I Made This Sauerkraut Cake Recipe to Trick My Husband, But He Surprisingly Loved It
It wasn't the reaction I expected.
I’m a sucker for recipes featuring unexpected ingredients. Whether it’s a pantry item that’ll produce perfect gravy, a condiment that injects grilled cheese with pizzazz, or an often-discarded liquid that can tenderize your turkey, I’ll try any method at least once in hopes of improving my home cooking.
When I came across the recipe for Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake, I was immediately intrigued. Submitted by recipe creator Jane Hammer, it calls for adding drained and chopped sauerkraut to chocolate cake batter to yield a moist, flavorful crumb. So I whipped it up for my husband, Gavin, as a prank with the intention of dropping the bomb that the cake contained sauerkraut—an ingredient he would never want in his dessert—after he took a bite. But the whole thing backfired (in the best way). He thought the cake was delicious.
What Is Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake?
The addition of acidic fermented cabbage to cake batter produces a super-soft crumb and deepens the chocolate flavor. After the cake bakes, the sauerkraut becomes tasteless and makes the cake look like it's flecked with coconut. Gavin had no idea there was sauerkraut in the dessert, which I topped with cream cheese frosting. When I told him about the secret ingredient, he said “Oh, wow–it’s good” and just kept eating instead of dropping his fork as I imagined.
While the origins of sauerkraut cake are debatable—some say it predates World War II while others claim it was the invention of a Chicago school lunch lady tasked with ridding of excess pickled cabbage—the dessert's origin was most likely out of necessity. In the 1960s or ’70s, The Washington Post even published a recipe for the specialty and gave it the nickname "Don’t Ask Cake" because "people who eat it can't guess what the secret ingredient is—and don't want to believe it when they find out."
Related: Best Carrot Cake Ever
How to Make Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake
You'll need several of the usual baking pantry staples—butter, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, unsweetened cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt—plus chopped sauerkraut and buttermilk.
Sift the dry ingredients together; combine the sauerkraut with the buttermilk; and cream the sugars and vanilla before beating in the eggs. Then alternate adding the sauerkraut and flour mixtures a little at a time, and only mix the batter until it’s blended. Bake the cake in a greased and floured 9x13 pan in a 350-degree F oven for about 45 minutes. Then cool the cake before you frost it.
What the Allrecipes Community Has to Say
“If you have not tried this cake, please do. It is very moist and good. My son would never sauerkraut, but he loved this so much, he came back the next day for more. (He is 51)” —Faye
“This was a really moist, delicious chocolate cake. I served it to colleagues and they all loved it -- no one could believe there was sauerkraut lurking in there. I'll definitely make this one again.” —Diana Moutsopoulos
“I made this recipe mostly out of curiosity, because I couldn't imagine sauerkraut in a cake. But it was very good! I chopped the sauerkraut so that it wasn't long and stringy. It had the consistency of coconut, which went well with the German Chocolate frosting. Very good, and I would make it again!” —AbbyMP
Saurkraut Cake Tips and Variations
Use regular sauerkraut and chop it properly. Be sure your sauerkraut doesn’t contain any extra seasonings or spice (for example, dill, caraway seed, etc.). Look for ones made with just cabbage, water, and salt. Drain it well and chop it as finely as you can.
Frost the cake. While the sauerkraut cake was tasty on its own (similar to chocolate zucchini cake), I recommend slathering it with your favorite frosting. Gavin loved the cream cheese frosting but a German chocolate one would also be great (and help hide the sauerkraut, if that's what you want).
Invest in good cocoa powder. Since you want the cake to have a deep chocolate flavor, be sure to buy some high-quality cocoa powder.
Add more texture. One reviewer stirred in 1/2 cup of butterscotch baking chips, but chocolate chips will also work. “Only addition was 1/2 cup butterscotch chips, and used 2 cake dishes instead of one large. Cake is so moist and has a delicious flavour. No taste of sauerkraut at all,” says the Allrecipes community member.
Get the recipe: Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake
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