I've been caring for a portion of Herman starter for some time now. Herman is a German sweet sourdough mixture that can be used for the basis of all sorts of delicious cake recipes. Having made two apple cakes from the recipe that came with the starter, I decided it was time to break out something different. I went on the hunt for recipes online, and discovered these instructions for carrot cake.
Oh my! The results were delicious!
The original recipe was a little sketchy and somewhat confusing, so here are my UK-icised instructions:
375mL Vegetable oil
450g Granulated sugar
250mL Herman starter
3 Medium eggs
1 x 435g Tin crushed pineapple (drained)
3 Medium carrots (grated)
75g Chopped walnuts
2 tsp Vanilla extract
320g Plain flour
3 tsp Cinnamon
0.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
75g Desiccated coconut
For the icing
200g Cream cheese
450g Icing sugar
Oven temperature: Gas Mark 4 / 180C / 350F
Preheat the oven.
Combine the oil and sugar and stir in the Herman starter. Add the eggs one at a time and stir thoroughly. Fold in the drained pineapple, nuts, vanilla extract and grated carrots.
In another bowl, sieve together the flour, cinnamon, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Mix in the desiccated coconut, and add these dry ingredients to the wet mixture previously prepared. Make sure that the batter is thoroughly combined and no floury bits remain.
Grease a baking tin approximately 20cm x 30cm x 5cm and if desired, line with greaseproof paper. Pour the batter into the tin and place in the oven for 40 minutes. After this time, start to test the cake with a skewer (or metal DPN!), and when the skewer comes out clean, remove from the oven. My cake took around 50 minutes in total.
Beat the icing sugar into the cream cheese, adding a little at a time until it is all incorporated.
Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the tin and allowing it to reach room temperature. Then pour the icing over the cake and try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting!
