Raccoon and Lobster

You can, of course, just make the Sourdough Chocolate Cake without going to the extra step of making bite-sized chocolate covered cake-and-frosting balls. This recipe makes a light, moist cake that tastes nothing like sourdough, but does conveniently lessen the amount of starter in your fridge. Good for when you just don’t feel up to making Sourdough Hippo Biscuit Surprise.

Sourdough Chocolate Cake adapted from King Arthur Flour

1 cup (8 ½ ounces) sourdough starter, fed and “rested”
1 cup (8 ounces) milk or evaporated milk
2 cups (8 ½ ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 ½ cups (10 ½ ounces) sugar
½ cup (3½ ounces) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
2 large eggs

Combine starter, milk and flour and let rest 2-3 hours until just bubbling. In second bowl, combine remaining ingredients, beating well after each egg. Gently add starter mixture, taking care not to fold too much to deter gluten production.

Pour into greased 9×13 cake pan or two 9″ rounds and bake at 350ºF for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick/butterknife/cake tester comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 packages cream cheese (16oz), softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
Confectioner’s sugar to taste, I use about 1 1/2 cups instead of the recommended 3

Mix well.

Now it’s time to make cake balls.

After cake is cooled, crumble into a large bowl. Mix thoroughly with frosting and roll into large gumball sized balls.

Now here’s where I get into trouble because my chocolate tempering skills are terrible. The chocolate on these cake balls never set properly and so I have no good advice to give you. They’re still delicious, but they are damn messy.

What I did: melt semi-sweet chocolate chips in double boiler, remove from heat, add more chocolate chips, stir, dip cake balls in chocolate, rolling with a spoon and scooping out. Let cool on parchment paper and refrigerate until chocolate is hardened. What I need to do: learn how to temper chocolate properly.

You may want to follow bakerella’s advice and use chocolate bark. Me? I’m going to keep trying to temper chocolate and eating the rejects, Lucy style.