Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes are so moist, and full of decadent chocolate flavor.
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These sourdough chocolate cupcakes may very well be the best chocolate cupcake you ever make. Made with 100% sourdough starter and no added flour, this discard recipe can be baked immediately and still have all the goodness of fermentation. Incredibly easy to throw together, they are perfect for birthday parties or special occasions, or because it’s Tuesday 🙂
Why You’ll Love this Sourdough Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
No additional flour is added to our sourdough chocolate cupcake batter. This means that all of the grains are fermented without any waiting around. I love having these kinds of recipes on hand! With sourdough recipes, it’s so unusual to find something that you can make and bake right away.
This easy recipe is so simple to assemble. To make sourdough chocolate cupcakes, we add a good amount of sourdough starter, or sourdough discard, to the wet ingredients. The starter acts as the body of our cupcake batter but is not the leavening agent, or rising agent, in this recipe. Next, we add our dry ingredients which consists of cocoa, sugar, salt and leavening agents. Give the batter a good stir and you’re ready to bake.
Whether we have a birthday coming up or just need a sweet treat, I love having a delicious and easy recipe that comes together quickly. Often when baking with sourdough, we accept that a certain amount of planning and waiting is required. These cupcakes are a nice break from that!
What is a Sourdough Discard Recipe?
Sourdough discard is starter that is left in the jar after you remove what you need to bake your sourdough bread. Often, sourdough discard is past its peak and is no longer bubbly and active. We can also call sourdough discard “surplus” starter, because it is essentially extra starter.
A sourdough discard recipe puts this “extra” starter to work. Most of the time, these recipes are not using the wild yeast culture as the leavening, or rising, agent. Often when you find a sourdough discard recipe it includes baking soda or baking powder. So why do we add discard to these recipes? We add it so we can enjoy the benefits of eating fermented grains in other baked goods other than bread!
What’s So Great about Fermentation?
There are a lot of good reasons to consume fermented grains, including:
- The fermentation process begins to break down the complex carbs of the grains. This makes them easier for our bodies to digest.
- Increased bio-availability means more of the vitamins and minerals in the grains are available to be used by your body.
- Fermentation breaks down phytic acid, an anti-nutrient that can bind minerals in the body and prevent their absorption.
We are adding our sourdough discard to this recipe for the fermentation benefits and not as a leavening agent. The starter does not need to be active and bubbly. However, use starter that has been at room temperature for less than 24 hours. Alternatively, it can be stored in the fridge for less than a week. Otherwise, the starter becomes very acidic and can add an unpleasantly sour flavor to your final product.
Baking With Sourdough Discard in our Home
I love keeping a little extra sourdough starter on hand at all times. I can use it to bake so much more than just sourdough bread! In order to have extra starter to use throughout the week, I simply feed my starter with more flour and water anytime it’s looking low. I don’t measure my flour and water when I feed my starter at home. I simply follow these two rules:
1. Maintain my starter at the consistency of a thick pancake batter
2. Always double the volume of the starter when feeding it.
After feeding my starter, I let it sit on the counter for about 12 hours, until it is active and bubbly and has doubled in size. I pull out what I need of the starter if I’m baking and place the rest back in the fridge. My starter lives in the fridge the majority of the time. For sourdough discard recipes, it’s just fine to use starter straight from the fridge.
Tools for Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes
Stand Mixer/ Hand Mixer: I typically make cake batter with a mixer but this is optional. If you don’t have a mixer you can make this recipe with a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. I’ve done it and they turned out delicious.
Muffin Pan: This recipe makes enough batter for 24 cupcakes.
Cupcake Liners: I keep paper liners on hand (we make a lot of muffins) and these tulip liners are my favorite. In addition to looking really pretty, they hold more batter and make for more consistent looking cupcakes. You really don’t have to worry about overfilling them.
Preparing Our Batter
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.
Add the WEt ingredIENTS TO THE bowl of the stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
Sour Cream:
Makes for moist cupcakes with a soft crumb! Feel free to use Greek yogurt if you’d prefer.
Sourdough Starter Discard:
For this recipe, the starter is not the leavening agent. You can use active starter or one that’s past its peak. Avoid using starter that’s overly sour, or you will notice it in the final product. I like to use discard that’s been at room temperature less than 24 hours, or in the fridge less than a week without being fed.
Water
Avocado Oil:
I find avocado oil to be the ultimate for making moist cupcakes and muffins. When I use avocado oil in my baked goods, they stay soft for longer. However, if you don’t have avocado oil on hand, feel free to substitute any light tasting oil or melted butter.
Large Eggs:
To help bind our cake batter.
Pure Vanilla Extract:
Vanilla is really important in chocolate cake. It balances the dark flavor of the chocolate and rounds everything out.
Blend on low speed
Blend until the starter is broken up and well combined with the other wet ingredients.
Add dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and stir together with a whisk.
Dutch Processed Cocoa:
The key to baking chocolate cupcakes with a rich chocolate flavor is to use Dutch processed cocoa powder. It’s one of those discoveries that changed my life. Substituting regular cocoa for Dutch processed WILL NOT give you the same results. Using traditional cocoa powder will not only dry out your cupcakes, but will leave them lacking in flavor. I can usually find Ghirardelli brand Dutch Processed Cocoa at the grocery store. However, THIS is my all-time favorite cocoa powder. It’s a splurge, but one bag goes a long way and I guarantee you’ll be impressed.
Sugar:
Regular old granulated sugar.
Baking Soda and Baking Powder:
We use a little bit of both to give our cupcakes the lift they need!
Salt
Go ahead and add your dry ingredients into the bowl of the stand mixer and turn it on low speed.
Continue to mix until everything is just combined. You don’t want to over mix at this point or your sourdough cupcakes will turn out dry. The batter will be pretty thin.
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
To top these beautiful sourdough cupcakes off, we whip together softened butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and milk. Simple ingredients but they turn into the most luscious frosting that pairs perfectly with our deeply chocolate cupcakes. This is my favorite combo, but you could of course also opt for a classic chocolate frosting.
For the best buttercream, place all of the ingredients into a separate bowl and use a hand mixer to blend for 3-5 minutes until whipped and creamy and smooth.
Time To Bake!
Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. Use a 1/3 cup measure to scoop the sourdough mixture into the cupcake liners.
Place your cupcakes into the preheated oven. Bake cupcakes for 15- 18 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE! Or you will be so sad. For a moist cupcake, bake until just set. This means that when you lightly press your finger on the top of the cupcake, it should spring back and feel solid. Alternately, when you insert a cake tester or tip of a knife into the middle of the cupcake it will come out clean.
Transfer your chocolate sourdough cupcakes to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely. Use a piping bag or spoon to apply the cream cheese frosting as generously as you wish!
In Conclusion
I love baking with sourdough. It’s amazing that such a little culture of yeast can take your kitchen in so many different directions! I love learning new ways to put my starter to use. That being said, I’ve always felt that if you were going to eat a cupcake, or a cookie, or buttered toast, or any treat, it should taste amazing. I love putting fermentation to use making food more healthful for my family, but ultimately baking should bring us joy in each bite.
This is one of those special recipes that hits both marks. I feel so good knowing that these cupcakes have the goodness of sourdough, yet nothing was sacrificed. It’s almost as if chocolate cupcakes were meant to be made with sourdough! I hope you’ll try this recipe out and tell us what you think! I’m so excited for you to try them!
More Sourdough Discard Recipes
Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 480 g Sourdough Starter active or discard
- 400 g Sour Cream
- 120 g Water room temp
- 110 g Avocado Oil
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 350 g Sugar
- 90 g Dutch Processed Cocoa
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 3/4 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
For the Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 8 oz Cream Cheese room temp
- 1 stick Butter room temp
- 500 g Powdered Sugar 4 cups
- 1 tsp Milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the sourdough starter, sour cream, water, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix on low speed until the starter is broken up and the ingredients are well combined.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer and blend until just combined to make a thin batter.
- Use a 1/4 cup measuring scoop to fill each cupcake liner with batter. You should get about 24 cupcakes.
- Place the muffin pan in the preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the cupcakes spring back when pressed lightly with a finger. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before icing.
- To Make the Cream Cheese Buttercream: Add all ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the ingredients are combined, then turn the mixer to medium high speed. Beat until the buttercream is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. If you see clumps of butter or cream cheese, these ingredients may have been too cold when added. Continue to beat the buttercream until no more clumps are visible. Use a piping bag, spoon, or butter knife to ice your cooled cupcakes. Decorate with sprinkles or chocolate chips if desired! Happy Baking!
