Carrot Cake Sourdough Muffins [with cream cheese frosting]
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Sourdough Carrot Cake Muffins make with sourdough discard or sourdough starter. Moist and delicious, just like your favorite carrot cake, top them with lashings of cream cheese frosting for a decadent sourdough treat.
You're going to love this recipe - it's full of good-for-you veggies, uses sourdough discard and is so quick and easy to make! That's a winning recipe right there!
I love making these at any time of the year, they are always well received. But they are perfect for Easter (when carrots are a popular theme). They also lend themselves to the pumpkiny vibe of Thanksgiving with their autumnal tones and pumpkin spices, just like these sourdough carrot cake cookies!
If you love making sourdough muffins, why not try these sourdough chocolate chunk muffins, pumpkin sourdough muffins or even sourdough zucchini muffins or sourdough zucchini bread? Oh and I can't leave out these Sourdough Morning Glory Muffins - so good!
What Does Sourdough Do For Muffins?
Adding sourdough starter or sourdough discard to muffins is a great way to use up excess and reduce waste. But what does it actually do?
The starter or discard is not the leavening for muffins - you generally add baking powder, baking soda (or both).
The purpose of adding sourdough starter to muffins is:
- to add a delicious tanginess to the flavor profile of the muffins
- creates a more tender crumb
- increases overall acidity to the mixture
Do You Have To Discard Sourdough Starter?
Absolutely - yes! When you are making a sourdough starter, discarding a portion of your starter before each feed is absolutely essential! It not only stops your sourdough starter from taking over your house, it also reduces the acidity of your starter and helps it to develop into a thriving colony of yeast and bacteria.
You can read more about why it's essential to discard sourdough starter here.
How To Make Sourdough Carrot Cake Muffins
Like other sourdough muffins, sourdough carrot cake muffins are really easy to make. I love the simplicity of the process - they make fantastic snacks for hungry hoards in a matter of minutes! They're like a super fast version of this sourdough carrot cake.
To save even more time, I've used a food processor to shred my carrot instead of grating it by hand using a box grater. There's no real difference in either method - I just find it faster to use the food processor.
I also find my kids are more prone to eating them because the carrot is smaller than if it was grated by hand (tell me I'm not the only one with fussy children?)
Here's how to make sourdough carrot cake muffins:
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F and grease a 12 hole muffin tin with butter.
- Mix the sourdough starter, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and oil in a bowl. Whisk together until well combined. It's ok if the oil sits on the top, it will combine once it is poured into the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl mix together shredded carrot, all purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, spices and brown sugar.
- Now pour the liquid ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients. Gently fold together until just mixed - don't over mix or the muffins will be tough.
- Spoon mixture into greased muffin tin. This recipe will fill a 12 hole muffin (each hole around ¾ full).
- Bake at 180C/350F for approximately 20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.
Optional Cream Cheese Frosting
While the cream cheese frosting is absolutely optional for these sourdough carrot muffins - I highly recommend it! If you'd prefer not to top them with frosting, they can be left plain or just dusted with icing sugar.
Sweet, velvety and with a hint of vanilla this cream cheese frosting will leave you wanting more! It's the same vanilla cream cheese frosting you'll find on these fluffy sourdough cinnamon rolls.
A great idea is to serve the frosting on the side, that way, people that aren't keen on this don't have to add it - but seriously who would say no to cream cheese frosting??
Can You Ferment These Sourdough Carrot Muffins?
You definitely do not have to ferment these sourdough carrot muffins. You can make them very quickly and have them on the table in just 30 minutes.
If you would prefer a fermented version, you can make the batter and pop it in the fridge for around 2 to 3 hours to ferment a little. This will deepen the sourdough flavor.
I don't recommend leaving it in the fridge for longer than this, unless you leave out the baking powder and baking soda and add these to the batter just before baking.
If you want long fermented sourdough muffins, try these overnight sourdough blueberry muffins.
Flavor Variations
These carrot sourdough muffins are perfect just as they are. But if you want to make them a little different or have a few things in the pantry you want to use up, here are a few ideas for additions. Add any of these to the dry ingredients:
- Add 150g of chopped pecans or walnuts.
- 100g of canned pineapple pieces - drained and moisture squeezed out.
- Add 100g of raisins or chopped dried apricots.
How To Freeze + Store
Freeze - these muffins can be frozen and last very well in the freezer. Cool them completely before storing in an airtight plastic container or ziploc bag and placing into the freezer for up to 4 months.
Store - these muffins last up to 3 days in an airtight plastic container. Make sure they are completely cool before you place them into the container. They can be "refreshed" by zapping them in the microwave for up to 30 seconds to soften.
Frequently Asked Questions
The quickest way to shred carrot for muffins is in a food processor or Thermomix. You can also shred carrot using a box grater.
No you do not need to peel carrots for making carrot cake or carrot muffins. Using the skin of the carrot will help to retain the nutritional value of the vegetable.
Oil is the best choice when making carrot muffins and carrot cake. It creates a tender crumb with good rise and gives you a nice crust on the outside of your muffin.
Sourdough Carrot Cake Muffins
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Digital Scales
- 12 Hole Muffin Tin
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 200 g Sourdough Starter Discard or Active Starter
- 2 Eggs
- 60 g Vegetable Oil can sub coconut oil
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
- 75 g Buttermilk or milk or sour cream
Dry Ingredients
- 200 g Carrot Finely shredded or grated
- 200 g All Purpose Flour
- 120 g Brown Sugar
- 6 g Baking Powder (1 tsp)
- 10 g Baking Soda (1 tsp)
- 5 g Salt
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon Finely ground
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg Finely ground
- ½ teaspoon Ginger Finely Ground
Cream Cheese Frosting (Optional)
- 125 g Cream Cheese
- 25 g Butter cold
- 125 g Powdered Sugar Icing Sugar
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
- pinch Salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F and grease a 12 hole muffin tin with butter.
- Mix the sourdough starter, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and oil in a bowl. Whisk together until well combined. It's ok if the oil sits on the top, it will combine once it is poured into the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl mix together shredded carrot, all purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, spices and brown sugar.
- Now pour the liquid ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients. Gently fold together until just mixed - don't over mix or the muffins will be tough.(see notes for options here)
- Spoon mixture into greased muffin tin. This recipe will fill a 12 hole muffin (each hole around ¾ full).
- Bake at 180C/350F for approximately 20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.
- Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing and cooling further on a wire rack.
Cream Cheese Frosting (optional)
- Add all frosting ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for around 2 to 3 minutes or until thick and glossy. Hand mixer works well too.You can mix this frosting by hand, but you will need to really work the cream cheese and butter to get them to combine.
Notes
Nutrition
