Wool and Spice

I took this quick picture before we devoured this cake so you won’t see any attempt at staging a shot. This is straight kitchen-counter, indoor-lighting, no-frills photography. What you can’t see is Jack sitting at the table with a fork and a glass of milk, waiting for me to “cut the damn cake already”.

I don’t know how long I’ve been making chocolate sauerkraut cake but I know that I had a hard time finding a recipe for it, so it must have been pre-Google. Turns out that putting sauerkraut into a chocolate cake isn’t all that unusual  — I found 69,000 links to “chocolate sauerkraut cake” when I Googled it last night. Who knew?

Thanks to the buttermilk and sauerkraut this cake is moist and flavorful. Be sure to rinse the sauerkraut well. If you chop it fine enough, the sauerkraut disappears in the cake. But if you do a fast, rough chopping, you’ll be able to see the kraut and feel the texture, which will remind you of coconut.  In either case you’ll end up with a deep chocolate flavor.

And you do know that if there’s no buttermilk in the house, you can make your own sour milk by adding lemon juice or vinegar to milk and letting it stand for a bit, right? A tablespoon of vinegar or slightly less of the lemon juice works.

I usually make cupcakes and a small cake from this recipe, just because I swing that way. We eat the small cake right away and I freeze the cupcakes.  It’s easy to pull one cupcake out of the freezer for Jack and I don’t have the temptation of a whole cake sitting on the kitchen shelf. I do that with most cake recipes; even if I bake a Bundt or layer cake, at least half of it gets frozen.

A note about the baking temperature. Over the years I’ve gone back and forth over what temp I bake this at.  I’ve found that 375 degrees works better than 350 degrees for this recipe. I tested it again this time by baking the cupcakes at 350 and the cake at 375. The cupcakes didn’t rise and dome nicely as they should; the top was flat even with the toothpick test said they were done. The cake domed nicely, set well and seemed to come out a little firmer and resulted in a cake I was pleased with. The cupcakes taste fine — the flat top keeps the icing from falling off but they won’t win any prizes for looks.

So if you can’t taste the sauerkraut why use it?  Why do we put zucchini in all kinds of things? I don’t know why it works but it does make a great cake. It also uses up leftover sauerkraut  when you have half a jar sitting in the fridge and no desire for short ribs and kraut, or sausage and kraut, or pork chops and kraut.

Let me know how your cake turns out.

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake

• 8-oz sauerkraut
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 teas baking soda
• 1/2 teas salt
• 1/4 cup cocoa, I use Dutch processed
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature is best
• 1 teas vanilla
• 3/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk
• 3/4 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour your pans (I use Baker’s Joy spray) or line your muffin cups. This cake lends itself to almost any pan size.

Rinse the sauerkraut well and squeeze it dry. Put it in a food processor or blender and chop it fine. I have a small food processor thingy that I use and it comes out great.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa and set aside.

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add the vanilla. Mix well.

Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk/sour milk to the batter. Add the sauerkraut and mix well.

While you’ve been mixing the batter, your water should be brought to a boil. I usually fold the water in by hand. It tends to spatter if you use the mixer, even on low speed. Plus it seems like I can incorporate the water more quickly with a spatula.

Turn the batter into your pan(s) or cupcake tins and bake until a toothpick in the center comes out clean and the cake is nicely risen.

I made 12 cupcakes and a 6 by 9 inch cake. Here’s where my memory fails me. I believe I cooked the cupcakes for about 22 – 25 minutes; but I lost track, so start checking them around 15 – 18 minutes (sooner if you’re baking at 375 degrees). The small cake took about 25 – 30 minutes, but again it was one of those things where I checked it and put it back in the oven for another 3 – 4 minutes a couple of times. I’d start checking it around 20 minutes and go from there.

Cupcakes should be removed from the tin as soon as possible so they don’t steam. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn it out and let it cool completely before icing . If you’re making a sheet cake to take to a potluck, it can stay in the pan and you can just frost the top. In this house, frosting goes on ALL sides, not just the top; what’s the point of cake if there’s no frosting? So I take my cakes out of the pan.

The following frosting is finger-licking good, or use your own standby.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3 oz cream cheese
• 2 – 3 Tbsp milk or half and half
• 2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 1 teas vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 2 – 3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

Place the cream cheese in 2 tablespoons of milk or half and half and soften it in the microwave until you can mix it easily together, a couple short bursts works best. Blend in the melted chocolate, vanilla and salt and mix well. Add the sugar, a cup or so at a time, until the frosting is a consistency that you like. If it gets too thick, you can thin it with some of  the extra milk; a teaspoon at a time works best. The frosting might seem thin, but it thickens as it sets and spreads easily. And it tastes great right off the spoon. Don’t ask me why there are two cupcakes without any frosting in the freezer. Just never you mind.

Tags: chocolate sauerkraut cake, Cooking, recipe