This salad is perfect for the summer. The salad is made strong enough to serve as a main dish thanks to the chicken and feta cheese while remaining light because to the fresh herbs. Remove the chicken and add chopped artichoke hearts to use as a side dish. The salad is also excellent with grilled chicken or fish.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 18 |
| Yield: | 1 9×13-inch cake |
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup shortening
- 1 ⅔ cups white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup sourdough starter
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup cold water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13-inch cake pan.
- Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Cream shortening, sugar, and eggs together in a large bowl. Blend in sourdough starter. Add flour mixture slowly to creamed mixture, beating until smooth. Stir in water and vanilla; mix well. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 223 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 34 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 211 mg |
| Sugars | 19 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I liked it-it was a very basic cake, almost brownie-like. It was worth making one time. Thank you for the recipe!! 🙂
Great cake. I didn’t have any shortening, so after some research, I used margarine. I upped the margarine to about 180 grams. Had to bake longer than 35 mins, possibly 1 hour. But man, after cooled, added some ganache and cut into it. Hubby commented on how moist it was and it was indeed. I love that this could use my discard to make something sweet and delicious. Thanks and I’ll make it again with margarine as we don’t get shortening in Sweden.
Great idea and base recipe that allows changes. I took several review ideas into account. Added a little extra sweet by adding a Tbls of agave; added about a 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt to up the moisture; increased cocoa to 3/4 cup; used strong coffee with a bit of light cream to replace water. I baked in a bundt pan for 50 mins. Came out delicious, no icing necessary.
Very nice! I made a few adjustments that I took from my daughters fav cake. I use buttermilk instead of water and add 1 teaspoon cinnamon. It makes it taste like Mexican hot chocolate. The icing is poured on a hot cake and I make it while it’s baking. 4tbs cocoa, 6 tbs milk, 1 stick butter or margarine, 4c powdered sugar, 1 tea vanilla 1 c chopped pecans (optional). Bring everything but sugar, pecans and vanilla to a boil then add sugar and vanilla. Pour on hot cake.
I just made this with the alterations suggested in other reviews: I used oil instead of shortening, replaced the water with milk, and used 1 cup of cocoa. But the best thing that I did was use a caramel glaze on top. Amazing! The next time I make it, I will make it a “poke cake.” I will poke holes in the cake to fill with the caramel glaze.
I’ve made this cake a couple times, making a few changes each time. Today’s version is my favorite. I used coconut oil, reduced the sugar to one cup, using pure cane sugar. I increased the cocoa to one cup. I liked the suggestion from someone to add a teaspoon of instant coffee granules, and did add it. To moisten the batter, I poured a little 2% milk into the batter—maybe 1/4 cup. To add to the chocolate flavor, I added as a last ingredient about 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips. I cooked the cake in a Bundt pan for 50 minutes. It rose nicely, and it has a wonderful consistency and flavor. In place of icing, I did a very light dusting of confectioners sugar. The recipe is a wonderful use of my nutritious sourdough starter, which reduces a chocolate-lover’s guilt.
I would have baked it about 5 or more minutes less than recipe called for ( I actually got it out 5 min early and a tiny bit over baked, by otherwise Very Good! I used about a Tbsp. Coffee as part of the water ( as I like to do with my chocolate cakes). I made my own chocolate buttercream frosting!!! Delicious!! And I sprinkled mini semisweet chocolate chips over the top! I will save this recipes. I love using sourdough..
I used vegetable oil – beaten for 2 minutes (same amount). I cut sugar to 3/4 cup. I wasn’t sure what to expect with sourdough. Turned out to be the best chocolate cake. I just dusted it with dry icing sugar. Light. Moist. Delicious. Hit with whole family. Hard to find baking powder right now so this was a lovely surprise. I don’t think I’ll go back to my old recipe. No photos. Family demolished it in short order.
Excellent, used cream instead of water, made a nice moist cake. Took more than 30 minutes cook.
Loved it! I’ve been finding every excuse I can to use my sourdough starterd (I’ve named him Bob – he’s a beloved, contributing member of the family at this point haha) A lot of the reviews I read mentioned it being a little dry, so instead of the shortening I used 1/2 cup of baking margarine and 1/3 cup of olive oil – and it was glorious! Such moist, fudgy, texture and that milk chocolate taste with just a hint of the sourdough to keep if from being too sweet. I will definitely be making this again
My family says this is the best chocolate cake they have ever eaten! It is absolutely delicious. We made it in a Bundt pan and topped it with a white chocolate glaze. If we had raspberries it would have been even more amazing.
I read many, many reviews before I made this cake–incorporated some of them and added some of my own. I used a Herman Sour Dough Starter, a baby starter, 1 cup butter Crisco, 2 squares melted Bakers Unsweetened Chocolate, 2 cups sugar, 1 package of vanilla pudding mix (I didn’t have chocolate), 1 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup sour cream and 3/4 cup of soured milk. I didn’t put any frosting or powdered sugar on my cake, so I wanted it extra chocolaty and sweeter. My cake was not really dry and was very light — I might add an extra egg or increase the amount of sour cream that I used to make it a little MORE moist. But — I totally enjoyed this cake and will definitely make again.
It was a big hit ! I made a chocolate, caramel liqueur ganache frosting for it.
I made this as a sheet cake. Delish! It rose up beautifully. Very light and airy. It does have the slightly heavy(?) flavor that one would expect, and enjoy, from a sourdough recipe. Topped with a chocolate buttercream frosting it was fantastic.
Very good flavor, family liked it before I told them it was made with sourdough.
I used avocado oil instead of shortening and used whipped cream for the topping
I substituted Canola for shortening & Xylo for sugar, a little sanding sugar on top. I made 6 giant cup cakes & 1 mini loaf. I did reduce the cooking time to 30 minutes. Came out super moist and not too sweet, delicious.
Excellent! Rich and thick! I made cupcakes (26 cupcakes, 20 minutes @ 350). Only change was substituted coffee for water. Great use of sourdough starter!
I didn’t have enough white sugar, so 1 cup of dark brown sugar was substituted along with 2/3 cup white. I used 2/3 cup salted cream butter for shortening. Cake turned out flavorful, moist and rose nicely in the glass baking dish. Next time I’ll try some vegan exchanges on the dairy ingredients.
One of the best scratch cakes I have made! After reading some of the other reviews I was concerned about this turning out dry. I wonder of the differences are with everyone’s different starter. Mine turned out very moist and rich. I used 3/4 c of olive oil and added a generous scoop of sour cream. I didn’t have pudding, so didn’t use it. I also used closer to 1c of cocoa, substituted buttermilk for the water and added the instant coffee others recommended. Great cake will definitely make again.
How do you make a cake recipe more moist? Add apple puree/sauce! So I pureed 1 green apple and used 1 1/4 c buttermilk, 1 cup shortening, and 3/4 c cocoa. Bake just until knifes comes out moderately clean. FABULOUS. WOA.