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:
Incredible cake. Delicious esp the next day. Cake is very soft and moist. My husband who claims he doesn’t eat sweet and desserts couldn’t say ‘No’ to this cake. I used an apple instead of unsweetened applesauce I did t have walnuts so I substituted with pecan. And it was simply heavenly even without the topping. This is definitely in my dessert list for my next luncheon. Thanks Katie, for an excellent recipe.
Hi, what kind of flour can I use for the
Carrot cake? Can I use Whole wheat or oats flour?
Katie can only vouch for the ones listed in the recipe because it’s all she’s tried. But feel free to experiment with any other flour as long as you are ok taking a risk. Be sure to report back if you do experiment!
This was the first carrot cake I have ever made and holey moley was it good. My fiancé went back for seconds! It was perfectly moist and packed with flavour.
The only modifications I made was that I added some milk to make the mixture smoother and I only cooked it for 20 minutes in a round cake tin. I also added a cream cheese frosting of cream cheese, vanilla, milk and honey, and sprinkled some ground cinnamon and ginger, and chopped walnuts on top.
Thank you so much, Katie. I love your recipes!
Hi Katie, thanks a lot for this wonderful recipe!
I have a doubt: being intolerant to sorbitol, I shouldn’t eat apples…
Could I use a soy yogurt instead of the apple sauce (same amount)?
Thanks a lot!
Sounds like it would work just fine. Usually that can be a sub in recipes, as they perform the same function here. Be sure to report back if you try!
Hi! I tried the recipe changing the applesauce by soy yogurt, and I had to leave it in the oven for 50 minutes because it looked too raw after 25 minutes… and now it’s horribly gummy! The taste is good though, but it looks so flat and the texture is terrible. Do you know how I could solve this? I also used whole spelt, not white… Maybe if I just leave it 30 minutes and 10 more without opening the oven, it would turn out good? Or adding milk, for example… or flax egg?
Any tips would be much appreciated <3 Thanks a lot!
I made it and it’s baking now. 40 minutes was not enough time at all. Another 10 minutes at least. Smells great!!!!
Great carrot cake! Have been using this recipe for quite some time and love it each time. I double the recipe and make a layer cake. I whip whipping cream with some vanilla extract and a bit of sugar and add to cream cheese and spread in between layers and also around entire cake. I add chopped walnuts around the cake. I also add 1/2 tsp all spice, a pinch of ginger, nutmeg and cloves and add one more tsp cinnamon. The flavours are incredible.
Is this sturdy enough to make a 2 or 3 layer cake?
Did you try making a layer cake? I’m attempting to this weekend and wondering how yours turned out
Can’t wait to make this for my son’s birthday! Could I use coconut oil for the 1/3 cup oil?
Yes! Just be sure all your ingredients are not cold and the oil is melted 🙂
Jason
What about using coconut sugar and almond flour?