Chocolate Sourdough Cake

One of my favorite real food desserts is this delicious chocolate sourdough cake. Its deep, rich chocolate taste satisfies that sweet tooth, while its fermented whole wheat and cocoa breaks down most of the gluten, and those pesky anti-nutrients and frees them up to gather and eliminate free radicals from your body. Plus it develops a culture of healthy bacteria to help digest your food. Yes folks, this cake will help you digest the rest of your meal! 

This cake is also made with rapadura, instead of processed white sugar. Rapadura is the whole form of the sugar cane that has been crushed and evaporated, leaving all of its natural nutrients intact, instead of taking all of them out and processing it down to more of a chemical substance that wreaks havoc on your system. If you've never tasted it, you are in for a treat! Do yourself a favor and get some from your local health food store. You'll love its rich nutrient-full taste!

Chocolate Sourdough Cake

Sponge Ingredients

(The night or morning before)

1 C starter, active & bubbly

1 C milk

1 ¾ C whole wheat flour

1 ¼ C coconut oil melted and cooled

1 tsp sea salt

½ C cacao powder

3-4 oz. chocolate (3TB cocoa + 1 TB butter = 1 oz.)

(can combine last 2 ingredients)

Final Batter Ingredients

1 C rapadura sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 ½ tsp baking soda

½ C chocolate chips (or cacao nibs)

Directions:

Combine sponge ingredients in a large bowl, cover, and let sit on counter 6-12 hours.

 Before Rising

 After Rising

After the rising time, mix together the final batter ingredients. 

Add spoonfuls of the chocolate dough into the final batter and  mix well with a whisk or an electric mixer until smooth. 

Add in chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Top with your favorite frosting. I prefer a less sweet frosting so the sweetness of the cake can stand out, such as the one below:

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Frosting:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a double boiler, or in a saucepan set over a pan of hot (not boiling) water, melt the chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. 
Add the sour cream and the vanilla and beat, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until smooth and creamy. Let cool just slightly - until the frosting begins to thicken. But don’t wait too long because it will quickly thicken beyond spreadability. Spread frosting evenly over cake, then chill until set.
  

If you have any left after the first day or two, put the cake in the fridge for a delicious chocolate-frosted chocolate doughnut texture. 

Enjoy!!


Printable Recipe:

Chocolate Sourdough Cake

Sponge Ingredients

(The night or morning before)

1 C starter, active & bubbly

1 C milk

1 ¾ C whole wheat flour

1 ¼ C coconut oil melted and cooled

1 tsp sea salt

½ C cacao powder

3-4 oz. chocolate (3TB cocoa + 1 TB butter = 1 oz.)

(can combine last 2 ingredients)

Final Batter Ingredients

1 C rapadura sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 ½ tsp baking soda

½ C chocolate chips (or cacao nibs)

Directions:

Combine sponge ingredients in a large bowl, cover, and let sit on counter 6-12 hours. Mix the final batter ingredients together. Add the chocolate dough to the final batter ingredients and mix well with an electric mixer or whisk. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Frosting:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a double boiler, or in a saucepan set over a pan of hot (not boiling) water, melt the chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. 
Add the sour cream and the vanilla and beat, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until smooth and creamy. Let cool just slightly - until the frosting begins to thicken. But don’t wait too long because it will quickly thicken beyond spreadability. Spread frosting evenly over cake, then chill until set.

Lacto-Fermented Oatmeal

     Oats, just like any other grain, need to be fermented to break down the anti-nutrients, or phytates, that they contain. Oats also have gluten which,  like wheat, needs to be fermented to partially break it down before it enters your system. Without fermenting, oatmeal is a marginally nutritious breakfast that drains your energy and leaves you hungry an hour or two later. But with fermenting, oatmeal becomes a powerhouse meal that will digest well, keep you satisfied and full way beyond lunch time, and give you lasting energy throughout the day! Not to mention, the taste of fermented oats is far superior! All you need is a little bit of whey, the liquid in yogurt. Once you have this ingredient, you can ferment almost anything! Or you can also use plain yogurt as well, if you don't have any whey.

 Lacto-Fermented Oatmeal (breakfast porridge)

From Nourishing traditions

Ingredients:

2 cups oats, rolled or cracked
2 cups warm filtered water plus 4 TBSP whey, yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups filtered water

Directions:

 Mix oats with warm water mixture, cover and leave in a warm place overnight (7 to 24 hours). Bring
an additional 2 cups of water to a boil with sea salt. Add soaked oats , reduce heat, cover, and simmer several minutes. Remove from heat, and let stand for a few minutes. Serve with plenty of butter or
cream and a natural sweetener like rapadura, date sugar, maple syrup, maple sugar or raw honey.


 

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut....the word might bring up feelings of nostalgia, excitement, or even fear for you. But for me, it brings PASSION.  Sauerkraut is one of the first foods I learned to ferment, and it is still one of my favorite fermented foods, and one of the most healthy foods I have ever made. There are numerous health benefits of sauerkraut, which you can easily read about with a quick internet search. The main benefit being the digestion-promoting lactobacilli that it contains. This is the "good bacteria" that your body needs to digest food properly. Also, more than 70% of our immune system is contained in our digestive tract, another reason to keep your digestion moving and flowing with ease. Which is what this simple dish does. Added to each meal, this food will give you a boost in energy, help digest your meal, and add a richness of flavor you will learn to love.

So, what is sauerkraut? Nothing but cabbage and salt, left on your counter for a few days. Easy, right? Right. Really. If you're new to fermenting, this is the ideal place to start.

Traditional Sauerkraut

 

Adapted from Nourishing Traditions

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients:

1 medium cabbage, cored and shredded

1 Tbsp sea salt

1 Tbsp caraway seeds (optional)

4 Tbsp whey (or another 1 TBSP salt)

Directions:

In a bowl, mix cabbage with caraway seeds, sea salt and whey. Pound with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer for 5 minutes to release juices. Let sit for 5 minutes, then pound 5 more minutes. (Or let it sit for 15 minutes without any pounding.) Place in a quart-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down firmly with a pounder until juices come to the top of the cabbage. The top of the cabbage should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover and keep at room temperature for about 3 days then transfer to cold storage. The sauerkraut may be eaten immediately, but it improves with age.