Sourdough Carrot Cake Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
These moist and soft carrot cake bars are made with sourdough discard, warm spices, and toasted pecans! They're a delicious use for your leftover sourdough starter and very easy to make. The maple cream cheese frosting is the perfect, creamy match to the tender crumb.
Yield: 12 bars
Ingredients
- 65 grams neutral oil such as sunflower oil, grapeseed, canola, coconut oil
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 90 grams brown sugar
- 65 grams granulated sugar
- 80 grams sourdough discard, preferably room temperature
- 75 grams sour cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 80 grams all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 150 grams finely grated carrots
- 50 grams finely chopped toasted pecans
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 168 grams (6 ounces) softened, full fat cream cheese
- 35 grams (2 tablespoons) softened, unsalted butter
- 75 grams (3 1/2 tablespoons) pure maple syrup
- pinch of fine salt (little less than 1/8 of teaspoon. important, do not forget)
Equipment
- 8-inch square cake pan
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, and sugar until combined. Add sour cream, sourdough discard, and vanilla, and whisk again until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Add flour mixture to the liquid ingredients, and stir about 8-10 times to get some of the flour absorbed, but not all. Distribute carrots evenly over the top of the batter and, stir a few times, then add the pecans, and stir again until lightly distributed. You don't want to overmix, you should just barely get the flour streaks to disappear.
- Pour into an 8-inch pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 28 to 30 minutes, until toothpick has just moist crumbs attached when you poke through the cake.
- Let bars cool completely on a wire rack.
- For the frosting, add cream cheese and butter to a medium size bowl. With a hand mixer or spatula, beat well until combined and smooth (I prefer hand mixer). Add maple syrup and salt, beat again until smooth and lightened. Taste and adjust with more salt if needed.) Frost with maple cream cheese frosting and cut into bars. Store bars in refrigerator for up to 4 days.