Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cake

You may have noticed a theme to my recent recipes. My hubby and I have been feeding and tending our sourdough starter, baking bread and buns every weekend. But there is always extra starter (usually called discard, as some people throw it out!!!) to be used in all kinds of delicious recipes.

I made sourdough chocolate cake twice so far, the second time adding chocolate chips to the batter. I am now almost out of cocoa so I moved onto pumpkin spice cake. Trader Joe's was completely sold out of canned pumpkin this week, so my husband made a trip to Walmart for me. Maybe we should have stocked up? Is canned pumpkin going the way of the toilet paper???

As you know, it's Pumpkin Spice season. Because I live in Florida now, I no longer enjoy seasonal changes like leaves falling and wearing jeans and sweaters. Instead, I must bake seasonal treats in order to figure out what time of year it is. Another easy technique is to light a seasonal candle. Otherwise, living in Florida can be unbelievably confusing.

But I digress. Back to baking!

Today's recipe has been adapted by me, but was originally found on the King Arthur Flour website. That site is a treasure chest of fabulous-sounding recipes with tons of reviews and comments and questions with answers. If you love baking, you should check it out.

I measured fairly carefully and stuck with the recipe except for a few changes. I doubled up on all the spices because I wanted a really tasty cake. I used coconut oil for the vegetable oil which makes a very nice, soft crumb. I reduced the sugar slightly but used the full amount of molasses. I used golden raisins, as they add a slightly tart flavor. Instead of adding the walnuts to the batter, I placed them on top before baking so they would end up lightly toasted. I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose for added nutrition and fiber. You could easily substitute chocolate chips for the raisins in this recipe, if you prefer.  I might try that next time!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

3/4 cup sourdough discard

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine oil with sugar, eggs, molasses, pumpkin, and vanilla. Beat well. Add sourdough discard and mix until completely combined. Add dry ingredients and stir lightly to combine. Add raisins. (Walnuts can also be added to batter or saved to go on top.)

Pour batter into greased 8x8 cake tin. (Or use a loaf pan if you prefer, but you will need to bake longer.) Top batter with walnuts if desired. Bake at 350F for about 35 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean in the center. Let cool in pan.