Irresistibly moist and secretly healthy carrot cake… This recipe is so good, you’re going to want to eat it again for breakfast the next morning!
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I am the girl who eats carrot cake all year.
If you haven’t tried my recipe yet for Healthy Carrot Cake Cupcakes, that post continues to be one of the most popular recipes on my blog…
So I guess I’m not the only one who eats carrot cake year-round!
Since the carrot cake cupcakes have been so popular, I knew I wanted to get an actual healthy carrot cake recipe up on the blog this year.
With Easter less than a week away, today seems like the perfect time to share this moist and incredibly delicious healthy carrot cake, loaded with sweet cinnamon and carrots.
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
The carrot cake above is topped with my Cream Cheese Greek Yogurt Frosting – which I even successfully made vegan!
It also tastes amazing topped with melted coconut butter (one of my favorite ways to eat carrot cake), or the cake is so perfectly spiced and flavorful that you might want to simply eat it unfrosted.
Above – watch me make the healthy carrot cake
The recipe was adapted from my Vegan Carrot Cake.
Healthy Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 1 packed cup shredded carrot (200g)
- 1/2 cup applesauce (120g)
- 1/3 cup oil, or sub applesauce only if you don’t mind a gummy texture (60g)
- 2 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups spelt, white, or Bob’s gf flour (180g)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup sugar, xylitol, or evaporated cane juice (65g)
- 1/16 tsp uncut stevia OR 2 additional tbsp sugar
- optional shredded coconut or chopped walnuts
- optional 1/2 cup raisins
Instructions
- *For a double layer cake, simply double all ingredients and bake in two pans.Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and line an 8-inch square or round pan with parchment. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients and let sit at least 10 minutes or fridge overnight. In a separate bowl, stir together all remaining ingredients. Pour wet into dry, then stir until just combined. Do not overmix. Pour into the prepared pan, and smooth down evenly. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. The carrot cake tastes much sweeter and better-textured the day after it’s made, and leftovers can be refrigerated for 3-4 days or even sliced and frozen. I frosted the cake with about 1/2 cup of the frosting recipe linked under the second photo in this post – If using a preservative-free frosting like the one I used, it’s best to frost directly before serving.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Easter Recipes:
Hey everyone, just wanted to mention that I just made this and substituted grated carrot for grated sweet potato and it is delicious!
I made this recipe twice. The first time I followed it and it was really dry. The second time I added two eggs and 1/4 c of water and it was really delicious. If you’re not vegan I recommend doing that.
I was limited in my ingredients so I made a few adjustments. This was my hubby’s birthday cake and he said, “This may be the best carrot cake I ever had”. He is a huge fan of carrot cake. I added 1/4 to 1/2 cup more carrot (by accident); used whole wheat pastry flour, used almost a cup of canned pumpkin instead of apple sauce and oil, and added coconut and walnuts (and used raw organic sugar). I was really surprised by how good it was. It was luxuriously good.
I did add a little liquid. I see some people said it was too dry. I probably added 1/4 cup of pineapple juice. I can’t believe the person who said how bad it was. What????
I’ve done this recipe twice, the first time I didn’t have baking soda or vanilla, so it didn’t turn out like a cake, it was just regular to my tastes, but my diabetic aunt loved it and convince me to do it again. Best decision! Everyone loved it, I made a lot because I was having guests and they all ate twice, and my family members as well. There’s barely any more and I don’t want to inform my auntie that it’s gone and tomorrow she can’t come for more.
I just wish mine would look more orange like yours, but I guess is because my sugar is Brown and I use whole wheat instead of the one you mention. I used less sugar and a bit of raisins and even the picky eaters loved it.
Thank you!
I tried making this yesterday.. I used melted coconut oil inplace of “oil” and i used greek yogurt in place of the applesauce since i didnt have any handy and didnt wanna use a ton of oil.. and i ended up with an EXTREMELY dry cake.. it was crumbly when i put it in the pan.. and it came out like a biscuit or something…
if you try this recipe.. do not substitute the applesauce for yogurt.. im guessing thats where this recipe went wrong for me… (no water, no milk, no eggs added to this recipe that i saw.. which threw me off.. but i gave it a shot.. and failed horribly.. the frosting is tasty though!
unfortunately i wasnt able to post a picture as i received an error and was blocked from doing so.
What is uncut stevia please?
https://lett-trim.today/stevia-conversion-chart/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> You can also use regular sugar or stevia packets that are not uncut. Go by the amounts in the chart. Hope that helps!
What is Bob’s gf? I’ve been using the almond, coconut, tapicoca flours. No white flours. Bummer for this recipe.
Bob’s gluten-free baking blend. Spelt is also not a white flour, although it’s not gf.
Hi there, How can you replace applesauce? We don’t use it and find it in my country. Just plain yogurt would work? Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Fran
Yogurt would work. Mashed banana would also work.
Katie, I am curious. What is your preferred oil for baking?
Hello Katie, can I make this with coconut flour? Should I change anything else if I swap to coconut flour? Thank you so much.
It would probably crumble but you can always try!