Best Sourdough Carrot Cake Recipe

I never thought I’d see the day when my all-time favorite cake has now become a part of the sourdough family! Carrot cake has a special place in my heart – and stomach! So imagine my excitement when I tried, tested, and ate my very first sourdough carrot cake. And you can too! Stay put for the best sourdough carrot cake recipe!

Table of Contents

• What Kind of Sourdough Starter to Use For This Carrot Cake?
• What Are The Ingredients For This Sourdough Carrot Cake?
  • Can I Use Pre-Shredded Carrots From The Produce Section?
  • Does This Sourdough Discard Carrot Cake Have Nuts or Raisins?
• Best Sourdough Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Recipe
  • Ingredients
  • Instructions
  • Nutrition
• Sourdough Carrot Cake-Making Tips
• What Makes This Carrot Cake So Special?
• Can You Make Vegan Sourdough Carrot Cake?
  • Vegan Cream Cheese Ingredients
  • Instructions
• What About Gluten-Free Sourdough Carrot Cake?
• How to Store Sourdough Carrot Cake
• What to Serve With Sourdough Carrot Cake
• Make Sourdough Carrot Cake ASAP
• FAQs

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What Kind of Sourdough Starter to Use For This Carrot Cake?

The great thing about this sourdough carrot cake recipe is that you can either use a sourdough discard or a freshly fed sourdough starter. Although the active starter would mean that your batter may have to ferment before it’s ready to bake. For this specific recipe, we’re going to be using a sourdough starter, so that we can get a hint of that fabulous sour flavor. For a more sour flavor, an active starter would be the perfect choice for you.

What Are The Ingredients For This Sourdough Carrot Cake?

The key components of this scrumptious sourdough carrot cake are as follows:

• Eggs: As with most cake recipes, eggs are key ingredients, in the sense that they provide structure, richness, color, and flavor to your carrot cake.
• Oil: This carrot cake recipe calls for oil instead of butter, simply due to the moistness and tenderness of the sponge. You can use any type of oil you wish, i.e., avocado, coconut, vegetable, or olive oil.
• Brown sugar: Brown sugar along with white sugar provides a rich flavor to your baked goods, which is what we tend to look for in carrot cake.
• Sourdough discard: The special ingredient that will bring forth your favorite sourdough flavors. You can also use an active sourdough starter with 100% hydration, although you will need to take time out for fermentation.
• Flour: You can use any type of flour such as all-purpose, bread flour, plain flour, or any type of gluten-free flour.
• Cinnamon: The subtle spice notes in carrot cake come from the inclusion of ground cinnamon. However, you can certainly amp up the taste with a pinch of ginger powder, or nutmeg.
• Carrots: It won’t be a carrot cake without grated carrots!
• Dried fruits or nuts: These can be included in the batter, and added to the cream cheese topping, for a crunchy finish. You can add raisins, dried cranberries, walnuts, or pecans.
• Cream cheese: The cream cheese frosting is the scrumptious finish we all need to tie the cake together, making a splendid treat!

Can I Use Pre-Shredded Carrots From The Produce Section?

Yes, absolutely!

While pre-shredded carrots are certainly great at saving time, you may find that they won’t taste as good as freshly shredded carrots. Pre-shredded carrots have little to no juice left, which means that you may not be able to capture that sweet carrot taste in your carrot cakes.

So if you’re trying to make the best carrot cake, always opt for fresh carrots, and grate them yourself. If you’re trying to save time, then grate them a day before the bake.

Does This Sourdough Discard Carrot Cake Have Nuts or Raisins?

While this recipe includes chopped pecans, yours can certainly include a mixed variety of dried fruits and nuts, for a varied texture and flavor.

Go crazy, and add a combination of walnuts, pecans, pistachios, and a few raisins for a fruity, nutty treat. I like to keep my add-ins simple so that I can appreciate the authenticity of this recipe.

And if you’ve got leftover pecans, you can use them for these fantastic pecan shortbread cookies!

Best Sourdough Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Recipe

This scrumptious, moist, and flavorful sourdough carrot cake, wrapped in cinnamon spice, and embellished with cream cheese, topped with chopped pecans, makes the perfect centerpiece for a small party, or weekend treat.

So grab your apron and get baking!

• Type: Cake
• Cuisine: European
• Recipe yield: 1 cake
• Calories: 589kcal
• Preparation time: 10 minutes
• Cooking time: 40 minutes
• Total time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of sourdough starter discard
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups of grated carrots
• 1 cup of chopped pecans

Cream cheese frosting

• 8 ounces of softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of softened butter
• 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup of chopped pecans, walnuts, or raisins

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then grease a 9×13 inch baking pan with vegetable oil or line it with parchment paper.
2. Grate carrots and chop your pecans.
3. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, oil, white sugar, brown sugar, sourdough discard, and vanilla.
4. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
5. Drop the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl, and mix until well incorporated. Try not to over-mix.
6. Stir in your carrots and fold in the pecans.
7. Pour this into the prepped baking dish.
8. Bake for 50 minutes.
9. Allow this to cool before adding the frosting.

Cream cheese frosting

1. To a stand mixer, add softened cream cheese and butter. Whip this together for a few minutes.
2. Gradually pour in the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla.
3. Whip this until it’s nice and fluffy.
4. Fold in some additional pecans.
5. Spread this over your cooled carrot cake.

Nutrition

• Calories: 589kcal
• Carbohydrates: 66g
• Protein: 6g
• Fat: 35g
• Saturated fat: 9g

Sourdough Carrot Cake-Making Tips

For best results, consult the tips outlined below:

1. For a healthier version of this recipe, use an active sourdough starter and opt for long fermentation.
2. Avoid pre-shredded carrots, as tempting as they may be. They won’t produce the outcome you desire. Not to mention, pre-shredded carrot cakes are much too thick for your moist carrot cake sponge.
3. You can use an active starter or discard it for this recipe, as we’re looking for flavor instead of sourdough rise and texture.
4. Do not frost the cake until it has cooled completely. Frosting a hot cake will result in a frothy mess!
5. For that perfect cake rise, make sure you’re using both baking soda and baking powder, as your sourdough starter won’t be contributing to the rising of your cake.

What Makes This Carrot Cake So Special?

While an ordinary carrot cake is made with the usual bright orange carrots, complete with a scrumptious cream cheese frosting, this sourdough carrot cake has all those things, plus a special element that only elevates the taste. So you can enjoy a sweet, tart, and exceptionally moist carrot cake for tea! Now we know the subtle yet delicious flavors that come from sourdough, which makes this the perfect pair!

The best thing about this cake is that it’s entirely customizable. Choose from your choice of dried fruits and nuts to pack the perfect bite.

And if you’ve got spare carrots due to any adjustments, here’s a fantastic raw carrot salad recipe to put together that you can serve as a side to any main!

Can You Make Vegan Sourdough Carrot Cake?

Yes, you can!

You can totally switch ingredients for a plant-based one on this sourdough carrot cake recipe. Since this recipe doesn’t require many animal-based ingredients, the switch will be fairly simple.

The only ingredient that may need switching in this recipe would be the cream cheese frosting. You can substitute this for coconut buttercream frosting. Alternatively, you can create a vegan cream cheese alternative using this simple method:

Vegan Cream Cheese Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of vegan butter (softened at room temperature)
• 1 8-ounce container of vegan cream cheese, i.e., tofu
• 3-5 cups of sifted organic powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Add softened butter to a large mixing bowl, and beat vigorously. Then add your vegan cream cheese, and mix until it becomes nice and smooth.
2. Add your powdered sugar, until the mixture is thick and spreadable.
3. This needs to be quite thick, especially if you’re using it as a carrot cake topping, so keep adding powdered sugar until you achieve the desired thickness.
4. Spread this over your cooled carrot cake, and enjoy!

For more on sourdough bread and veganism, check out my blog post: Is Sourdough Bread Vegan?

What About Gluten-Free Sourdough Carrot Cake?

For a gluten-free sourdough carrot cake, you need to ensure that the flour used in your sourdough starter is also gluten-free. Once that has been established, you can move on to the carrot cake ingredients.

You can always opt for gluten-free all-purpose flour or settle for alternatives like brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, sorghum flour, or millet flour. You can find out more about the best gluten-free alternatives to eating sourdough on a gluten-free diet.

How to Store Sourdough Carrot Cake

Any leftover carrot cake should be stored in the refrigerator. You can also freeze your carrot cake if you plan on taking a little break from eating it, although I must say that might be a tad impossible!

What to Serve With Sourdough Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is best served with a hot or cold beverage. Think hot milk, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, a creamy milkshake, or iced tea!

But you can easily incorporate a few more items to make your dessert more exciting. I like to pair my carrot cake with some fresh fruits, to get a fruity punch with each bite. The best pairings are pineapple, blueberries, mangoes, or even dried fruits like raisins.

Make Sourdough Carrot Cake ASAP

Sourdough carrot cake might just make it to the top of your sourdough desserts list. Loaded with sweet and tangy flavors, it’ll quickly become a staple in your household.

So what are you waiting for?

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