How To Make A Perfect Chocolate Cake (The Missing Ingredient)
How To Make A Perfect Chocolate Cake (The Missing Ingredient)
From mayonnaise, to soda, to ice cream, there is a long list of unusual ingredients that can be mixed into cake batter with surprisingly delicious results. This unexpected add-in, however, takes the proverbial cake. Thanks to the addition of sauerkraut – yes, sauerkraut – your chocolate cake will never be the same.
We know, it sounds super weird, right? But don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
It turns out that there are many nontraditional takes on cake that can be traced to the Great Depression, earning these unconventional cakes the moniker “Depression cake.” Given a scarcity of standard baking ingredients, like eggs and butter, cooks were forced to get creative when their rations ran low. Like other odd-sounding ingredients like vinegar, sauerkraut was one of grandma’s Depression-era tricks for enhancing the rich flavor of a chocolate cake by adding a hint of acid.
Research has also found that our tongue’s sugar receptors can only carry sugar into cells with the help of salt, and that same salt also helps to mellow out the natural bitterness found in cocoa. In adding salty sauerkraut to chocolate cake, you’re ultimately boosting flavor, and there’s nothing bad about that. Sounds pretty amazing, right?
