Sourdough Carrot Cake with Coconut Glaze

Holy moly, it's June already? Time is flying. So I apologize for being a little absent this past week - we've been busy! Tomorrow is little miss's last day of kindergarten (how in the world did that happen?!) and we've had lots going on around here. 

But no matter how busy we get, we still have to eat.

And we still have to have dessert, right??

I had stumbled across this sourdough carrot cake recipe a while ago, but had not had a chance (or sufficient carrots) to try it yet. 

While the recipe pairs the cake with cream cheese frosting (which is an awesome, classic combination, by the way!!), I wanted to try something new. Which is when I saw this vegan coconut frosting recipe. Most of the vegan frosting recipes I have seen call for a long list of ingredients, including things that I don't have in my kitchen, like agar agar or arrowroot powder. Nothing against those ingredients, I just don't have them. But this recipe had only three ingredients. One of which was triple sec. How bad could it be?

So we started with the cake.

The batter comes together super easily. In my stand mixer, I combined all of the wet ingredients.

And in a separate mixing bowl, I whisked together the dry ingredients.

Then, like with muffins or other quickbreads, I carefully folded the dry ingredients into the wet, until they were just combined.

Okay, a little more than that picture.

Then the batter went into the pans and the pans went into the oven.

Leaving me with quite a mess to clean up.

Holy moly.

But I got that cleaned up, and soon the cakes were ready to cool.

Once the cakes were cool, I could concentrate on the frosting.  Preparing ahead of time, I'd put a can of coconut milk into the refrigerator the night before.  I was amazed by how much of the coconut milk turned solid in the cold. It was tough not to dig right in with a spoon, actually...

The solid part of the coconut milk was put into the mixer with a cup of confectioners' sugar and some vanilla (yeah, substituted that for the triple sec...). Then I mixed. And mixed. And mixed some more. Hmm... not really frosting-y. So I added more confectioners' sugar. And mixed some more. I am not fully sure how much more sugar I added, but my frosting stayed pretty thin.

So I decided to call it a glaze instead, and didn't get upset about it.

So rather than spread the frosting, I poured the glaze.

Then I topped the whole thing with a sprinkle of toasted coconut.

The result was a very moist, very delicious cake.

Both little miss and little man loved it, little miss telling me that it is "SSSOOOOO delicious!" and little man... well... he said "mmmMMMM!" which is good by me.

Not a bad way to get your vegetable serving, huh?



Sourdough Carrot Cake
(slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour)

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup 100% hydration sourdough starter, unfed, right from fridge
3 eggs
1 cup applesauce
2 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour your cake pan. The original recipe calls for a 9" x 13" pan, but I used two 8" round pans.
Combine oil and sugar, then stir in the sourdough starter. Mix in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Fold in the applesauce, carrots, coconut and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring just to combine.
Carefully scoop or pour the batter into your prepared pan(s).
Bake until the cake(s) test done - about 45 minutes for 9" x 13", and my rounds were done after about 40-42 minutes. (It is thick batter - it needs its time!)
Remove the cake(s) from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.


Coconut Glaze
(from gooseberry mooseberry)

1 15-ounce can of coconut milk (not light)
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Before beginning, refrigerate your can of coconut milk for several hours (or overnight). This will help separate the solids from the liquid, with the solids on top. When you are ready, scoop out the coconut milk solids from the can into a mixing bowl. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla and mix at medium speed with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes. The original recipe says that it will form ripples and become smooth and creamy. No matter how much confectioners' sugar I added, I could not get a real frosting-like consistency, so it remained glaze-like. But it is delicious. So go with it.

When the cake(s) have cooled completely, top with the glaze and enjoy!