Preheat Oven to 325°F. A lower temperature oven will ensure that the cake is evenly baked for a longer time without ‘splitting’. To bake in a non-character pan at 350°F, please visit the original recipe post.

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake

1. Sift the flour. Add baking powder, salt, baking soda. Sift cocoa into the mixture before stirring with a whisk.
2. Cream butter at moderate high speed for about a minute. Add sugar and continue mixing. Add 1 egg at a time before mixing. Mixture will be creamy before adding vanilla.
3. Add coffee and sauerkraut to the batter. Mix for 20 seconds until well-incorporated.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the batter in thirds. Fold gently using a spatula.

Make Cake Release:

• Mix the shortening, vegetable oil and flour in a bowl with a brush.
• Apply generously to the cake pan. Make sure it is evenly coated.

Chocolate Fudge Icing:

1. Cream the butter at a moderate high speed. (Dial 6 on a KitchenAid)
2. Add icing sugar, cocoa powder and milk before mixing on a moderate speed.

Crumb-coat or apply fudge icing to the chocolate sauerkraut cake:

• Apply fudge icing on the base of cake board, in order to prevent the cake from sliding into oblivion when traveling
• Use a flexible spatula or an offset spatula to apply fudge icing thinly to crumb-coat. If you are not using fondant to decorate, you can apply a thicker coat of icing.
• Put the cake in the fridge overnight to set. Store any unused fudge icing in an airtight glass container.
• To reuse the refrigerated fudge icing, use a spoon to whip it before filling a piping bag.

Fudge icing variation:

Orange creamsicle fudge icing: 80 g butter, 225 g icing sugar, grate the zest 1/2 orange and 4 TBSP orange juice