This will shock no one, but I don’t really like Starbucks. The coffee is very standard, unless you get one of their fancy drinks. But those fancy drinks all have approximately 3x the amount of daily recommended sugar, which I don’t want in my morning drink! On the few occasions I go into a Starbucks anymore, I feel like I stare at the menu for seven minutes and then just end up ordering a cold brew or iced americano and hope that they don’t secretly pour sugar syrup into it. And now, upon Googling for this blog post, I’ve discovered that they discontinued my favorite item: cow cake.

Back in the day, before I drank coffee, I really liked Starbucks. And by “really liked Starbucks,” I mean that I enjoyed when my parents took me, and I would be able to ask for a treat. If I was going grocery shopping with my mom, I would ask (with occasional success) for a hot chocolate. If I was going to Starbucks with my dad while my brother was finishing up a tennis lesson, I would ask for a piece of “cow cake” to share as a snack. I called it cow cake, but it was a vanilla-chocolate marble pound cake. Calling it cow cake is far more fun though.

And for whatever reason, this cow cake holds a special place in my mind. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia of eating pound cake in the afternoon with my dad, and the feeling that it was a special treat. (And it was cow pattern! I mean, come on!) This was also before I learned that my dad is almost always up for a sweet afternoon snack, so it felt like I had somehow convinced him it was a great idea to get it.

So the fact they’ve discontinued one of their greatest items is tragic! I’d rather eat my daily sugar intake in cow cake than drink it in an espresso drink!!

Unfortunately as my ability to bake has grown, so has my snobbiness. I’m sure that the Starbucks version was not nearly as good as what I can make myself. But I do know that great dessert is about the feelings and the situation around it as much as it’s about the baked good. And good baking will be able to capture nostalgia, even if it’s a bit different, and that is what I was aiming for!

As I often do, I tried to elevate this dessert a bit by using vanilla powder for the vanilla, and black cocoa powder for the chocolate. It deepens both flavors, and the black cocoa really does make it look like a cow print!

It’s nice to know that I can whip up a nice gourmet version of a childhood classic, even if Starbucks made the silly decision to discontinue the original! I almost considered getting a slice to compare for this post, so Starbucks, let me tell you… you lost a whole $3 of business from this gal!! Bet you’ll feel that!!

This is a great treat to have as an afternoon pick-me-up, as my dad and I would do at Starbucks. I recommend pairing with a matcha or a tea. Or, it can be enjoyed as an evening dessert… with thematic cow tracks ice cream if you feel so inclined! (I felt so inclined.)

Cow Cake

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Author: Audrey

Description

From Sally’s Baking Addiction, with a few tweaks

Ingredients

For the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla powder (or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)
2/3 cup + 2 Tablespoons whole milk, divided and at room temperature
3 Tablespoons black cocoa powder

For the ganache:

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 Tablespoons heavy cream

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and generously grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
Make the cake batter: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the oil and beat until combined. The mixture will still be quite creamy. Add the eggs and beat on high speed for 1 minute and then beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. The mixture will be lumpy—that’s ok. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer to low speed and as the mixer runs, slowly pour in 2/3 cup (160ml) milk. Beat on low speed just until all of the ingredients are combined. Do not over-mix. You may need to whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no large lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be slightly thick.
You’ll have around 3-3.5 cups of batter. Transfer a little less than half (just eyeball it, doesn’t need to be perfect) to another bowl. Stir in the remaining 2 Tablespoons milk, the cocoa powder, and espresso powder.
Layer and swirl the batters: Spread a thin layer of the plain vanilla batter in the bottom of your prepared loaf pan. Then, layer spoonfuls of each batter on top—cover bottom vanilla layer with a few spoonfuls of the chocolate batter, then a few spoonfuls of the vanilla batter, then more chocolate batter, then more vanilla batter, and so on until all of the cake batter is used. Gently shimmy the pan to level out the batters. Using a knife, make rounded horizontal zig-zags from one side of the pan to the other and then make rounded vertical zig-zags from the top to the bottom.
Bake for about 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. That time is a guideline—all ovens differ, so keep a close eye on the cake after 55 minutes. If the cake is browning too quickly on top, loosely tent with aluminum foil as it bakes.
Cool cake in the pan set on a wire rack for 30 minutes before removing from the pan. Note that the cake slightly sinks as it cools and that’s completely normal.
As the cake cools, make the ganache topping: Heat up the cream in the microwave until warm. Pour over your chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate has melted and ganache is smooth. If it needs more heat to melt all the chocolate, put it in the microwave in 15 second increments, stirring between. Set aside at room temperature for 20-30 minutes or until slightly thickened.
Remove the loaf from the pan, and crizzle or spread the ganache on the cake. It will set into a fudge-like consistency after several hours.
Cover leftovers tightly and store cake at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.