Sourdough “Discard” Chocolate Earthquake Cake.
Not your typical cake of elegant beauty, this cake brings to the table layers of rich flavors of nuts, coconut, cream cheese, and chocolate all in the appearance of a groundshaking earthquake. With sunken pockets and uneven groves throughout the top. It’s a fun and delicious treat.
I made this cake with my Grandma years ago and I kept thinking about it and dug out the recipe after my Grandma just recently passed. She is the only one I have a memory with this cake and in her honor, I used her recipe to make my own spin on it.
Lets take a look at the layers……
Hold on to your seats because this cake has 3 sticks of butter in it! Yes, you read that right, but butter makes everything better right?
The first layer consists of 1 cup of sweetened coconut flakes and 1 cup of pecans or walnuts spread across the bottom of your cake pan. (I used walnuts in mine.)
The second layer I add on top of the coconut and nuts my recipe for sourdough chocolate cake, a spin-off of my favorite chocolate cake that my Mom has made for years. I converted it to sourdough and it gives it an extra punch of flavor. I also used cacao powder which tends to have a more bitter taste compared to that of cocoa powder. Since this recipe is so sweet the sourdough and cacao add a bit of balance to the mix. Below is a list of ingredients that are in the chocolate sourdough cake.
1 and 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1 and 1/4th cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of unfed sourdough starter also known as “discard”
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of melted butter ( 1 stick)
1/4th cup of cacao powder or you can use cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4th teaspoon of sea salt
The third layer is made up of 8 oz softened cream cheese, 8 tablespoons or 1 stick of room temperature butter, and, 2 cups of powdered sugar. This mixture is doloped across the top and spread carefully almost to the edge of the pan but not mixed in. You don’t want it to get mixed in.
Last but not least the frosting on top. This frosting uses 6 tablespoons of pop boiled with 2 teaspoons of cacao powder and 8 tablespoons ( 1 stick) of butter and then cooled a bit before adding in 3-4 cups of powdered sugar. This frosting sets once cooled resulting in a glossy finish.
Try not to mix the cream cheese in with the cake underneath but spread it across the top. It doesn’t have to go to the edges or be perfect, remember this is an earthquake cake.
As the cake cools the revenues will continue to get more defined. Grab a cup of coffee if you are a coffee lover and enjoy this sweet chocolate, caffeine combo.
Notes:
The discard I used for this recipe was from my unfed sourdough starter (aka January) right out of the refrigerator before feeding it. I store my starter in the fridge until I am ready to use it. I like to leave mine out overnight after feeding it to make sure it is activated and then place it back in the refrigerator if I no longer have need of it. For sourdough starter that sits out and is fed daily, I use it after it has reached its peak activation and then stir it down to use it or take out what I need right before its fed. I’m sure you could use an active sourdough starter but I have not experimented with that yet.
Sourdough Discard Chocolate Earthquake Cake
Ingredients
First Layer
- 1 c shredded coconut sweetened
- 1 c chopped walnuts you can also use pecans
Second Layer (Chocolate Sourdough Discard Cake)
- 1 1/2 c granulated sugar
- 1 1/4th c all-purpose flour
- 1 c sourdough discard
- 1/2 c water
- 1/2 c butter 1 stick
- 1/4 th c cacao powder or cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4th tsp sea salt
Third Layer
- 2 c powdered sugar
- 1/2 c butter 1 stick
- 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
Frosting
- 1/2 c butter (salted) 1 stick
- 6 tbsp Coca-Cola or RC Cola pop
- 2 tsp cacao powder or you can use cocoa powder
- 3-4 c powdered sugar I use 4
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle the first layer of shredded coconut and nuts in the bottom of the dish and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients of flour, sugar, cacao powder, salt, and baking soda.
- In a separate mixing bowl combine the wet ingredients. Eggs, water, sourdough discard, melted butter, and vanilla. I used sourdough discard right out of the refrigerator before feeding it. Mix in any hooch before pouring the amount of discard you need.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just incorporated don't over-mix. Pour this over the coconut and nuts and spread to the edge of the pan.
- Place the room-temperature cream cheese in a bowl and melt your butter. Pour the butter over the cream cheese and mix until it all comes together. Add in the powdered sugar and drop by the spoonfuls over the cake mixture. Carefully spread it across the top of the cake close to the edges, but try not to mix it in too much.
- Bake for 40- 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. As the cake cools the top will crack and heave resulting in what looks like the earth after an earthquake.
Frosting
- In a small saucepan mix the 6 tbsp of pop and 2 tsp of cacao powder. Add in the stick of butter and heat over medium-high heat until it melts and comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and remove from heat mixing in the powdered sugar until smooth and then pour over the cake. Let it cool before cutting.
