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
- 90 grams granulated sugar
- 80 grams sourdough discard, room temperature
- 70 grams sour cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 90 grams all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 135 grams finely grated carrots
- 50 grams finely chopped toasted pecans (or pistachios)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 168 grams (6 ounces) softened, full fat cream cheese
- 45 grams (3 tablespoons) softened, unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 60 grams pure maple syrup
- 25 grams powdered sugar
- pinch of fine salt (little less than 1/8 of teaspoon)
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- 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.
- Grease or line an 8-inch pan with parchment; pour batter in. Bake at 350 degrees F for 28 to 31 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 vanilla, maple syrup, powdered sugar, and salt, beat again until smooth and whipped. Frost cooled bars with the back of a spoon. Store bars in refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
