Could you use a simple & delicious way to use up sourdough discard - and get an amazing Lemon Poppyseed cake out of it?
I’m constantly on the hunt for new sourdough discard cakes - since I seem to always have lots of discard on hand - and this week I pulled in some extra lemons and poppyseeds and it made an insanely good cake! 😉
I’ve detailed this in prior ‘sourdough layer cake recipe’ posts (vanilla and chocolate) - but my latest baking kick has been sticking a toe into the massive OCEAN of the sourdough recipe world!
A friend gave me some starter and instructions on how to feed it a couple of months ago. And man has it been an adventure!
I’ve been in a nonstop spin of recipe-trying, recipe ideas, new recipe-testing, recipe-successes, recipe-nasty-flops, and recipe-do-overs. Lol. It’s maybe a touch out of control - but in the best way. It's been super fun. And now I understand why sourdough addicts are the way they are!
All that said, I’m not going to lie - biggest problem of the whole thing has been figuring out what to do with all the discard.
I’m still getting my feet under me - so quite possibly feeding too much starter at a time. – but man. I don't want to accidentally underfeed it or run out!
Then I found out it can function similarly to buttermilk in recipes. (More details here.)
(Right?? ::blink blink:: … “Well NOW I know what to try with all this discard!!”
So - testing began.
I added lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon extract, and a touch of yellow food color (100% optional) to my go-to sourdough layer cake recipe, and - out came my newest favorite cake layer!
And OH man.
Definitely one I’d make again! SO good.
So - if you want a super strong flavor - use discard that’s had a bit of fridge time to ferment, I guess. The sourdough flavor is there but it’s light and not overpowering. It’s a little difficult to fit into words, but the sourdough discard adds a bit of tang and maybe just a touch of bitterness that’s balanced out by the sweetness of the cake really well. Once I added some strawberry cream cheese frosting it was even better!
So with that...first a couple of questions, then on to the recipe!
“Do I need a full cup of sourdough discard? That’s kind of a lot.”
That’s what I’ve used in all my trial runs so far – so obviously I’d recommend it. If you don’t have that much discard on hand though, just use what you have! If you have less than ½ cup on hand, I’d use what you have and substitute buttermilk for the remaining amount.
“How strong is the sourdough taste?"
With regular sourdough bread being a 10/10, I'd give the strength of the sourdough flavor in the cake layers maybe a 2 or 3/10. It's there, but not strong enough that the cake tastes like a sourdough loaf. (My husband's a much bigger fan of sourdough than I am, so for me - that's perfect.) It’s a bit stronger in other cake layers like my vanilla sourdough discard layer cake. (Even with the same amount of discard.) I suspect this is because vanilla’s not as strong as lemon to compete with the flavor - but the combo of sourdough discard with lemon in this one is a great pairing!
“Can I use active starter?”
Tbh I’ve not personally tested this one. My guess is maybe…? I did one trial run with starter that I’d fed the day before and then put into the fridge, so it was still fairly bubbly. I’ll plan to do some more testing and update this section if that changes though.
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Lemon Poppyseed Sourdough Discard cake
Equipment
- Cake leveler or serrated knife (if needed; to level cake layers)
- Cake turntable (optional)
- Piping bag + star tip (optional)
Ingredients
Lemon Poppyseed Sourdough Discard Cake layers
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 cup butter or 2 sticks, room temperature - add ½ teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup sourdough discard (250g)
- ½ cup milk
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon zest (zest of 2 large lemons for me)
- ¼ cup lemon juice (this took about 2 lemons for me)
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 Tablespoons poppyseeds
Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese (one package; softened)
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks; softened (+¼ teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter))
- 5+ cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon lemon extract
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk (if needed to reach a spreadable consistency)
- 1-2 drops yellow gel food coloring (optional)
Filling (optional)
- 1 package Lemon pudding mix + 1 ½ cups milk or half n half (3.4 ounces)
Decorations
- Lemon slice spirals (slice a lemon, cut a slit to the center of each slice, and pull the edges apart to create the spiral)
- Sprinkles of your choice (optional - I just used Wilton sugar pearls)
Instructions
Lemon Poppyseed Sourdough discard cake layers
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (180C) or 325 F (160C) for a convection oven. Grease 3 8-inch cake pans with baker's floured spray (or line with parchment rounds).
- Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined.
- Mix chunks of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly.
- Pour in eggs and mix on low until just combined. Whisk together sourdough discard, milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon extract until well-combined. Add the sourdough discard/milk/lemon mixture in 2 parts, mixing until combined.
- Add oil and poppyseeds and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.
- Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans (I find a kitchen scale helpful for this part). This guarantees your layers will bake to be the same height.
- Bake for 35-37 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Allow cake layers to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pans – it helps to run an offset spatula or knife around the perimeter of the pan first. Cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired.
- Once the layers have fully cooled, the caramelized bits can be trimmed from the sides / top of the cake using a serrated knife if desired - and you could split them lengthwise to make 6 layers instead of 3. (Be sure the layers are completely cooled or chilled before trimming - or they’ll crumble or break.) This is a great time to make your frosting!
Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with flavoring until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add salt/milk if needed and beat until well combined. Color half of the frosting yellow if desired.
Assembly
- Place a smear of frosting on a cake circle or flat plate (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your first cake layer in the center of the circle.
- Spread the first layer with frosting. Add your next cake layer on top, and repeat the process with your remaining cake layers.
- Now you're ready to crumb-coat. If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake to keep crumbs out of your final layer.
- Once your crumb coat has set (this takes about 5-10 minutes in the fridge), add your final layer of frosting and smooth (or texture) the sides.
Decorating
- Smoothing the cake sides will probably result in a small ‘lip’ or ‘ridge’ of frosting at the top – this is a good thing. ;) Wipe off the offset spatula again, and use it to pull in that ‘lip,’ keeping the spatula even with the top of the cake. Work your way around the cake until the top edge is smooth. Smooth-ish. Whatever. ;)
- Decorate as you like - I used sliced lemons, frosting swirls, and sprinkles!
- Annnd you’re done! Cut in and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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