Before you question making this, let me assure you that you can’t taste the sourdough at all. There’s a very mild tang, almost like there’s a bit of buttermilk in the batter. But the overall impression is just sweet, soft, and rich… like a classic carrot cake. Using discard sourdough starter just gives you a chance to use an ingredient that would otherwise go to waste.
This recipe is inspired by a King Arthur Flour recipe, where the reviewers occasionally complain that it’s too sweet. This is nonsense. It may seem like a lot of sugar, but it’s a cake, people, and it should be sweet. The vegetable oil keeps these cupcakes moist and tender. More like the texture of a box cake mix than a dense, dry homemade cake. Golden raisins, warm spices, shredded carrots, and crushed pineapple round out this springy treat.
what You’ll Need
You really only need the mixer for the frosting, the cupcakes will fine mixed by hand.
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This recipe makes a generous amount of cream cheese frosting so you can pipe it on if you’d like. Otherwise you might have extra.
Cupcake Batter
- 1½ cups vegetable oil
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup sourdough starter (discard/unfed) cold from the fridge is fine
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained –don’t press out all the juice, just drain in a strainer)
- 2 cups grated carrots (about 4 medium) –grate your own; pre-shredded carrots are too dry
- ½ cup golden raisins – milder than dark raisins; leave out if you don’t like them
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 12 ounces butter, melted – let it cool slightly before mixing
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- Pinch of salt (only if using unsalted butter)
- 1–2 tablespoons milk or cream, if needed to thin
Instructions
Mix the wet ingredients
Combine the oil and sugar first, beating until they’re well blended. Add the sourdough starter and mix more gently – you’re not trying to develop any gluten here, just combine. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one, then stir in the vanilla.
Add the carrots, pineapple, and raisins
Turn your mixer to low and fold in the grated carrots, drained pineapple, and golden raisins. You want everything evenly distributed but don’t overmix.
Add the dry ingredients
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet about a cup at a time, stirring gently after each addition. Stop as soon as everything is combined – overmixing will make your cupcakes dense.
Fill and bake
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line your muffin pans with cupcake liners. Fill each liner about ⅔ full – these rise quite a bit, and overfilling gives you flat tops that spill over the edges. Bake for 25 minutes. They’re done when the tops spring back when you press them lightly. If your finger leaves a dent, give them a few more minutes.
Cool completely
Let them sit in the pan for a few minutes, then move them to a wire rack. Don’t even think about frosting until they’re completely cool. Even slightly warm cupcakes will melt your frosting right off!
Make the frosting
Beat the room temperature cream cheese with the melted (but slightly cooled) butter. It might look lumpy at first – keep going until it smooths out. Add the vanilla and salt if you’re using unsalted butter. Then add the powdered sugar a cup at a time, starting on low speed unless you want a sugar cloud in your kitchen. If it’s too thick, add milk or cream a teaspoon at a time. If it’s too thin, pop it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up.
Frost the cupcakes
Use a piping bag if you’re feeling fancy, or just spread it on with a knife. Be generous. You’ll have plenty of frosting.
Storage Instructions
- Room Temperature: Store cupcakes without frosting at room temperature in a container for 2 days.
- Fridge: Store cupcakes with frosting in the fridge in a container for 5 days.
- Freezer: Store cupcakes without frosting in the freezer by wrapping each in plastic wrap and putting them in a freezer bag or sealed container for up to 1 month.
In Case You’re Wondering
You can, but remember that whole wheat flour will make the cupcakes denser and may give them a slightly nutty flavor. If you want to try it, I’d suggest using half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour to keep the texture nice and light.
If you’re not a fan of golden raisins, feel free to leave them out or replace them with something you like, such as chopped nuts, dried cranberries, or even a handful of shredded coconut.
That can happen if your baking soda is old or the batter is overmixed. Make sure your baking soda is fresh (less than six months old), and stir just until the ingredients are combined. Overmixing can knock out the air and make the cupcakes dense.
That happens if the butter was too warm when you started. Put the frosting in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to let it firm up, then stir it before frosting the cupcakes.
Try a simple buttercream, a lemon glaze, my vanilla cream filling on top, or dust the tops with powdered sugar for a lighter option.
More Sourdough Discard Sweets
Sourdough starter and sweet baked goods are a surprising match made in heaven.The discard adds lots of depth to your treats and is a great way to avoid waste.
- A simple sourdough chocolate cake topped with our favorite chocolate frosting.
- Sourdough lemon cake is one of my most popular recipes for good reason.
- If you love cream cheese frosting and spices, you’ll adore sourdough pumpkin cake.
- And for a simple classic that makes a great birthday cake, try sourdough vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.
Printable Recipe
Sourdough Carrot Cupcakes
Equipment
- 12-cup Cupcake pans
- Cupcake liners
- Mixer (stand mixer or hand mixer)
- Large mixing bowl
- Wire rack
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 1 ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup sourdough starter (discard/ unfed)
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup canned crushed pineapple (drained, about 8 oz)
- 2 cups carrots (grated, about 4 medium carrots)
- ½ cup golden raisins
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
- 12 ounces butter (melted)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- pinch salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 tablespoons milk or cream (if icing is too thick)
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Instructions
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line the muffin pans with cupcake liners. This recipe yields 24 very full cupcakes or 26 smaller ones.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Combine the vegetable oil and white sugar in a large mixing bowl. Then, beat well until fully combined and creamy. Next, add the sourdough starter discard and gently mix it into the batter. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.
- Add the carrots, pineapple, and raisins. Reduce your mixer speed to low and gently fold in the grated carrots, drained pineapple, and golden raisins until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Prepare the dry ingredients. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and baking soda. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients 1 cup at a time, mixing gently after each addition until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cupcake liners. Fill to about ⅔ full. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are lightly bouncy when pressed.
- Cool the cupcakes. Cool in the pan for a few minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Beat the cream cheese and butter. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the room temperature cream cheese and melted butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. It may appear lumpy at first, but continue beating until fully combined.
- Add the vanilla and salt. Mix in the vanilla extract. If you're using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt. Otherwise, skip the salt.
- Add the powdered sugar. Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, starting on low speed to prevent a sugar cloud, then increasing the speed until the frosting is smooth and creamy.
- Adjust the consistency. If the frosting is too thick, add milk or cream, one teaspoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. If it becomes too thin, refrigerate the frosting for 30 minutes before using.
- Frost the cupcakes: Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, generously frost them using a piping bag or a spatula.
Video
Notes
- To make a cake instead, mix evenly into two 8-inch cake pans and bake for about 45 minutes, checking with a cake tester to make sure it’s done.
Nutrition
I made this as a cake and used a buttermilk glaze instead of cream cheese frosting. The cake is moist, delicious and a great use of my unfed starter!
Can I use applesauce in place of the vegetable oil as you can do in many other recipes for baking?
Hi Kim, Yes that would work fine 🙂
So so so yummy. I substituted a mix of half vegetable shortening and half butter, and used1 cup sourdough starter instead of half. Put the nuts raisins coconut and walnuts as well. For the icing I used vanilla bean paste and only three cups sugar. I just cannot seem to follow a recipe, but it ended up making 24 cupcakes and a 9X9 pan of cake.
your changes sound delicious! i actually love baking with shortening too. I’m so happy you liked the cupcakes
5 Stars! I didn’t have canned pineapple on hand, so subbed with unsweetened apple sauce. Only made half the amount of frosting (based on the icing sugar I had in my cupboard) and that was the perfect amount (although I could easily eat the frosting by the spoonful). Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe!!
Aw thank you for the comment Tina! So great to know about the applesauce because I often don’t hav thee pineapple on hand either! 🙂
Is it possible to omit the eggs?
I have never tried it but if you have a substitution that works in other cake recipes I don’t see why not
DELICIOUS!
I only used 1 cup of sugar and left them unfrosted – I was looking for carrot muffin recipe when I stumbled upon this one. SO good – a definite keeper!
that’s great Christine! we do this sometimes too and eat them for breakfast! ????
Because of health issues, I had to go dairy and gluten free. This has been a hard transition for me AND my family. Finding a recipe that tastes just as good as we were accustomed to is difficult, to say the least. I made these cupcakes for Easter with a GF flour mix. They turned out so good! The cakes were moist, decadent and delicious. Even my dad requested to take some home with him. (That was such a compliment to me!) The recipe makes quite a few cupcakes so you can freeze some for later. A few weeks after Easter, my parents came over for dinner. Dad was so happy when I pulled out a few cupcakes and heated them up. Definitely a keeper!
that is so wonderful to hear Amy! I am so happy to hear a gluten free mix worked out well with the recipe! ????
I made these with my cup for cup gluten free flour and they turned out too oily and crumbly , sorry don’t know if I could only use normal flour and also normal sour dough starter . Please help as was not very nice turn out
hi bonnie, I’m sorry I don’t have any experience with gluten free baking 🙁 this site is a great resource for gluten free baking and sourdough: https://www.whattheforkfoodblog.com
My kiddos are sensitive to pineapples. Would you have any suggestions to replace this item? Is it necessary? This recipe sounds and looks delicious
I would just leave it out. you could try applesauce but I think it might make the batter too wet. they’ll be fine without the pineapple 🙂
We used canned peach instead and it turned out great. Also subbed all butter/oils with coconut oil, icing was way too much for us so definitely would make half in the future.
THESE WERE AWESOME!! My family loves them too! I made these yesterday, and now there are only 6 left! This recipe made 24 cupcakes and 4 small ramikin cakes. Love the addition of raisins and pineapple. It made these almost healthy!! And the frosting recipe makes A LOT of frosting. I had to freeze half of it to use later!
that’s great sherrie! yes let’s say they’re healthy 🙂
OOPS! Sorry! I didn’t mean to post the same thing twice!!
This recipe sounds amazing, but 12 ounces of butter sounds like too much for the frosting.
sherrie, of course you can use whatever cream cheese frosting you like
This recipe looks fantastic, but 12 oz of butter seems to be a LOT of butter for the frosting.
I know, doesn’t it! but its delicious! (it also makes a very large volume of frosting which is part of why that looks like so much!)
I’m not a huge carrot cake fan, but I tried this recipe because I had lots of carrots and lots of sourdough. I used gluten free sourdough and flour, and applesauce instead of pineapple. They turned out moist and light, not too sweet, and the spice was perfect. These are not just the best carrot cake cupcakes I’ve ever had, these are the best CUPCAKES I’ve ever had. ???? I’ve shared the recipe with quite a few friends already, but my family wasn’t interested in sharing the cupcakes with friends.
Kate I’m so glad you like them! Thanks for letting me know, made my day 🙂
What size can of crushed pineapple??
You’ll want a cup, drained. an 8 oz can will be just enough!
Have you tried making these carrot cupcakes with less sugar.
yes, it can definitely be reduced. with the recipe as written it tastes like a true dessert/ cake. if you reduce it its more muffiny but still very good
Delicious! I love carrot cake!
Oh my goodness!! This sounds absolutely delicious!!! I love sourdough, carrot cake, and cream cheese frosting! Great baking tips as well!
This is such perfect timing! I started a new sourdough starter today and was thinking that I should start looking up some good recipes to utilize the “discarded” portions!
Used raw grated pumpkin instead of carrots 👌