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This healthy carrot cake is a fluffy and moist cake made with wholesome ingredients! No eggs or refined sugar is needed, it makes a fabulous healthier dessert.
Who said desserts can’t be healthy?
When done correctly, they taste just as good as their traditional counterparts. Some of our favorite desserts we’ve given a healthy makeover include chocolate cake, brownies, and this glorious carrot cake.
Table of Contents
Recipe highlights
Because I feel it necessary to eat carrot cake every day, I wanted to come up with a healthier version of it, but without sacrificing taste. That is a common issue with ‘healthy’ cake recipes- They turn out dry and lack any sweetness.
This carrot cake is the exception. Don’t let the ‘healthy’ in front of it deter you.
- It uses simple ingredients. No hard-to-find flours, sugars, or baking agents are needed.
- Perfect with or without frosting. Let’s be honest, the best part of any cake is the frosting, but this one is different. It’s so delicious on its own.
- The best texture. It is just as fluffy and moist as any good carrot cake out there, loaded with shredded carrots and perfectly sweet.
How to make a healthy carrot cake
You won’t need any fancy mixers or kitchen gadgets to make them- Just one bowl. The hard part is waiting for the cake to cool!
- All Purpose Flour– I used white whole wheat flour, which is essentially wholewheat flour, but bleached white. It is higher in fiber than traditional white flour.
Dietary swap
Following a gluten free diet? Swap out the flour for a cup-for-cup gluten free flour blend.
- Baking powder and baking soda– Leavens the cake, and gives it some rise and fluffiness.
- Cinnamon– A must for any good carrot cake!
- Sugar of choice– Choose coconut sugar to keep the cake refined sugar free or opt for something like allulose to cut the sugar completely. White or brown sugar also work.
- Milk of choice– Almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, etc.
- Coconut Oil– A fantastic substitute for butter. Use refined coconut oil to ensure there is no coconut flavor. If you can’t tolerate coconut oil, any other neutral-tasting oil will work (e.g. sunflower oil or vegetable oil).
- Grated Carrots– The carrots must be grated, not chopped. This ensures they mix into the batter well.
- Almonds and Walnuts– For some added texture to the cake! I used chopped almonds, but walnuts would be a great addition too.
- Raisins– Optional, but I believe every good carrot cake has some raisins in them!
In a mixing bowl, mix together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together your sweeteners, milk, and coconut oil, until combined and glossy.
Combine your wet and dry ingredients together, until just combined. Fold through your shredded carrots, nuts, and raisins.
Transfer the batter between two cake pans and bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out just clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan completely.
- This makes a layer carrot cake. If you’d like this to be a single cake, simply halve the ingredients.
- Do not overmix the batter. We want the ingredients to be mixed, but just until they are combined. Overmixing can potentially lead to a less fluffy cake.
- Do not make any substitutions unless one of the ones recommended in the ingredient list. Using another flour or adding something else into the batter can affect the taste, texture, and cooking time.
Storage instructions
To store: Leftover cake should be stored in the refrigerator, in a sealable container. It will keep well for up to 2 weeks.
To freeze: You can either freeze the cake as a whole cake or in individual portions. Keep the cake in a freezer friendly container and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
More healthy desserts to try
Yes! This cake doesn’t have any eggs or dairy in it, making it suitable for those following a vegan diet.
While this batter can be used to make muffins, you may prefer making carrot muffins instead. The ingredients are quite similar but are designed to be made into muffins.
Not necessarily! People often assume that just because there are carrots in carrot cake that is the healthiest option. However, most cakes use butter, oil, and plenty of sugar in it! Let’s not forget the cream cheese frosting that comes with it.
Healthy Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour Gluten free, if needed
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup sugar * See notes
- 1 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups milk I used unsweetened almond milk
- 1 cup coconut oil melted (can use any neutral tasting oil)
- 3 1/2 cups carrots grated
- 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
- 1/2 cup raisins Optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease two 8-inch cake pans and line them with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon, and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together your granulated sweeter, coconut sugar, milk of choice, and melted coconut oil, until glossy and smooth.
- Combine your wet and dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Fold through your shredded carrots, nuts, and raisins.
- Distribute your cake batter evenly amongst the two cake pans. Bake for around 40 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pan completely. Once cooled, you can frost them, if desired.
Just this week I was craving carrot cake with lemon cream cheese frosting and this healthy version of yours looks absolutely delicious! And I love that it’s clean enough to have for breakfast! I’m #teamcake and though I love icing, I find it can be a little rich and sickly sometimes. Just wondering if there was another flour I could use instead of a gf blend? I’m on a super restricted diet atm for health reasons and I could actually eat this, so TIA!
Cream cheese Is the only time the frosting does actually win that one! Cream cheese frosting all the way..on everything…in everything. Muffins, french toast. Cue cravings.
Can you bake this in a sheet cake pan instead of a loaf pan or do you not think it would cook correctly that way?
Hi Dalayna! 🙂
Making it in a sheet cake pan is exactly how my mum makes it 🙂 Just cut down on the cooking time slightly 🙂
Cream cheese is the ONLY time that the frosting actually wins that battle. But cream cheese hands down. Now I’m hardcore craving cream cheese stuffed french toast. Nummm
Anyways, could you make this in a pan as a sheet cake instead of a loaf? Or will it not bake correctly that way?
This looks so yummy. Great idea. Just discovered your blog and I absolutely love it 🙂 Thank you for the awesome recipe!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Cindy! 🙂
Hey Arman, Brilliant recipe!!! I’m so gonna try this with my Protein powder, which I need to finish quick 😀 Love the sound of the recipe and the description……Wanna have a go for it. Will post the feedback once I’ll try this 🙂 Saumya
Thanks so much Saumya- Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Love that this carrot cake can be made for any dietary restriction! Looks delicious!!
Thanks so much Phoebe- Appreciate you stopping by 🙂
Arman, this cake needs no frosting, icing, or anything else to cover it up. It looks like a moist, beautiful loaf. I love those big slices! This would be perfect in the morning with my coffee. Take care my friend, Catherine
Thank you so much Catherine- promise it’s delicious 🙂
This carrot cake sounds delicious, with or without cream cheese frosting! (the difference between breakfast or dessert?) I do have a question though, as am new to cooking with coconut oil. Do you melt the oil first and than measure, or vice versa?
Thanks so much Deanna! I do melt the coconut oil first if it’s Winter and firmed up- Otherwise you can use any oil 🙂 Maybe not olive oil though 😛
Sad to say that when I tried this it did not turn out looking oike the pics at all. It was way too dry to even mix the ingredients together without adding some more liquid, so I added some water and an extra T. of oil thinking maybe my yogurt was just too thick. But now that I think about it again, I think I really ought to have added another egg and even more oil instead. It is still cooling, so I am hoping it at least tastes good, but it certainly looks dry and flat compared to the moist carrot cakey deliciousness I was looking forward to!
Hey there! I’m so sorry it didn’t work out for you- Did you follow the instructions as per listed including the flours and yogurt? This is one of the most made and most tagged recipes (even those who adapt it to make it Vegan) so I’m sorry yours didn’t turn out so well! Please let me know how the second batch turned out!
Sorry if this has been asked already, but what kind of GF blend do you use? Thanks!
No worries at all! I’ve used a couple, one of which is Bob Red Mill’s! 🙂
This recipe looks awesome!! Do you think that you could use coconut flour in the recipe?
Hi Heather! To be honest, I haven’t tried coconut flour with this. If you do use it, you’ll need to adjust all the liquid ratios because of how much coconut flour absorbs liquids! I have tried it with standard wholewheat before and another reader used spelt 🙂
ooooh, I’d have definitely made a second trip for frosting. because, frosting! but this looks fantastic enough as is – wish I had a slice right now!
Haha, not going to lie, when I made truffles with the excess, I had a tonne of frosting left which was perfect for toast. :p
I love carrot cake of all kinds… this looks delish!
Thank you so much 🙂
Could i do this recipe without coconut oil?
I substituted the coconut oil for extra virgin olive oil and it came out great.
Hey Mia 🙂 You can use any mild tasting oil- alternatively you could try applesauce but I’m assuming that it would be more dry!