Amazingly Moist Overnight Sourdough Einkorn Carrot Cake
I’m so excited to welcome spring with this sourdough carrot cake made with whole grain einkorn flour. I created this recipe after a recipe my mom used every year in my childhood. Beware. On piece may not be enough. I happened to have some leftover cake from this photo shoot when we hosted our son’s birthday. I’d made a chocolate cake for him but we soon ran out of chocolate. When I reached in to take out this carrot cake, my husband Bodie quickly stopped me with, “whoa! Let’s just wait and see if we need more before taking THAT one out.” Needless to say, the carrot cake was soon gone as well. Sorry Bodie.
I hope you enjoy this overnight cake and it brings back great spring memories for you as it does for me.
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Why Sourdough
Sourdough has been used as a natural yeast for thousands of years but there are other benefits to it as well. Even if you’re not a big fan of the sourdough bread flavor, there are other reasons to use sourdough.
- Sourdough helps to predigest the grains, making an even easier meal to digest.
- Sourdough uses a plethora of different yeasts (there are thousands!) from nature instead of just using few yeasts as “instant yeast” does. This tends to be better tolerated by the body and gut.
- It’s only ingredients are flour and water: no purchasing an extra ingredient from the store!
Ingredients to Have on Hand
Carrots
You’ll need 3-4.
A dark Sugar
I like the mineral rich coconut sugar best for this recipe but you could use brown sugar, maple sugar or sucanat as well.
Whole Grain Einkorn Flour
This is a whole grain recipe. Look below for places to purchase einkorn flour.
Eggs
You’ll want these at room temperature.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
This recipe takes a LOT of olive oil. I like to get mine in a gallon container from Azure Standard with my monthly order.
Also have on hand: Cinnamon, Baking Soda and Baking Powder
Frosting Ingredients
Organic Powdered Sugar, vanilla, lime juice, butter and cream cheese will make your frosting. Be sure to let your cream cheese sit out to soften before making the frosting.
Einkorn Flour
Einkorn Wheat is my favorite grain to work with (if you didn’t notice by all the einkorn recipes on this website!). I love that it’s an ancient grain. The fact that it’s the “original” wheat means its never been hybridized. It’s remained exactly the same for thousands upon thousands of years. Einkorn has only 14 chromosomes compared to many varieties of wheat today that have 28, or 42! This is part of the reason einkorn is much easier to digest. You can learn more about einkorn, it’s heritage and how found it’s way back into our modern day world HERE.
It also has a very weak gluten structure which is great if you have gluten intolerance, but it does create a learning curve in baking. Check out THIS post for tips on baking with einkorn flour.
Nutritionally, Whole Einkorn Flour contains 213% more lutein, 55% more riboflavin and 76% more manganese than modern wheat. It also contains about 50% less Phytic acid. This is what binds up minerals in modern grains, making them hard to absorb. In fact, many of the anti-grain diets base much or their fear of grain on the presence of phytic acid. Einkorn’s nutrients, on the other hand are much EASIER to absorb.
All around, I’m amazed by how well einkorn digests and the fact that I don’t have to use uncommon baking ingredients to create favorite recipes as I did when baking gluten free.
Where to Buy Einkorn Flour
I like to grind my own flour using my Mockmill 100 flour mill. If you don’t grind your own flour like this pioneer girl, just grab a bag of 100% whole wheat einkorn flour. Where do I get einkorn flour? My favorite place for einkorn wheat berries is the Idaho Ancient Grains company that grows their einkorn right in the U.S.A. I also look to Azure Standard, my once a month grocery pick up, for Jovial brand all-purpose einkorn flour. Yes, they also carry whole wheat einkorn flour.
DO NOT try all-purpose einkorn flour in this recipe as the dough will not turn out the same. All-purpose einkorn and whole wheat einkorn act differently in recipes and you need to follow a recipes specific to their flour type or you may be disappointed. Grab My FREE Printable sheet to see what recipes are best for whole wheat einkorn.
Tools to Have on Hand
Here’s a few tools I like to use to make this recipe go more smoothly.
A stand mixer with a Beater attachment
Even if you don’t mix the batter with a stand mixer, I recommend having it for beating the egg whites into stiff peaks. Your arms will thank you!
A Cake Pan
I like to use two 6 inch round pans but a 9 x 13 inch cake pan works just as well.
Spatula
A spatula is very helpful in this recipe!
The Einkorn Carrot Cake Recipe
Let’s start during the day. Tonight you’re making the beginning batter for this cake so feed your starter!
Overnight Sourdough Einkorn Carrot Cake
This decadent sourdough carrot cake is beautifully complimented by a unique cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Active Sourdough Starter
- 1 3/4 Cups Brown Sugar, Coconut Sugar or Sucanat
- 2 Cups Whole Wheat Einkorn Flour
- 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoons Salt
- 1 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 Cups Grated Carrot
- 4 Eggs Separated
- 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- Frosting
- 3 1/4 Cups Powdered Sugar
- One 8 ounce package Cream Cheese
- 2 tsp Lime Juice
- 6 Tablespoons softened Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla
Instructions
1. In a large mixing bowl stir together the sourdough starter, olive oil, sugar, whole wheat einkorn flour, cinnamon and salt. Cover with a damp tea towel or, if you don't have one, some plastic wrap. Let this sit overnight.
2. Grate your carrot, making sure to press it down in the measuring cup to get a correct measurement. Separate four eggs and put the egg whites into your stand mixer with the beater attachment. The egg yolks can go straight into the batter that's been sitting all night.
3. Beat the egg whites on high until stiff. It will start to look like whip cream or meringue.
4. Mix the carrot and egg yolk into the batter. Now drop your egg white meringue on top of the cake batter. Sprinkle the baking soda and baking powder over the top and gently mix everything together.
5. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan or smaller pans (I use two 6 inch round pans) and bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 55-70 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before taking the cakes out of the pan to finish cooling.
6. Using your Stand mixer with the beater attachment mix together the softened cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, lime juice and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
Spread on your completely cooled carrot cake. This is the perfect compliment to the sourdough carrot cake. Seriously! You can't beat this frosting.
The Night Before
In a large mixing bowl stir together the sourdough starter, sugar, whole wheat einkorn flour, olive oil, cinnamon and salt. Cover with a damp tea towel or, if you don’t have one, some plastic wrap. Let this sit overnight.
The Next Morning
Grate your carrot, making sure to press it down in the measuring cup to get a correct measurement. Separate four eggs and put the egg whites into your stand mixer with the beater attachment. The egg yolks can go straight into the batter that’s been sitting all night.
Beat the egg whites on high until stiff. It will start to look like whip cream or meringue.
Mix the carrot and egg yolk into the batter. Now drop your egg white meringue on top of the cake batter. Sprinkle the baking soda and baking powder over the top and gently mix everything together.
Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan or smaller pans (I use two 6 inch round pans) and bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 55-70 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before taking the cakes out of the pan to finish cooling.
Make the Cream Cheese Frosting
Using your Stand mixer with the beater attachment mix together the softened cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, lime juice and vanilla until smooth and creamy.
Spread on your completely cooled carrot cake. This is the perfect compliment to the sourdough carrot cake. Seriously! You can’t beat this frosting.
Other Recipes You May Like
Simple Einkorn Sourdough Bread Recipe for the Beginner
Best Recipe for Chewy Einkorn Chocolate Chip Cookies
Whole Wheat Einkorn Sourdough Pizza Dough Recipe
From The Hilltop,
Looks wonderful! So happy to find a recipe for whole einkorn, as so many use AP. Question: do you think I could sub honey for the sugars? We are trying to exclusively use honey in our home now. Thanks!
I’ve never tried subbing a liquid for the dry sugar in this recipe but it may work because this recipe encourages a moist texture. If you try it I’d look up correct equivalents to get the right sweetness and allow enough time for the einkorn to absorb the sweetener. I’d love to hear how it goes!
Does this cake need active sour dough starter or will discard work? Thank you!
I use active sourdough starter for this recipe since it doesn’t have baking powder in it. Honestly, it may work alright with discard, but I’d use active starter if you can.
I absolutely love carrot cake and will be sure to try this one soon!
Overnight Carrot cake instructions DO NOT include olive oil.
I made mine without and it was very dry. I didn’t notice the oil was omitted from the instructions until it was in the oven
I assume it goes in withe sourdough in the fridge overnight. Without it, the dough was hard and stiff…it took me a long time to blend it smooth.
I was not going to try the recipe again, but my husband lived it (even dry). So I’ll be making it again.
Yes, the oil was in the ingredients lists on the blog and print out but got skipped in the original directions so I fixed that. I hope you have no hiccups the next time. Sorry for the trouble! Thank you for letting me know.