Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake
Album: Light as a Feather | Chick Corea and Return to Forever
Chocolate sauerkraut cake is a uniquely wonderful dessert, much like Chick Corea’s all-time classic album, Return to Forever. The sauerkraut adds leavening and amps up the richness of the chocolate flavor in this cake. It packs a dark, deep chocolatey flavor and is undoubtedly my favorite chocolate cake. According to Atlas Obscura’s research, this is likely a recipe from the mid-1900s when sauerkraut was used in chocolate cake by lunch staff in Chicago Public Schools due to a surplus. It’s fun to ask the beneficiaries of this cake to guess its secret ingredient and see their surprise upon revealing the presence of sauerkraut. This cake is best paired with ganache and vanilla ice cream on the side. This recipe is adapted from Atlas Obscura.
Why make chocolate sauerkraut cake?
I’m a big fan of trying a wide variety of chocolate cake recipes. When I notice an unusual ingredient in a chocolate cake recipe, it piques my interest and I have to try it. Over my years as a baker, I’ve tried chocolate cakes with mayonnaise (which is NOT an instrument, Patrick), beets, honey, sour cream, coffee, and plenty more uncommon ways to keep the cake moist while accentuating the color and flavor of the most important ingredient: chocolate. This chocolate cake with sauerkraut is the best. It’s perfectly moist, just the right level of sweetness–the ganache is much sweeter than the cake itself–and has a soft crumb yet a dense, rich chocolate flavor. An equipment note: the immersion blender is nearly-essential for shredding sauerkraut into fine bits. If you don’t have one yet, it’s a great time to get one.
About the music
Chick Corea was a wonderful performer and composer whose career spanned 6 decades. His concert at Jazz Alley in Seattle in 2018 was the best live show I’ve had the pleasure of attending. He is one of the few jazz artists I’ve seen who insisted the audience get involved in the music by signing along with him. “Spain” is the most-iconic track from Light as a Feather–a rhythmically unique piece with a catchy melody and high levels of dramatic flair.
This recipe had the honor of being featured on WORT, Madison’s community radio station, in Spring 2026. The jazz program Journeys into Jazz was kind enough to host me to talk about the cookbook and this recipe. To hear my interviews, look for the sessions hosted by Chuck France and listen at the one-hour mark (3pm local time).
Album pairing
Light as a Feather is an all-time classic jazz album and offers an excellent on-ramp into jazz for any curious listeners as well as rich melodies and Chick Corea’s unique sound. The album features beautiful vocals by Flora Purim. The richness of the chocolate cake pairs elegantly with the bold, dark chocolate flavor of this cake.
Album Pairing: Bringin’ It | Christian McBride Big Band
🎵 Listen to the album while you cook or eat 🎵
Genuine Dad Equipment Recommendation: Immersion Blender
Hello, dads and dad-adjacents. Here’s a Genuine Dad Equipment Recommendation* for your kitchen. An immersion blender is a critical tool for Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake and many other sauces, soups, dressings, and more. Here, I use it to finely mince sauerkraut. I primarily use it to make soups and frothy, fancy salad dressings without needing to mince garlic and ginger, which saves lots of time and cleanup. The blade goes straight in the dishwasher, so cleanup is easy with no handwashing involved. I like the Braun MQ5000 (Amazon link).
The immersion blender handles cooked potatoes, veggies, ice cream (for shakes!), fruit, etc. like a charm. Be warned though: I wore out the motor in my first blender when I tried to make garlic butter with near-frozen butter. So soften butter before trying to blend with add-ins if you have similar aims.
*Genuine Dad Equipment Recommendations are real, tested recommendations for equipment I’ve used for years in my kitchen. These recommendations are exclusive to Dads Jazz Cookbook. I only recommend products that I have personally found to be durable, high-utility, and nearly essential for my cooking.
Make Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake
Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 C sauerkraut
- 2 ¼ C all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ C Dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 C hot strong coffee
- 12 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 ½ C granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
Ganache
- 8 oz bittersweet chocolate
- 1 C heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Rinse 1 C sauerkraut in a fine mesh sieve or colander, press with paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible, and puree with a food processor or immersion blender.
- Combine 2 ¼ C flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, and ½ tsp salt in a small bowl.
- In a heatproof measuring cup or small bowl, combine the ½ C Dutch process cocoa powder with the 1 C hot coffee to bloom the cocoa.
- Using a stand mixer, cream 12 Tbsp butter and 1 ½ C sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
- Add 1 tsp vanilla, then add the 3 eggs one at a time and beat until each is incorporated before adding the next egg.
- In three additions, beat the dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture just until no streaks of flour remain.
- Pour in coffee mixture and combine on low speed. Fold in sauerkraut.
- Grease two 8-inch round cake pans. Pour half of batter into each cake pan and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean.
- While baking, make ganache: Break or chop chocolate into small pieces and place it in a heatproof bowl. Heat cream on the stove in a small saucepan, stirring almost constantly, until simmering. When cream simmers, remove from heat and pour over chocolate. Use a small whisk to combine cream and chocolate. Allow ganache to cool and thicken slightly before pouring over cake. Cool cakes on a wire rack before adding ganache between the layers and then on top and sides of cake.
Notes
Album: Light as a Feather | Chick Corea and Return to Forever
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