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Okara Chocolate Pound Cake

Name: Okara Chocolate Pound Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Ingredients: 150 gram (3/4 cup) fresh okara; 150 gram (3/4 cup) sugar; 60 gram (1/3 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips; 150 gram (10 tablespoon) coconut milk (or soy milk, almond milk, etc); 90 ml (6 tablespoon) canola oil; 1/2 tablespoon vanilla; 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar; 150 gram (1 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour; 30 gram (3 tablespoon) cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon salt

Last updated: Mar 31, 2020 — Published: Mar 31, 2020 — By: Anita — 29 comments

Instead of throwing away okara, turn the so-called leftover from making homemade soy milk into a dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan-friendly chocolate pound cake.

Ingredients for okara chocolate pound cake: fresh okara (leftover soybean pulp from making homemade soy milk), all-purpose flour, coconut milk, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, sugar, canola oil, vanilla, vinegar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

I love making homemade soy milk and I am always left with plenty of soybean pulp, a leftover by-product from making soy milk. This pulp is called soybean lees or okara.

A lot of soy milk recipes will tell you to discard the okara, but this is still a very healthy by-product and can be transformed into many delicious dishes, both savory and sweet.

This okara chocolate pound cake recipe I am sharing today is one of my favorite ways to turn okara into a dairy-free, egg-free, and vegan-friendly cake.

(1) Heat okara, sugar, chocolate chips, and coconut milk until chocolate has melted. (2) Stir in canola oil, vanilla, and vinegar. (3) Sift together all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. (4) Fold the okara mixture into the flour mixture, then pour into a greased and parchment paper lined loaf pan.

What's in this okara chocolate pound cake.

This awesome cake is made with okara, sugar, semi-sweet chocolate chips, coconut milk, canola oil, vanilla, white vinegar, all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Fresh/wet okara

Just to clarify, the okara used in this recipe is the soybean pulp by-product from making homemade soy milk. This is usually called fresh okara, or wet okara.

If you frequent Japanese groceries, you may have come across okara powder sold in plastic packaging. The dry powder is called okara powder or okara flour, and is basically made from roasting wet okara until dry and grind into a fine powder.

Coconut milk

I am using coconut milk because I love the flavor combination of chocolate and coconut. If you don’t have coconut milk at home, you can use other non-dairy milk too, such as soy milk or almond milk.

Chocolate chips

Since the only chocolate I regularly stock is chocolate chips, this is what I use for this recipe. Feel free to use your favorite higher quality chocolate bars for a more indulgent cake.

Freshly baked okara chocolate pound cake.

Preparing an 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan for the pound cake

Before we even begin mixing the cake batter, let’s prep the loaf pan. For this cake, we will need an 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan.

To make it easier, let’s grease the pan with butter. If you wish to keep the cake completely vegan-friendly, use vegan butter, margarine, or vegetable shortening to grease the pan.

Next, cut a large enough parchment paper to make a parchment paper sling. A parchment sling is a piece of parchment paper that is long enough so as to cover the bottom of the pan and goes up and over the sides too.

Line the loaf pan with the parchment paper sling once you grease the pan. The butter should help the paper to cling to the pan. If it doesn’t look secure, you can always secure the parchment paper sling with the help of binder clips to prevent it from moving around when we pour the cake batter.

Whenever possible, I love lining my cake pan with a paper sling. It helps tremendously when transferring the cake from the cake pan without worry, and no need to worry that the bottom of the cake sticking to the pan.

Freshly baked okara chocolate pound cake. This cake is dairy free, egg free, and vegan friendly.

Prepare okara pound cake batter

First, preheat oven to 320 Fahrenheit (160 Celsius). Grease an 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan, then line with a parchment paper sling.

Place fresh okara, sugar, chocolate chips, and coconut milk in a small saucepot. Heat over medium heat while stirring constantly until the chocolate has completely melted. Remove pot from heat and stir in canola oil, vanilla, and white vinegar.

Next, in a mixing bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Slowly pour the okara chocolate mixture into the mixing bowl containing the dry ingredients. Fold with a spatula until just mixed. Once you no longer see any streak of dry ingredients, stop the folding to avoid over-mixing.

Then, pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Remove the baked pound cake from the oven, and place it on a wire rack. After 15 minutes, gently loosen the edges with a thin blade, and remove the cake from the pan.

Transfer the cake onto a wire rack and let it cool completely. Cut into 8 slices and serve.

To serve, cool the okara chocolate pound cake until room temperature, then cut into 8 slices.

Storing the pound cake

This okara chocolate pound cake behaves exactly like a regular pound cake. So expect the flavor to mature over time, meaning, the cake is best served on the second or third day.

Any leftover can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. If you plan to finish the cake within two days, it should be okay to leave the cake at room temperature.

To store a whole cake, wrap the pound cake with plastic wrap and foil. The cake should stay fresh in the fridge for up to one week, or frozen for up to six months. Thaw the cake on the kitchen counter without unwrapping.