Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter glaze

Are you one of those who maintain a sourdough starter?
If yes, this post might interest you.
And if you love chocolate and are looking for a low fat cake recipe, I think this post will fit the bill.
On the top of it if you are a Vegan or a person who doesn't eat eggs, you will probably love this post. This is one of the cakes where flax seed doesn't overpower the flavor of the cake with its nuttiness.
But, if you like only airy cakes like chiffon cake or angel food cake, you might not like the texture of this cake. Why? Because of the use of applesauce, this is a bit dense, but very moist.
So, are you going to read the rest of the post or close the window?

One year back - Peanut butter Chocolate Chip Oat bars, Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cake
Adapted from - King Arthur Flour
Ingredients:
Sourdough Starter - 1 cup (100 % hydration, stirred down)
Freshly Brewed coffee - 1 cup (room temperature) or use milk or water
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Oil - 1/2 cup
Unsweetened Applesauce - 1/2 cup (Or 1/2 cup more oil)
Salt - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 1/2 tsp
Natural Cocoa - 3/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Flax seed powder - 2 TBSP
Warm water - 6 TBSP

For the glaze: (optional)
Peanut butter - 2 TBSP (not natural)
Powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar - 1/2 cup
Vanilla - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 2 TBSP or a bit more to get the proper consistency (non dairy for vegan version)

Method:
In a bowl, mix together sourdough starter, all purpose flour and coffee or milk. Cover and set aside for 2 - 3 hours. It will not be very bubbly, but it will have expanded quite a bit. I actually left mine for 4 hours and it had almost doubled. Preheat the oven to 350 F (I used 325 F since I was using a dark pan). Grease a 13 X 9 pan with vegetable oil spray or grease a bundt pan like I did.
In a bowl, whisk together flax seed powder with warm water. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Add applesauce, oil, sugar, salt to the mixture and beat till everything is combined well. Add the cocoa and beat well. Add baking soda, vanilla and stir. Now, dump all the sourdough mixture to the bowl. Take a spatula and mix gently. It will be goopy and looks almost curdled, but it will mix in a little bit. Keep stirring till you have a homogeneous mixture and you cannot see any white sourdough parts. Pour it into the prepared pan and bake for 45 - 50 minutes in case of a bundt pan, 30 - 40 minutes in case of a 13 X 9 oblong pan. Check with the toothpick test before taking it out of the pan. Cool on the wire rack in the pan for 10 - 15 minutes. Turn it on to the wire rack to cool completely.  When completely cool, you can either frost the cake, or pour a glaze or simply dust with some confectioner's sugar.

Mix all the ingredients mentioned in the 'To make the glaze' and whisk to get a smooth, pourable consistency glaze. Pour on the cooled cake.

Notes:
You can make confectioner's sugar at home if you have a powerful blender/dry grinder. For every cup of granulated sugar, add 3 TBSP of corn starch and powder in the dry grinder. Sift with a fine sieve and measure and use.

If you are trying to make cake using sourdough discard, you might want to check these posts too.
Sourdough Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Sourdough Vanilla Cake
Sourdough Vegan Applebutter Cake
Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cake
Sourdough Banana Cake
Sourdough Applesauce Spice Cake
Sourdough Chocolate Cake (Has eggs)

This is being sent to Susan's Yeastspotting.

Enjoy.