Sourdough Chocolate Cake

I've been seriously enjoying my sourdough starter lately. You can just do so much with sourdough! I keep trying to find new recipes to try, because the starter needs to be drained and fed every few days. I simply refuse to throw away the starter that I drain off, so I just have to make fun and delicious foods with it instead. Oh so difficult. ;)

My latest sourdough adventure was this delicious chocolate cake. The batter was fun - it looked just like instant chocolate pudding, and tasted similar to pudding too. Yes, I tasted the batter. I licked the beaters, the spatula, the bowl. It was fantastic. I regret nothing.

I topped the cake with a basic cream cheese frosting, and it complimented the cake well. Both the cake and the frosting were sweet with a little bit of a tang, and it was a great combination.

Sourdough Chocolate Cake
(from allrecipes.com)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening
1 2/3 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sourdough starter (recipe here)
3/4 cup cold water
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13 baking pan.

Sift together flour, cocoa, soda, baking powder, and salt.

Cream shortening, sugar, and eggs. Blend in sourdough starter. Add sifted ingredients slowly to creamed mixture, beating until smooth. Stir in water and vanilla, and mix well.

 Pour batter into greased and floured 9 x 13 inch pan.

 Bake for 35 minutes, or until done.

Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Slowly add powdered sugar, mixing until smooth and creamy.

I left the cake in the pan and only frosted the top. That way I only used about two-thirds of the frosting, and could keep the leftover frosting in the fridge. Because, let's face it, there are certainly worse things than having a cup or two of cream cheese frosting sitting around waiting to be used. So convenient for delicious snacking...

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