Sourdough Apple Cake Made With Sourdough Starter
Like anybody caring for a sourdough starter, I’m constantly on a quest to find good recipes to use up discarded sourdough starter. This sourdough apple cake (made with applesauce not apples) is a very quick and convenient way to use up some of your sourdough starter, and it tastes great too!
It uses everyday ingredients you most likely already have, with the possible exception of applesauce. You need a cup of applesauce for this cake. I usually have some in a jar in the pantry as I sometimes use it to sweeten things when I’m trying to cut back on added sugar.
If you don’t happen to have applesauce you could make your own by stewing and pureeing a few apples. It would no doubt be tasty and delicious this way but would significantly lengthen the time required to make this cake!
It’s a pretty forgiving cake recipe so you could play around with the ingredients if required. For instance, you could substitute rapadura or coconut sugar for the regular white sugar in the recipe if you’re trying to cut back on refined sugar. Or you could use wholemeal/whole wheat flour instead of plain white flour to give it a healthiness boost.
So, if you want to give this sourdough apple cake a try, next time you’re about to feed your sourdough starter, instead of discarding half before you feed it, collect ½ cup of the discarded sourdough starter to use in this recipe. (Don’t forget to feed your remaining starter as normal).
Put your flour in a medium sized mixing bowl.
Then add your baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Mix together with a whisk to get rid of any lumps.
Next put your softened butter into a large mixing bowl.
Add sugar (or rapadura or coconut sugar).
Cream together the butter and the sugar.
Add eggs.
Mix together with a fork – it will start to look a bit like scrambled eggs!
Add vanilla essence.
Add your sourdough starter.
And then finally add your applesauce.
Mix it all together with a fork.
Gradually fold the flour mixture through the wet mixture.
Pour into a greased and lined cake tin.
Then pop it in the oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
We like to eat it warm, fresh out of the oven, but you could frost it with a cream cheese frosting once cooled if you prefer. Better yet, serve it warm with some custard or a dollop of vanilla ice cream (or both!) for a delicious dessert!
Sourdough Apple Cake Recipe
Sourdough Apple Cake Made With Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ cup 125g unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- ½ cup sourdough starter
- 1 cup applesauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ / 180℃
- Grease and line a cake tin (I use a large square cake pan but this results in a fairly flat cake so if you want a higher cake use a smaller tin).
- Mix together flour and spices.
- In a separate bowl beat the butter and sugar.
- Stir in the eggs.
- Add vanilla essence, sourdough starter, and applesauce.
- Mix well.
- Add flour mixture to the sourdough mixture a little at a time and fold through until all the flour is incorporated.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes depending on the size and shape of your pan.
We’d love to hear your feedback if you’ve given this recipe a go. Sourdough apple cake made with sourdough starter is a terrific way to use up discarded sourdough starter and the cake makes a tasty morning or afternoon tea treat or a delicious dessert if served warm with custard or ice cream.
Enjoy!
