Pumpkin-Maple Sourdough Cake with Carmel Buttercream Frosting

The first helping...

I have been caring for a sourdough started for about six months now and have finally branched out to trying recipes that I would have never associated with sourdough. This was my first dessert sourdough recipe and it killed two birds with one stone. I have a ton of pureed pumpkin in the freezer to use up and was neglecting my sourdough starter in a bad way. I don't remember where I found this recipe, but it's definitely a keeper. If you don't have a sourdough starter at home it's okay. You can come over and I'll give you some of mine or you can visit Sourdough Home for the directions I used to start mine. It's really not as complicated as it sounds. It just takes time, planning and patience. Needless to say, keeping a sourdough starter has been good for me in a number of ways.

This cake is one of those almost healthy desserts - It uses maple syrup, whole wheat flour, and it has vegetables it in! See? I told you it was healthy! Okay, maybe healthy is a bit of a stretch, but it is definitely better for you than lots of other dessert options. It tastes very similar to carrot cake and has a dense and chewy texture that is more like a muffin than cake. There is a very mild sourdough flavor that I found to be very enjoyable. In my limited sourdough experiences, the sourness of the end product continues to develop in the days after baking, but we didn't have a chance to test that. The recipe makes one eight-inch cake, which is just the right amount for a small gathering or for my husband's after dinner snack. I'm not kidding - he ate the entire cake in one evening! Oh ok, I helped. A little. Or maybe a lot. I am almost certain it wouldn't hold up well if you tried to layer them, but prove me wrong if you must.

The frosting recipe can be found in my post for Samoa Cupcakes. I had about a cup of the caramel frosting leftover, so I froze it and used it here. It was a over little sweet for my taste, but the flavors paired well. If I were to make a frosting specifically for this cake, I'd probably opt for a maple glaze or a brown sugar cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin-Maple Sourdough Cake
1/2 cup pumpkin or squash puree (canned or homemade)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup “fed” 100% hydration sourdough starter
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
heaping 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and move rack to center position.  Butter an 8-inch round cake pan (or coat with baking spray).

Start with all ingredients at room temperature. In a mixing bowl, whisk together squash puree, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla.  Fold sourdough starter into squash mixture into until well combined. In a separate small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Add dry ingredients to squash mixture and stir just until incorporated. Stir in melted butter. Pour batter into the greased 8-inch round cake pan.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Warning: Husband Cooks Too

Yes, that's right folks. We drink our mimosas from a Mason jar. If that's too country for ya, then ya'll can just go to IHOP!

Happy New Year's everyone! We have never done anything special to ring in the new year at the Baker house, but today we started a new tradition that I am excited to plan and execute in a more fashionable way next year - we had friends over to have New Year's brunch and it was just so much fun!

My husband is not much of a cook, but me oh my can he whip up some crepes! It's his specialty and its always a treat to have him make a meal. We've mastered sweet, fresh fruit fillings for our crepes and decided it was time to venture into the savory category. With the help of Pinterest, we decided to try ham, cheese, and egg crepes. We used our old stand-by recipe for crepes from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook - you know the big red one that I use every single day. Best wedding present ever. Anyway... on to the point...

We also tried a new sourdough crepe which was so, so good. There are lots of great site with info on how to start and maintain your own sourdough starter, but if you'd rather bring me a mason jar I'd be glad to pass mine along. The sourdough crepes were delicious with the ham, egg and cheese filling, but I have a hard time imagining them being very good with a sweet filling. Maybe if you add a dash of vanilla and a tablespoon or two of honey to it? Give it a try though and let me know what you think! Here is the recipe for the Sourdough Crepes... please note - this is not my recipe, but I have had it for sometime and don't remember where I got it.


Sourdough Crepes
makes about (9) 10-inch crepes

1 cup sourdough starter (mine is 100% hydration, all whole wheat flour)
3 eggs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 pinches of salt
1/4 cup milk (more or less may be needed depending on your sourdough starter)

In a medium size bowl, whisk 3 eggs, 3 tablespoons melted butter, and 3 pinches of salt until combined. Add to this mixture 1 cup of sourdough starter. Stir well.

Add milk slowly until you get a thin batter. Preheat skillet over medium heat for two full minutes, then turn down to low before lightly grease the skillet.

For a 10-inch skillet, pour 1/3 cup of crepe batter into the center of your skillet. If you are using a smaller skillet you will need 1/4 cup of batter. Quickly pick up the skillet and roll the batter towards the outer edges. Put the skillet back on burner and cook until edges are a bit dry and small bubbles dot the surface of the crepe. It may take less than a minute to cook each side of the crepe. Cook times depend on the skillet type, burner heat, and crepe thickness. If you try to flip your crepe and it does not seem ready, let it cook a few moments longer. Flip. The second side will take less time to cook than the first.

Place your crepe on a plate. Make your second crepe. Continue stacking finished crepes until you are ready to serve. Stacking keeps the crepes soft and warm.


If you want to make the ham, cheese and egg filling your process is slightly different. You will need to have a cup or so of finely shredded cheddar cheese, a cup with 4-5 eggs scrambled with a little bit of milk or cream, and deli ham sliced into halves or thirds depending on the size of your pan, prepared and near the stove top. As soon as you flip your crepe you will add about 1/4 cup of scrambled egg on top of the cooked side of the crepe. Place a lid on top and cook for about 1 minute. When the egg is nearly set, sprinkle with cheese and top with ham slices. Cover until cheese is melted, then fold in half, then in half again so you're left with a triangle. These would be awesome with some finely chopped scallions in them or on top for garnish.

They are great hot out of the skillet or at room temperature, so making them up a little in advance for a crowd is no problem. Abby and her 3 year old friend Andrew gobbled these "sandwiches" up, which is awesome because I have a hard time getting her to eat much protein! We experimented with freezing them and were very pleased with the results. We will be making a very large batch in the near future for quick and easy meals or snacks.

I am very much looking forward to having these crepes on my birthday... and on Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, our anniversary, and well pretty much any other time I can persuade my husband to make them again!