There's a lot of these in my fridge:
Not gonna lie, I get mirthful every time I lay eyes on some light blue eggs when I go out to feed the duckies every morning. My ducks were gifted to me as adults, and to be honest they are a bit neurotic and not overly friendly, but since they give me loads of eggs, we are cool. That and they are freaking hysterical! Their daily battle with the ravens sounds like an amateur electronica album recording in progress. Today the ravens must have won a round because they dropped the egg right on my tractor tire while the hubs was out bunching brush fires. Well played ravens, well played.
Anyway, I also have sourdough discard every, single, day. And I hate for things to go to waste. My mind was already considering the duck egg and sourdough discard surplus comestible crafting possibilities when my son popped in the door from track practice and said, "The boys are coming over, we are having an airsoft war!"
It's spring break for the kiddos in our realm, and that of course means that at least one airsoft battle had to occur. It is still going, six hours after the skirmish began. It was as I beheld my ghillie-suited offspring and a bunch of other teen boys in assorted army surplus wear that I made the decision to bake a chocolate snack cake.
It wasn't going to be just any snack cake though, I was going to use what I had in the house. No running up the hill to the store for me!
After a perusal of my pantry, fridge, and medieval spice cupboard, I surveyed my kitchen island like a proud mama duck whose hatchling didn't become a cat amuse bouche.
I started the cake crafting party off by greasing my Wilton 9X13 cake pan. Then I cracked the eggs, added sugar, the starter, vanilla, and the fat part of the cake batter creation.
Speaking of fat, for the recipe ratio I was shooting for, I would have needed something like a cup of vegetable oil. As much as I love things to be rich, it seemed like some innovation was in order. I walked back to the pantry and grabbed a quart of the rose-colored applesauce I canned a while back. 1/2 oil/ 1/2 applesauce is a thing!
After beating the tarnation out of the wet ingredients, I added in the dry stuff that I had whisked together in a separate bowl and beat the batter for a couple of minutes more.
It was then I added the fun part, you know for the kids.
I had a bag of mini chocolate chips in the cupboard and you bet your last top ramen packet that I folded some of those in!
After mixing, beating, and folding, I had to admit the cake batter looked pretty tasty. In fact, I thought about eating it. Then I looked at the state of my counter and decided to act like a grown up. With regret of course.
For you see, I can't cook without wearing half of it. I thought I was being all smart measuring out the oil and then using the same measuring cup for the applesauce so it would slide right out. Pride cometh before a trip on your face and splashing sourdough starter all over your counter. I know that's written in a sacred text somewhere.
Then, as I was grabbing the vanilla extract out of the cupboard, an improperly closed bag of organic cocoa powder took a header off of the top shelf and exploded onto and into my toaster. Great.
By the time I got the cake safely in the oven, I was slightly dismayed by the fact that I had to spend half the baking time tidying up my kitchen creating explosion of the Kat kind. At least my husband was amused.
All of my clutzy-angst was worth it though, because the cake turned out beautifully. After letting it cool (I went out and bunched burn piles and fed), I came back in and frosted it with an airy chocolate buttercream. I also think a whipped chocolate ganache would be divine on this cake, but once again, I am not going to the store today.
And then came the moment of truth, I came out of my bedroom and the Airsoft Bruh Brigade was lurking around the cake like cats at a catnip dispensary. Me, being a bit of a drama enthusiast, I inquired,
"Would you boys like some cake?"
The collective Yes! warmed the cockles of my compost-encrusted heart, and in two point six seconds time I had a spatula, knife, and was dispensing pieces of cake. There were six boys and before I got the last one served the first one was back for another piece.
In less that five minutes those heathens ate the entire cake! It was impressive!
And based on their happy grunts, locust-like behavior, and repeated accolades, I am thinking this cake is beyond tasty!
Double Chocolate Sourdough Snack Cake
The Cake:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup sourdough starter
2 duck eggs (or 3 large eggs)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup mini chocolate chipsThe Frosting
1/2 stick room temp butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
4-6 TBSP milk or cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup powdered cocoaPreheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Grease a 9X13 pan.
In a mixing bowl, place eggs, oil, sugar, starter, applesauce, and vanilla. Beat with a stand or hand mixer until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder together. Add to the wet ingredients and beat for two minutes, stopping thirty seconds in to scrape the sides with a spatula.
Fold in mini chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool completely.
For the frosting:
In a mixing bowl, beat butter and shortening together, add powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and milk/cream. Beat until light and fluffy and spread on top of cooled cake.
For a special visual treat, serve the cake to a bunch of hungry teenage boys and watch it disappear faster than a fiat currency's actual value!