Sourdough Carrot Bundt Cake

University, as previously mentioned is in full swing. I'm going in three days a week, every other day and taking nine courses all together. All the traveling is well balanced by in between off days- I come home so tired from [boring] classes and all that time spent on buses and in tremps. Besides sleeping, I find that baking, as it usually does, helps me unwind. I've unofficially begun to designate Monday and Wednesday as baking days. After I refreshed my starter (after using it for Pain Au Levain- more on that later), I decided to use some of it in a sweeter application and since I'd made the sourdough chocolate cake and had some carrots sitting in the fridge, I decided to make this Sourdough Carrot Cake from the KAF site, a recipe that I printed with the intent of making ages ago, but only just got around to making. The hardest part of this was grating the carrots. After that, it came together smoothly. I thought the sourdough would be difficult to incorporate but everything smoothed out once the eggs were added in. I omitted all the extras that were called for, including the pineapple and nuts because IMHO, carrot cake should be about unadulterated carrot flavor and not be hidden by lots of extras. That's why I liked the coarsely grated carrots- they add texture and allow you to actually taste the carrot. Needless to say, I omitted the frosting, too. It's hard to know exactly what the sourdough adds, but I will say that the cake turned out super, super moist, and really yummy, if a bit crumbly. The cake pretty much disappeared, which is a good thing, because, due to my total lack of patience, I flipped it too soon, thereby dismembering the entire half of the cake.... No laughing, please! Anyway, this was a fun one to make- try it sometime when you have some sourdough toss off to use and the itch to bake!

Sourdough Carrot Bundt Cake

adapted from the KAF site

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

1 cup sourdough starter

2 cups grated carrots

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350. Generously grease a large bundt pan, two nine inch pans or a nine by thirteen inch pan.

If you havent already, grate the carrots; set aside.
Place the oil and sugar in a bowl,
and whisk to combine.
Add the sourdough starter,
and whisk is vigorously as you can to break up the starter as much as possible.
Add the eggs one at a time,
blending well after each addition until you have a smooth, homogeneous batter.
Add the carrots and vanilla,
and whisk.
Add the dry ingredients,
and gently combine them without overmixing.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
For the bundt bake about 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Try to let the cake cool for at least twenty minutes before trying to unmold, lest you get something that looks like this.... At least it was still good.....