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.

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Sourdough Mint Paratha / Indian Mint flatbread using Sourdough

I have two kinds of mint in my backyard. They have grown so much that I had to trim some of them to prevent them from spreading to the next planter. You can make chutney out of it, rice out of it, but I was in the mood for something else. Add it to the dilemma of what to do with the sourdough cast-off, these were made. I have made sourdough skillet pitas before. All I did was adding the spices, making them a bit thinner.
For those who do not recognize the title, Parathas are Indian flatbreads. Some are filled and some are just plain layered with ghee or oil. This one is more of a roti family, but is a little thicker than roti and has spices and herbs added to it.

One year back - Tofu Crumble
Ingredients:
Sourdough Starter - 1 cup (I used cast-off, you can use ripe one too. 100 % hydration)
Whole Wheat flour - 2 1/2 cups
Salt - 1 tsp or to taste
Cumin - 1 tsp (optional)
Oil - 2 TBSP for the dough and more for cooking
Mint - 2 cups loosely packed (just the leaves picked. Don't chop them)
Green Chillies - 5 or per taste (Omit completely if you cannot handle heat)
Water - 1/2 cup or more to make a smooth, soft dough

Method:
Rinse mint leaves and pat them dry on a clean kitchen towel. There is a trick to remove all water easily. Place them on a clean kitchen towel and gather all the sides together. There should be room for the leaves in the towel pocket. Move your arms holding all the ends of the towel (without leaving any side open) as if you are playing jump rope. It will remove all the water content within a minute. Take these mint leaves in a blender jar. Add the green chillies to it and make a paste without adding water. It will look more like very finely crushed wet powder. Dump that into a bowl. Add oil, salt, sourdough starter, wheat flour, cumin and mix. Start pouring water slowly and make a smooth dough. Keep it covered for 30 minutes for the dough to rest.

After the dough has rested, knead it for about 4 - 5 minutes or until smooth. Divide them into 12 parts or the size of a small orange. Heat the griddle or a large cast iron skillet or any other skillet. Roll the dough balls dusting with flour into a 8" round. They are like tortilla, but a bit thicker, but not as thick as an unbaked pita bread. Cook on the hot griddle applying a little oil on both sides till brown. You can be liberal with oil if you want. I just brushed the whole surface with oil using a pastry brush. Keep the cooked parathas covered so that they stay soft. Serve with pickle or yogurt or raita. I made cucumber raita to go with it. Simple but makes a healthy meal.

Those who do not have sourdough starter, increase flour by 1 cup and add about 1/2 cup yogurt to get the tangy taste. 

More mint recipes..
Minty Coconut Rice
Chutney Chawal
Penne with Minty almond sauce

I am sending this to 'yeastspotting' - weekly collection of 'yeast preparations'.
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Vegan Sourdough Applesauce Pancakes

I feel every person who maintains a sourdough starter should read my blog. Not for recipes, but for ideas so that they are not throwing the sourdough cast off (read money). What do you say?

Sometimes I feel I make stuff out of the sourdough more than I make bread out of it. Here is another version of pancakes which uses applesauce and has no added fat. I almost called it fat free pancakes but then realized that flax meal has some fat in it. Good one, but it is there. Best part was my kids loved them.

One Year Back - Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup
Ingredients:
Sourdough starter - 1 cup (unfed at room temperature)
Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Flax seed powder / Flax meal - 2 TBSP
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - 2 TBSP (optional)
Applesauce - 1 cup (I used unsweetened, if you use sweetened, omit sugar completely)
Water - 1/4 - 1/2 cup to thin the batter to get proper consistency (or you could use non dairy milk) - See Notes
Optional addition - 1 tsp cinnamon

Method:
In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, sugar if using, baking powder, baking soda, flax meal, cinnamon if using. Add sourdough starter, applesauce and water (start with 1/4 cup in the beginning). Stir to combine. Don't beat it. Let it sit for 3 - 5 minutes. Whole wheat flour will have absorbed good amount of water. Add 1/4 cup more if required. Heat the griddle and lightly spray it with vegetable oil spray or use a non-stick pan. Ladle the batter and cook the pancakes flipping only once. This made about 12 not too big pancakes. Serve with syrup or fruit compote.

Notes:
I have given the range for quantity of water. It is because of two reasons. One is every sourdough consistency varies. Secondly, different whole wheat flour absorb different amounts of liquid. You might need even more based on these two ingredients.

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Sourdough Zucchini Chocolate Cake

I feel as if I am creating a database of sourdough cast-off recipes. I have so many sourdough recipes here that I wonder if a person who maintains a sourdough reads them, they will probably never throw the sourdough discard or cast-off. Last year, I had planted zucchini plants and got tired of finding ways to use them up. This year, I decided not to. But for some reason, I cannot resist buying these when I go grocery shopping. I picked a bag of 6 zucchini for a 1.50 dollars. That is a steal. And it was perfect timing for me to try this cake that I had bookmarked a while back since it was time to feed my starter. I used whole wheat flour and if you use all purpose flour, you will get a fluffier cake. And this is not a very sweet cake at all. If you like your cake to be sweet, increase the sugar to 1 1/2 cups. This actually serves very well as a snack cake or a coffee cake.

One Year Back - Hawaiian Cobbler Adapted from here.
Ingredients:
Sourdough Starter - 1 cup (unfed at room temperature - 100 % hydration)
Sugar - 1 cup
Canola Oil or vegetable oil - 1/3 cup
Egg - 1 large at room temperature
Whole Wheat Flour - 1 1/2 cups
Dutch Processed Cocoa or natural cocoa - 1/2 cup (I used dutch processed cocoa)
Zucchini shredded - 2 cups (I kept the skin on)
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla - 2 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 Celsius). Grease and flour a 10 cup bundt pan. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa. If there are any lumps in cocoa, sift and remove them. In another bowl, whisk together sugar and oil. It will be like sand. Add the egg and continue to whisk. Add the sourdough starter and mix. Now, add all the dry ingredients and stir. Batter will be very stiff. Don't worry. The moment you add the zucchini, it will loosen up  a bit. Stir in the vanilla and shredded zucchini. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45 - 50 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then turn it on to the wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioner's sugar or pour a very thin glaze made with about 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar and couple of TBSP of milk to the pouring consistency.

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Sourdough Focaccia

If you have been reading this blog,  you'll have noticed one thing. I bake too many things with 'sourdough' other than bread. You might think "If she doesn't want to bake bread out of sourdough, then why have it? ". Answer is very simple. When I do want to make something out of it, it is available for me.  Starter doesn't get ready to be used in couple of days. It takes weeks for it to be ready.
I converted 'Poolish Focaccia' from BBA book to use sourdough starter. If you don't fall in love with bread baking after you've tried this, I don't know what to tell you.

I did add some green chillies to suit our taste. Omit it if you can't handle the heat. You can use your favorite herb for herb oil or leave it out and use just olive oil.
One Year Back - Chocolate Almond Spread
Ingredients:
For the sponge:
Sourdough starter - 1 cup (ripe)
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Warm Water - 1/4 cup

For the dough:
All of the Sponge
All purpose flour - 1 1/3 Cups
Salt - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 3 TBSP
Water - 1/3 cup (warm)

Additional:
Green chillies - 8 chopped fine (optional - pretty spicy)

To make herb oil:
Olive oil - 1/3 cup
Cilantro - chopped about 1/4 cup

Method:
The day before:
Mix the starter with the remaining ingredients mentioned in the sponge in a non metallic bowl. If your starter is not very ripe, you could add a pinch of yeast here. Cover and let it sit overnight or for several hours. I left mine overnight. You will see lots of bubbles and holes in the sponge after 8 - 10 hours.

Day of:
Mix all of the ingredients mentioned in the 'for the dough'. This dough is super sticky. Beat for about 3 minutes. I was stirring using a wooden spoon and gave up after a minute. I could've let the bread machine do the job, but was lazy to clean one extra thing. I just let it rise for longer time.
After about 4 - 5  hours (remember we have not added any yeast here and it will take time), the dough will be puffy.
Make a bed of flour and scrape the contents of the bowl on to the bed of flour. Sprinkle the top with flour, stretch and dust off the extra flour and fold like an envelop. In the BBA book, they mention to do it twice but since I had not kneaded the dough properly, I went and folded four times. Coat with olive oil and let rest for 45 minutes covered to an hour. (If you use yeast, 30 minutes is good enough)
Repeat the process of this stretching and folding. Every time you do this, dough gets easier to handle. Third time when you do the stretch and fold, let it rest for an hour or more. If you are using green chillies, it is in the third stretch that you would be folding it in. I didn't want the chillies just on the top so I folded them in. Coat with oil and let it rest.

Prepare the herb oil if using. Heat olive oil in a pan. When warm, turn off the heat and add the chopped herb. Let it cool.
When ready to assembly, generously grease a 13 X 9 pan with olive oil. Place the envelop of dough gently and by greasing your hands, spread to cover the pan. Use only your finger tips. Dimple the dough and pour half of the herb oil. Cover and let rest for 2 hours or until puffy. At the end of final rise, pour the rest of the herb oil and if there are any huge air bubbles, break them. Let it rest for another 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 500 F. Sprinkle the focaccia with salt and place in the oven. Turn the heat down to 450 F. Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 10 minutes. Check the internal temperature. Mine was done at this time. It should read 200 F. And the top will be golden. Not a dark, but a pale golden. Remove from the pan and cool on the wire rack. Don't slice for 30 minutes at least.

This tasted awesome. Pretty spicy, but it is one of the best focaccia that I have baked. I have been baking focaccia even before I started blogging, so I have had my share of focaccia baking.

To make this without sourdough starter:
If you don't have the sourdough starter, use 1/4 tsp instant yeast along with 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 3/4 cup of warm water. After the overnight rise, to make the dough, you will be using everything mentioned in the 'for the dough' section plus 3/4 tsp of instant yeast. Follow the steps as mentioned with reduced rest periods between the stretching and folding. 30 minutes should be fine in between the folds.

Since Priya was interested in knowing the calories, I calculated it. This is very approximate.

This goes to yeastspotting and BBD#37.
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Sourdough Vegan Apple Butter Cake

I have seen parents praising their kids even when the kids are not all that great. I have seen parents who never praise their kids even when they have done a great job (my mom belongs to this category). I have met men who praise their wives' cooking, efficiency, smartness, looks etc. I happen to have married one who can never compliment a person. (Don't worry - my husband never reads what I write and neither do anyone from my family. I can write my mind here - good for me right?)
I have learnt something in my life. If I do a great job, I appreciate myself. I feel proud of myself even if it is just for a while. Not to brag, but it makes me feel good even if it is for couple of minutes. After I ate a slice of this cake, I said out loud 'I am good'. This cake is that good. It is very cloudy here today and there was absolutely no sun light. I was almost thinking of taking pictures and posting it tomorrow. But, kids wanted to eat the cake and I had to slice it up. For those who get discouraged by the word 'sourdough', read the notes to see how to make it without one.

One month back - No knead Whole Wheat Raisin mini buns
Ingredients:
Sourdough Starter - 1 cup (unfed at room temperature 100 % hydration)
All Purpose Flour - 1 2/3 cups
Baking Soda - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 cup
Vegetable or Canola Oil - 1/3 cup
Hot water - 1 cup
Apple butter - 1 cup (Room temperature)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F (I baked mine at 325 F since I was using a dark bundt pan). Spray a 12 cup (10 inch) bundt pan or a tube pan with vegetable oil spray. You can make this into loaf cakes too. Use 2 8 X 4 or 9 X 5 pans. You will have to alter the baking time though. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt. Whisk together.

In a 4 cup capacity measuring cup, measure 1 cup of sourdough starter (approximately 8 Oz). Add 1 cup of apple butter to the same measuring cup. I added apple butter to the measuring cup till it reached 2 cup line. Add 1/3 cup of oil to the same measuring cup. To the same measuring cup, add 1 cup of hot water. Whisk all the ingredients in the measuring cup well to combine.

 Slowly pour the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients bowl and whisk slowly till all the flour mixture is incorporated. Do not whisk vigorously. Folding works much better.

Pour the batter in to the prepared pan and bake for 45 - 48 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you are baking at 350 F, it might be done before 45 minutes time. So, check at 40 minutes.

Counting Calories..

Notes:
For those who do not maintain a sourdough starter, increase the water by 1/2 cup and flour by 1 cup to make this cake. It will come out just fine. You could pour a thin glaze of powdered sugar if you wish. This cake was pretty sweet without it. It will definitely look prettier if you do. I did not add any additional spices to it since apple butter already has some spices. If you love certain spice, you can add it to suit your palate.
I am sending this to yeastspotting. 

Want to know more options of baking/cooking with sourdough? Check these links out..
Sourdough Banana Aebleskiver / Banana Paniyaram

Sourdough Banana bread with almond butter
Sourdough Chocolate chip muffins  

Vegan Sourdough Pancakes 

Spicy Mint Sourdough Muffin

Sourdough Applesauce Spice Cake  
Sourdough Banana Cake with chocolate chips
Sourdough Chocolate Cake
Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cake
Sourdough Vegan Apple Butter Cake

Whole Wheat and Quinoa Sourdough Bread

Happy Baking!! Pin It

Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cake

Fall is not here yet but, I am already seeing fall around. Color of the leaves has started to change. Some of the trees have already started to shed the leaves. The vegetable stands have started putting up the signs of 'pumpkins for sale'. And there are mums everywhere for sale. And the temperature has started to cool down a bit too. I love fall of all the seasons. One of the reason it is my favorite is due to nice temperature and the other being so many activities for kids. Halloween followed by Thanksgiving and that means abundant opportunities for me to bake.
I had an opened can of pumpkin that needed to be used up soon. It was feeding time for my sourdough starter which was a perfect opportunity for me to use up starter and the pumpkin to make this cake. This is based on many sourdough cakes I have baked. I used a bundt pan to make it fancy looking and added a glaze.

Ingredients:
Sourdough starter - 1 cup room temperature not fed
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup (See Notes)
Baking Soda - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Egg - 1 large
Vegetable Oil - 1/4 cup
Buttermilk or thinned yogurt - 1/4 cup
Pumpkin puree - 1 cup
All Spice - 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg - 1/8 tsp or a big pinch
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Cloves - 1/2 tsp
Ginger - 1/2 tsp

For the Glaze: (optional)
Butter - 2 TBSP melted
Confectioner's Sugar - 1 cup
Milk - 1 - 1 1/2 TBSP

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. (I used 325 F since my bundt pan is a dark non-stick pan) Grease a bundt pan (12 cup capacity). Set aside. You can use 13 X 9 pan if you don't have a bundt pan. In a 4 cup measuring cup, measure 1 cup of sourdough starter. Add pumpkin puree to the same cup till the combined total is 2 cups. Add oil to the cup to make it 2 1/4 cup. Buttermilk to make it 2 1/2 cup. Crack an egg to the same cup and whisk with a whisk till everything is mixed well.

In another larger bowl, take all purpose flour. Add salt, spices, baking soda, sugar to the same bowl. Whisk together. Add the contents of the measuring cup to the bowl and stir till just combined. Pour to the prepared pan and bake for 40 - 45 minutes in case of a bundt pan. If using a 13 X 9 pan, bake for 35 - 40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Turn it on to wire rack to cool completely. Prepare the glaze. In a bowl, mix melted butter with 1 cup of confectioner's sugar. Slowly add enough milk to make a smooth, flowing glaze. Stir vigorously to remove any lumps. If you want to add spices, this is the time to add them. When the cake is completely cool spoon the glaze over the cake. You can make the glaze a little thicker if you want to pipe it in a decorative way.


Notes:
You can add some spices of your choice to the glaze. If you like orange, make glaze using orange juice instead of milk. I didn't want to overwhelm the flavor with spices. I just sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on the top of the glaze. This cake is not a very sweet one. If you like it to be sweeter, increase the sugar to 1 1/3 cups - 1 1/2 cups. If you are not a fan of glaze, just dust with confectioner's sugar and serve. Or you could serve it plain.

I am sending this cake to Susan's Yeastspotting.

Happy Baking!!

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