Sourdough Carrot Snack Cake

This Sourdough Carrot Snack Cake is a simple organic carrot cake for Easter! It’s moist, lightly spiced, topped with a cream cheese frosting, and decorated with naturally colored small piped carrots (no artificial colors here)!

If you’re looking for more Easter desserts, check out Organic Easter Bunny Cake, Orange Ginger Carrot Cake, Easter Egg Thumbprint Cookies, Dark Chocolate Coconut Almond Butter Eggs, Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs With Bone Broth, or Brown Sugar Carrot Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting.

slice of sourdough carrot snack cake with piped buttercream carrots on top on a cake plate with a fork.

A Quick Look At The Recipe

Recipe Name: Sourdough Carrot Snack Cake
Ready In: 1 hour 50 minutes
Makes: 9-inch cake
Main Ingredients: butter, carrots, cane sugar, white whole wheat flour
Flavor Profile: lightly spiced carrot cake with a tangy cream cheese frosting
Dietary Info: no seed oils
Difficulty: Medium
Why You’ll Love It: sourdough carrot cake made with sourdough discard

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Why You'll Love This Recipe

Carrot Snack Cake: You will love this simple carrot snack cake for Easter! It uses up sourdough discard and has classic carrot cake flavors for a unique carrot cake, unlike any other! I also top this Carrot Snack Cake with a cream cheese icing.
Naturally Colored: I use Suncore Foods natural dyes to pipe little buttercream carrots onto the top of this simple organic cake. This part is totally optional! But, it does make for a really cute carrot snack cake!
Tried & True: This is another collaboration recipe with my friend Hannah at Make It Dough! Hannah has got me making more sourdough recipes and I hope you're all enjoying them! I think this one is my favorite one yet! Whenever we do a collab, you can be confident this recipe has been combed over multiple times by both of us!
Organic Cake: I use organic ingredients and plant based dyes in this Carrot Snack Cake. I decorate this with the tiny carrots, so it resembles a carrot snack cake you'd get at a grocery store bakery, but this one is free of artificial colors, preservatives and more.

Jump to:

A Quick Look At The Recipe
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Baker’s Tips
How to Make Sourdough Carrot Snack Cake
Sourdough Carrot Snack Cake FAQ’s
More Spring Cake Recipes
Sourdough Carrot Snack Cake
The Bake Shop

Carrot cake was one of the first recipes I ever developed on my own. And, it was a signature recipe that every single one of my friends got for their birthday whether they asked for it not, haha! My traditional organic carrot cake recipe was served at my bakery and the recipe is in my book, The Mountain Baker.

Since carrot cake with warm spices has such a place in my heart, I've come up with many variations over the years! Try Orange Carrot Ginger Cake, Brown Sugar Carrot Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting, Honey Apple Carrot Cake, Vegan Strawberry Carrot Cake, and Eggless Chocolate Carrot Cake for twists on a classic! I even created carrot cake for your dog with Homemade Carrot Pupcakes (Dog Cupcakes)!

This is another collab with my friend Hannah at Make It Dough! Each month we collaborate on a recipe using sourdough discard. And, we knew we had to make an organic carrot cake for Easter! This organic cake uses fresh carrots, reduces waste using sourdough discard, and uses plant based dyes for the ultimate Easter carrot snack cake.

Some of our past collaborations include Sourdough Blueberry Crumb Bars, Sourdough Strawberry Pop Tarts, and Small Batch Chocolate Cake With Sourdough Discard.

Ingredients

Butter: I use organic salted butter, but if you want to use unsalted butter you can also do that too. You can even use oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, or even olive oil work too.
Sourdough Discard: You can use your sourdough discard straight from the fridge.
Coffee Creamer: I use Organic Valley Sweet Cream Creamer, but you can also use heavy whipping cream.
Flour: I use a mix of organic white whole wheat flour and organic rye flour. You can also use all purpose as well.
Spices: Some of my favorite spices for carrot cake are organic cinnamon and cloves. They give this homemade carrot cake cozy vibes.
Carrots: Well, it wouldn't be carrot cake without organic carrots! Make sure they are finely grated.
Food Coloring: I use plant based organic food coloring from Suncore Foods to pipe the carrots. This part is totally optional and you can leave it off if you prefer.

*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.

Baker's Tips

Always weigh ingredients for the best results.
Make sure to use a fine grater for the carrots, don't use a large grate size. Using a small grate will allow the carrots to blend into the batter, where a large grate can cause a gummy texture. If you have a box grater, use the smallest option.
If you don't have sourdough discard, you can use a mix of all purpose flour and water. Just mix together 57 grams of each together and use in place of sourdough discard.
I'm using a square cake pan here, but a round one also works too!
You don't have to pipe the carrots on top, this part is totally optional. The cake is delicious either way!
Make sure to store extra cake in an airtight container in the fridge (because of the cream cheese frosting).

How to Make Sourdough Carrot Snack Cake

glass mixing bowl on a white marble counter with finely grated carrots.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grate the carrots using a fine grater and add to a large bowl.

wet ingredients for sourdough carrot snack cake in a glass mixing bowl on a white marble counter.

Melt the butter, you can do this in the microwave or in a small pot on the stovetop. Add the melted butter, cane sugar, eggs, and sourdough discard.

wet ingredients for sourdough carrot snack cake mixed together in a glass mixing bowl on a white marble counter.

Mix on low until combined.

dry ingredients on top of wet ingredients for sourdough carrot snack cake in a glass mixing bowl on a white marble counter.

Add in the white whole wheat flour, rye flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix on low until combined.

sourdough carrot snack cake batter with coffee creamer in a glass mixing bowl on a white marble counter.

Add in the coffee creamer.

sourdough carrot snack cake batter in a glass mixing bowl with a spatula on a white marble counter.

And slowly mix it in until you have a smooth batter.

sourdough carrot snack cake batter in a square baking pan on a white marble counter.

Transfer to the prepared baking pan and spread it out evenly.

baked carrot snack cake in a square pan cooling on top of an oven.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the cake pan.

ingredients for cream cheese frosting in a glass stand mixing bowl on a white marble counter.

To make the frosting: In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.

cream cheese frosting in a glass mixing bowl on a white marble counter.

Mix on low until combined, then speed mixer up to high and mix for 2 to 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

two small bowls with light orange frosting and light green frosting on a white marble counter.

Reserve about ⅓ cup frosting and add one-third of it into a small bowl and the other two-thirds into another small bowl. Add the matcha powder into the bowl with less frosting and the orange carrot powder into the small bowl with more frosting. Mix up the colors to combine them completely. You can use more or less food color for a brighter color if you want. Transfer the green frosting to a piping bag with Ateco tip #68 and the orange frosting to a piping bag with Ateco #6.

sourdough carrot snack cake on a wood serving board with cream cheese frosting spread on top on a marble counter.

Add the remaining white frosting onto the carrot cake and spread it out evenly.

sourdough carrot snack cake on a wood serving board with cream cheese frosting spread on top with piped carrots on a marble counter.

Using the orange frosting, pipe a line the size of the carrot you’d like to pipe and zig zag the frosting back and forth while making the line shorter each time so it creates a triangle.

Using the green frosting with the tip vertical (not horizontal as you’ll get a petal) pipe 2 to 3 small stems. Continue adding carrots on the cake in a freeform way!

sourdough carrot snack cake with piped buttercream carrots on top cut into a square slice on a wood cutting board.

Sourdough Carrot Snack Cake FAQ's

What is sourdough discard?

Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that is discarded during the feeding process. It can be used in other baked goods to reduce waste and infuse a sourdough, tangy flavor!

What if I don't have sourdough discard?

If you don’t have sourdough discard, you can still make this simple carrot cake for Easter! Replace the sourdough discard with ¼ cup water and 57 grams organic all purpose flour. Add these two ingredients to a separate bowl, mix together, and then add in place of the sourdough discard.

Can I use sourdough discard or active starter?

You can use your sourdough discard straight from the fridge. No need to have active starter.

What if I don't have rye flour?

I use a little bit of rye flour here for added flavor. If you don’t have rye flour, you can use whole wheat or spelt flour instead. Or, you can also just use more white whole wheat flour as well! Just be sure to use the weight measurement when substituting.

What if I don't have white whole wheat flour?

If you don't have white whole wheat flour, you can use all purpose in its place. If you are subbing to all purpose flour, be sure to use the weight measurement so replace the white whole wheat flour with 155 grams (1 1/4 cups) all purpose flour.

Why is my sourdough cake dense or gummy?

If you didn't use a fine grate on the carrots, then this cake can come out gummy as mentioned above. Be sure to use a fine grater to grate the carrots.

Can I use pre-shredded carrots?

Most pre-shredded carrots will be larger than what we want here. So, it's best to grate your own.

Do I have to pipe carrots?

You do not have to pipe carrots on this cake and it will still be equally delicious, and less work and time! If you’re not piping carrots, just add all the frosting onto the top of the cake and spread evenly.

Can I make this into muffins or a loaf cake?

Absolutely. If you want to do muffins, you'll just bake them for a little less time, only about 20 minutes. If you want to bake a loaf cake, it may take a little longer, check to ensure the cake is done before removing from the oven.

Does sourdough cake last longer than regular cake?

No, it lasts the same amount of time. This is best eaten within a few days of baking!

How should I store carrot cake?

Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Because of the cream cheese frosting, this cake needs to be refrigerated.

sourdough carrot snack cake slices on plates on a table with chocolate carrot and eggs.

More Spring Cake Recipes

Best Carrot Cake Recipes

Eggless Chocolate Carrot Cake

How to Make a Flower Cake With Buttercream

Strawberry Snack Cake

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