This healthy carrot cake recipe is incredibly moist and nobody will believe it’s whole wheat! Recipe includes a less sugary cream cheese frosting. Can also be made with all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour.
Please note that although the video says Gluten-free Carrot Cake – this video is also how this healthy carrot cake is made! It just uses a different flour.
I accidentally republished my whole wheat rolls recipe last week and it went out to my email subscribers. Sorry about that! I don’t normally post recipes without gluten-free options. All I wanted to do was update the photos.
Today’s recipe can be made with whole wheat but also with gluten-free flour. The gluten-free option isn’t a whole grain healthy option but it is crazy delicious. All-purpose flour also works great.
And all three versions are just as delicious! And nobody can tell the difference between the three.
I have to say that I’m not a fan of carrots. I wanted them to be undetectable in this cake, so I used the really fine grater of my food processor. I’ve also used a Microplane zester but that takes a long time.
I used to bring this carrot cake into work every Easter and the Americans recognized it as carrot cake. But nobody has ever had any idea that it was a whole wheat carrot cake!
I don’t think they have carrot cake here in Germany (it might be at Starbucks or something like that) and whenever I give this to Germans, they say it’s the “best Christmas cake ever!”
At first I thought it was absurd, but then I realized they have a point. This has cinnamon and ginger. That is kind of Christmasy.
Do we associate carrot cake with Easter because the Easter Bunny eats carrots? I’ve googled it and couldn’t find an answer. It’s because of the bunnies, right? :D
To turn this carrot cake into a healthy carrot cake, in addition to the flour change, I reduced the sugar (by quite a lot!) and used coconut sugar. You can use granulated sugar if you prefer.
Instead of all oil, you use a mix of oil + applesauce. But unlike some other recipes that use applesauce, this change didn’t make this healthy carrot cake any drier or less tasty.
I also healthified the frosting! A lot of cream cheese frosting recipes use a ton of sugar. Not this one.
I reduced the sugar by quite a bit and now it tastes more like a cream cheese tart filling than super sugary frosting.
It’s a 1.5x version of my healthier cream cheese frosting. If you just want to frost the top of each layer and nothing on the side, check out the notes below for how much to use.
By the way, if you’re wondering what else to make for Easter, this scalloped potatoes and ham recipe from A Mind “Full” Mom look incredible! And if you prefer a sheet cake, try this maple carrot sheet cake from Healthy Seasonal Recipes!
Questions about this healthy carrot cake?
Fat
- Can you taste the olive oil?
I used extra-virgin olive oil and you can taste it in the batter and while the baked cake is still hot. Once it cools, you can’t taste it. If you’re worried about it, use light olive oil (the light refers to the taste and not calories).
- Can I use another oil other than olive?
You can use canola oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, etc. Anything neutral tasting. I haven’t tried coconut oil but if you do, I’d recommend using refined coconut oil unless you want some coconut taste in your cake.
- Can I use butter? I bet you could use butter in this cake but it wouldn’t be as moist (butter is 80-82% fat and oil is 100% fat).
- Can I use a different gluten-free flour?
I’ve only used the one listed in the recipe. If you have another brand that works as a sub for all-purpose flour, then you could probably use it here. I can’t say the texture would be as perfect as with the flour mix I used, though.
- Can I use a liquid sweetener?
Unfortunately not without experimenting!
- Can I reduce the sugar?
This carrot cake recipe already calls for a lot less sugar than a regular cake. Reducing sugar also reduces moistness so unless you want a dry cake, I wouldn’t recommend reducing the sugar any more.
- How can I make the frosting dairy-free?
You could use dairy-free cream cheese and butter in the below recipe or you could make my vegan cream cheese frosting (it doesn’t actually use cream cheese!).
- Does the cream cheese frosting pipe well?
You can pipe it if you double the amount of butter.
- Can I use a different sized pan?
Here’s a super handy pan conversion chart that should be able to help. Looks like a 9″x13″ should work well, though I haven’t tried it.
- Can I make this recipe into cupcakes?
Yes! This recipe will yield 24 cupcakes. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Use the smaller amount of frosting found in the recipe notes (the one that uses 12 ounces of cream cheese and not 16). This will yield about 2 cups so that means 4 teaspoons of frosting per cupcake.
- Can I freeze the layers / frosted cake?
Freezing the layers would definitely work. Freezing frosted layers, though? I’m not too sure about that. Does anyone know if freezing cream cheese frosting works well?
- Can I add pineapple, walnuts, raisins, etc.?
Walnuts or raisins wouldn’t be a problem but I’m a little doubtful of crushed pineapple or anything liquidy. The cake is already so moist that I’d be afraid that pineapple would make it soggy. I could be wrong, though!
If you try it out, please let us know in the comments and I’ll update this. :) You could also alternatively try this carrot cake with pineapple!
Flour
Sweeteners
Frosting
Random
If you try out this healthy carrot cake, I’d love if you could leave a comment with some feedback! Thank you and enjoy. :)
Healthy Carrot Cake (gluten-free, whole wheat options)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 12-16 slices
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 grams) whole spelt flour or whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour or for a gluten-free version, 2 cups (276 grams) Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-free Baking Flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 4 large (50 grams each, out of shell) eggs
- 1 cup (200 grams) coconut sugar1 or granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (183 grams) unsweetened apple sauce
- 1/2 cup (118ml) olive oil (canola oil or another vegetable oil would work fine)
- 14.5 oz / 410 grams grated and peeled carrots2
- 18 ounces (510 grams) cream cheese, room temperature4
- 4.5 tablespoons (63 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (180 grams) powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the frosting: (see note below)3
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C and grease three 8″ pans or line them with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and then add the sugar, apple sauce, and olive oil and mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just until combined.
- Then fold in the carrots, again only until combined.
- Bake for 13 – 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I accidentally had the fan on so these minutes could be off. It might be longer, but just check it at 13 and see how it is.
- Let cool for 5 minutes in the pans, and then turn onto a wire rack to cool.
- Frost when completely cooled.
- For the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and Greek yogurt. When combined, add the powdered sugar, a little bit at a time. This frosting isn't pipeable, but if you refrigerate it overnight, it it sets a little more than when first made. This recipe only makes enough to fill the two layers and the top. You can see that the layers also only had thin layers of icing. I used a little less than 1/2 cup per layer. If iced, store in the fridge. The cake stays moist for several days.
Notes
- Note that it's best to weigh coconut sugar! Some brands are light and coarse and some brands (like the one I use) are very fine and dense.
- I used the fine grater of my food processor. I can’t say if this would work if you grate them coarsely. It might lose some of its moisture. Mine was almost like a puree.
- This is enough to frost it like in the pictures, with about 2/3 cup on top of each layer and some frosting for the sides. If you just want to frost the top of each layer, use 12 ounces cream cheese, 3 tablespoons butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar, a pinch of salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- We have a different type of cream cheese in the US that's firmer and meant for baking, rather than for toast, like in Europe. For 8 ounces (225 grams) of cream cheese, buy a 300-gram package (the stuff at Aldi, Lidl, etc. works just as well as Philadelphia), put it in the center of a clean tea towel or cheesecloth, and squeeze out the liquid until you have 225 grams of cream cheese. You can now make cream cheese frosting without issue. So for this recipe, buy 675 grams of cream cheese and squeeze out the liquid until you have 510 grams.
- This recipe was updated on 3/14/18 with a new frosting recipe. The previous was called for 8 ounces (225 grams) cream cheese, 1 6-ounce container (170 grams) Greek yogurt, and 1/2 – 1 cup (60 – 12 grams) powdered sugar.
Adapted from from Smitten Kitchen's carrot cake recipe
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145 comments on “Healthy Carrot Cake (the most amazing texture!)” — Add one!
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This cake looks so yummy. Is there a way to make it using only honey. My brother and sister-in-law are on a diet that allows only honey as a sweetener. Could it work?
Sonia – Wow, what a compliment! Thank you. :) You know, you're really clever. Marzipan is all over the place here and I used gum paste that I brought with me from the US. I would never eat the stuff, but I'll put it on as decorations. Marzipan would be so much better! Especially homemade marzipan. My carrot mixture was basically puree and it always works out nicely! I can't wait to see what you come up with.
When's that chocolate cake coming? Or did I miss a mention somewhere? :) Your site and all Wordpress sites have been a pain in the butt recently with the comments which is why I've been quiet. Thanks again for the kind comment!
Dawn – Go go go! I'd love to try a low sugar version. I felt kind of bad posting this recipe, but it's so good I couldn't keep it back. I was almost tempted to use all honey, but I couldn't mess with our Easter cake. Maybe later. Happy Easter to you! :)
this looks tasty! I love carrot cake, especially with cream cheese frosting. I haven't had that since I started this low sugar diet. You have given me inspiration to work on a low sugar version. ooh yummy!
Well, Erin, I don't know if your carrot cake is indeed the best carrot cake ever, but I have to say it's by far one of the most beautiful I've ever seen! I love your little carrots! Are those marzipan? And it does look like it's unbelievably moist.
I love the idea of grating the carrots super fine to create even more moisture. Like a carrot puree, almost. I will be giving that technique a try for sure. As a matter of fact, I'm still on a quest to find the perfect carrot cake, and seeing as how I haven't found it yet, I was planning on giving it another shot soon. Guess who will be my inspiration? :)
Honey – I never thought of red velvet cake as Christmas cake. It's obviously a good choice but my family always had green velvet cake for my mother's birthday, which is St. Patrick's Day. Red velvet cake is good for anything, I guess!
Marisha – I'm not a big fan of pineapple in baked goods. It's weird because it's probably in my top three favorite types of fruit. And you should definitely try adding adding some whole wheat flour to your recipe! Just start off with 1/3 whole wheat. It might take some getting used to. Good luck. :)
Katelyn – I don't like them that way either but thanks for the tip. :) Good luck with the soup! I know somebody who would love that and I'll probably end up making it if you succeed.
I love carrot cake. My favorite version is dusted with toasted coconut on the outside. I don't like carrots in all contexts though. They're really good roasted until the point of caramelization with a little brown sugar. Maybe you'd like them like that? I've been trying to capture that flavor in a soup for a while. Three tries so far and no dice.
I love LOVE carrot cake. Smothered in cream cheese frosting. Sigh. I made carrot cake cupcakes last week and the house smelled cinnamon-y and delicious. Complete with piped on, super thick cream cheese frosting. I will definitely have to try using whole wheat flour – that's my next step in baking healthier. My recipe uses pineapple – have you ever tried that??
i love your baking style.. i incorporate whole wheat pastry flour in almost everything i bake. i also find ways to tone down the fat.. brilliantly done. i LOVE carrot cake. Here in the US, our xmas cake is Red Velvet Cake. :-)
Amy – Thanks! I hope it doesn't disappoint. Don't tell people it's whole grain though or they'll complain. Let them shower you with compliments first and then tell them. That's always my method. :)
this looks absolutely wonderful + i love that you made it taste as least vegetably as possible. i might give this a try for easter – thanks!
Katrina – Really?! You're the second one to say that. Maybe I'm just not super picky about carrot cake or maybe it's just that this one is so amazingly good. :)
Miryam – It's not really! There are so many crumbs in the frosting layers. I wanted to ask in my post how to cut such clean layers, but I figured it has to do with the moistness of the cake. And if you haven't, please read the note about the frosting! It's not pipeable. It'd still be good on cupcakes, but you would only be able to spread it on. I hope you like it! You can always add more sugar if you want. Butter's not needed though. :)
This cake looks amazing. The cut piece looks really clean, I can't never get my peaces to look like that!! I love carrot cake. It is not something that I made regularly but now that I have seen yours I should make it again. I have never seen Greek yogurt on frosting, very cleaver. I am using this frosting recipe for my next needed cake or cupcakes, I love it!!
(Good) carrot cake is my favorite! I still haven't found THE one yet. The best I've ever had is sold in this little cafe about a 3 hour drive away..a trip I don't mind making sometimes it's that good. I'm so happy you posted a whole grain one. I can't wait to make it!
Cassie – Thank you! And dreamy? That's a new one. It gave me a huge smile. :)
Rachel – What?! You need to make some carrot cake. It's good stuff, especially if it's covered in cream cheese frosting. I went light with it in this one, but you have to drown the cake in the stuff to get the full experience. And use regular cream cheese frosting too! Your kids have to experience the "real" thing. :)
Nora – I guess de-glutenizing it would be quite difficult. I feel bad when I post a recipe that you can't make. :(
Caroline – Uh oh, I guess I should be kind of nervous. I LOVE this cake, but if you've never found one you like as much as the bakeries, then I'm nervous. Everyone I've given some to has loved it, but they're not carrot cake experts like you are. I hope you like it!
Melinda – Hi and thank you! It's always great to hear from new readers. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like what you're finding. :)
Becca – Yeah, I think so too! I'm happy you like the photos. I won't mention how long it took to get that first photo. I went through tons of backgrounds and it turns out that white is always better. I've learned my lesson. No more trying to be creative!
I assume carrot cake is associated with Easter because the Easter Bunny eats carrots…. That's the only reason I can come up with.
I don't like carrot cake (or carrots in general), but I like your photos; they're beautiful :)
Hi Becca! Just happened to come onto this "amazing" site and started to look at everything(makes me hungry) and read a lot of what is here. My Carrot Cake is probably the one and only thing in my life that I am good at!!! EXAMPLE: Where I used to work, we would do a fundraiser for a charity that raised money to buy toys for children for Christmas time. This charity made sure all children were looked after! Anyways, where I worked, was in an old house, and each year I had to make more and more cakes, so I just stayed at work, OVERNIGHT and kept baking. The last year that I made the cakes, I had to do a cut off at 115 cakes. People who bought often, would pay double price if they could get two batches of icing on the cake, instead of one…I thought this was wild! If you ever want the receipe, just let me know, and with this receipe, it is not just the ingredients….there are a couple of "must do tips" as well. All the best, Cheryl
Please send you’re recipe to me!!!
I would LOVE to have your recipe please!!!
Please may I have your recipe .. Thanks
Just stumbled upon your blog – love all your recipes!! This carrot cake looks fantastic. Love the use of greek yogurt in the frosting!
Carrot cake is my all time favorite cake ever. I've never found a recipe that I liked as much as some of the ones from bakeries. I must try this one! :D
OH MY!!! This is beautiful!!!! I LOVEEEEEEEEE carrot cake so I just need to de-glutenize it!!! Fabulous job :)
I maybe have had a piece once or twice in my life but can't for the life of me remember what it tastes like. I'm all for hiding veggies if they can't be tasted ;) Bonus if it's in sweets.
I love carrots, I love carrot cake, I love cream cheese frosting, I love whole grains…I'll stop now. This looks and sounds dreamy! Gorgeous, too!