chocolate mixture. Mix gently until smooth. Pour into prepared pan(s).
Bake for 30 to 45 minutes (I baked for 43 minutes), until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out cleanly. Remove from oven and set on a rack to cool.
Make the Frosting
Note: I now recommend using this basic chocolate coconut cream frosting! You’ll be glad you did!
Combine all frosting ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Chill.
Assemble the Cake
If cakes are in square or circle pans, tip them out onto a platter. Spread the frosting between the layers and on top.
If the cake is in one rectangular pan, spread the frosting on top. Serve!
This post is part of Fight Back Friday! at FoodRenegade.
Hi, Wardeh! I was wondering what Sucanat is and how it is made, and why do you choose it above other sweeteners? Is it a liquid, crystals, powder? Thanks!
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Okay, so just what *is* the distinction between Sucanat and Rapadura? I’ve never had a clear idea of the difference.
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Okay, well, this is my understanding today…
Sucanat – SUgar CANe NATural (unrefined sugar cane – juice, I believe)
Rapadura – dehydrated cane juice (unrefined, dehydrated juice of the sugar cane)
During the time that NT was published, Sucanat was being processed in a more refined way, which is why it is not included in the list of unrefined sweeteners. Since that time, they have gone back to processing it much the same as Rapadura. So you can use either knowing that they are unrefined sugar cane. Rapadura is more expensive, thus why people often choose Sucanat.
Then there’s evaporated cane juice (what I used in this recipe) which is somewhat refined. I bought it thinking it was “dehydrated cane juice” (Rapadura) but apparently there is a difference between “dehydrated” and “evaporated” What that difference is I do not know – but the former is unrefined and the latter is a little refined.
Of course, all sweeteners should be moderated!!! (But you both know that.
)
If I’m wrong on any of this, please set me straight…
Wardeh, if you don’t have access to raw milk, can you give me a good substitute for it?
This cake sounds yummy and I’m dying to try it!
Oh, what would you use to grind your sucanat?
Thanks,
Jean
Hi, Jean – Whatever milk you normally drink would substitute fine. The sourdough is what neutralizes the phytic acid in the flour. I understand that not all people have access to raw milk – so feel free to substitute the milk you drink.
I use the Vita-Mix dry container or a food processor to powder the Sucanat. It works really well. The VM does a better job. Enjoy!
This looks amazing! Unfortunately, I killed my sourdough starter some months back and haven’t tried again. Plus the recipe I tried to make bread with… well let’s just say that loaf (or brick, rather), could’ve broken a window! I still have some learning & reading to do in the realm of sourdough but it’s so healthy for you that I hope to try again soon!
Umm… YUM!!!
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mmm…you’re inspiring me to get a sourdough starter going again… although, for the cake, I’d have to use carob instead of chocolate as I’m alergic to chocolate (have you ever heard of a thing so absurd? kidding…sort of)
I think I am going to make this as the second cake for my daughter’s birthday party this weekend, now that my sourdough seems to be happy. Too bad that I don’t think I’ll be able to track down coconut butter before then; I’ll have to save some coconut cream aside from our whipped coconut cream from Thursday!
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It’s soaking right now! Tomorrow is my birthday and I didn’t want a yucky store bought cake that my family would have picked up – so I’m making my own!
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Wardeh,
Tried this recipe today…what a delicious cake! I have to admit, I thought the sourdough would make it too heavy, but my whole family LOVED it! It was perfect! I didn’t have coconut cream for the frosting, so I made homemade whipped cream instead. It was a perfect complement!
A friend had given me some Teecino a couple months ago when I was trying to quit coffee (I did, BTW). I put it up in the cupboard and forgot about it. When I saw this ingredient in the recipe, I thought, ‘I just might have that.’ LOL! It was almond amaretto…gave it wonderful flavor!
My family gives this recipe 12 thumbs up!
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