Moist Sourdough Chocolate Cake with Easy Chocolate Frosting

Don’t worry; there’s no sourdough taste. You don’t even have to share your secret ingredient 😉. All the normal people in your life will just know it’s the best chocolate cake they’ve ever tasted.

Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need

You don’t need a stand mixer or anything fancy here. Just pantry ingredients and some hot water for an extra moist cake.

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For the cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• ¾ cup cocoa powder (We always use Hershey’s for the cocoa; no need to get fancy!)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ¾ cup discard sourdough starter (The sourdough starter adds a richness to the cake that is somewhat like a cake made with buttermilk: not sour, but definitely delicious.)
• ¼ sour cream (It helps make your cake extra moist and takes the place of milk in this recipe.)
• 1 cup boiling water

For the frosting

• ½ cup melted butter (1 stick)
• ⅔ cup cocoa powder
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• ⅓ cup milk

How to Make Sourdough Chocolate Cake

Step One: Prep Oven And Pan

Preheat the oven to 350℉ with the rack in the center.  Prepare a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.

Step Two: Mix Dry Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.   Stir until well combined.

Step Three: Add Wet Ingredients

Add the vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, sour cream, and sourdough starter.  Stir to form a thick batter.   The batter will seem very thick and lumpy. That’s okay, just stir it up the best you can. Pour in the cup of boiling water and stir well until a smooth batter forms.

Step Four: Bake

Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with only a few crumbs. (The top may crack.)

Step Five: Cool

Cover the cake with a clean tea towel and allow it to cool directly in the pan.  Cool completely before frosting.

Step Six: Frost And Serve

To make the frosting, combine the melted butter and cocoa in a large mixing bowl.  Add the powdered sugar and milk, alternating with each other, and beat with an electric mixer until a smooth frosting forms. Frost the cake and serve directly out of the pan.

Storage Instructions

Any leftovers will keep well, tightly covered, in the fridge for 5 days or so, or at room temperature for about 3 days.

If you’d like to freeze your leftovers, I recommend wrapping individual slices in plastic wrap and sticking them all in a zipper-top bag. They come out quite well! Just let them defrost on the counter.

What to Serve with Sourdough Chocolate Cake

This can pretty much work with everything since chocolate is a classic. But it is quite rich.

• In the fall, have a caramel apple latte. The fruit and caramel will taste wonderful with the chocolate.
• Cake always needs ice cream. Try making this salted caramel vanilla ice cream.
• If it’s hot out, this refreshing raspberry peach iced tea will cut through the rich chocolate.

Questions and Troubleshooting

Related Recipes

• Sourdough lemon cake is soooo good and can even work as a breakfast.
• Carrot cake cupcakes with sourdough starter are one of our favorites and are topped with the most delicious cream cheese frosting.
• Coffee cake with discard starter requires your stand mixer, but it is so tender and topped with cinnamon sugar.

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