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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I also baked this on Easter Sunday. Everyone loved it, especially my German husband 😉
Thank you for the recipe!
Haha. Happy your German enjoyed it. ;) Thanks again for your feedback!
Do you know if I can use almond flour instead? I cant eat gluten so was wondering. Thanks!
You can’t but I have a super delicious paleo carrot cake recipe that uses almond + coconut flour. :)
Thanks will check it out :)
Hi! These sound delicious!
Would I be able to sub butter in place of oil?
Also I’m planning on making cupcakes, do you think this recipe will yield around 24?
Thank you!
Hi! I haven’t tried it but I think it’d work. But the cake would be less moist so I definitely recommend some kind of oil. :) And it will yield 24 cupcakes. Hope you’ll enjoy them!
Thank you! I’ll stick with oil.
Also, do you think I could sweeten the cream cheese- Greek yogurt frosting with maple syrup (as your other recipe does) instead of sugar, or would it be too runny? I could of course skip the yogurt, but it sounds like such a yummy addition!
I think it’d be too runny. Which recipe of mine uses maple syrup? I have so many I many I’ve started to forget. :D This one just uses maple, but it’s based on mascarpone and heavy cream. And it’d be amazing on this carrot cake!
Oh my word!! LOVE carrot cake and this heathier version. I will be making this with my scalloped potatoes for sure!
Woohoo! Hope you’ll enjoy it. :)
I found your website today while looking for a spelt carrot cake recipe. Made this and loved it! I halved the recipe and baked it in my cast iron skillet. I didn’t have regular Greek yogurt, so I subbed coconut Greek yogurt. It was amazing! I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes.
Awesome! I’m so happy that it came out well and cooking it in a cast iron skillet sounds like a great idea. Thanks for your comment. :)
Hey would love to try these, any substitute for applesauce?
Hi there! Oil should work. That’s what the original recipe used and I subbed applesauce for it. :) And sorry for my slow reply!
Thanks! Will make it today!
Awesome! Hope you’ll enjoy it. :)
Made these today, 5 stars for taste. I really don’t like too sweet desserts and this was great. Really like that the ingredients are simple and had half the sugar of other recipes I read. Made them as cupcakes, 22 total. Would have preferred they rise more but I’ve never had cupcakes rise well. Would try it again as a round cake and might add nuts. Thanks for including the grams, made measuring much easier. Also like the icing, used 3/4 cup sugar and can actually taste the cream cheese instead of store bought sugary stuff.
Hmm. That’s interesting about them rising. Were they still fluffy? I remember them being nice and fluffy as cupcakes, but I don’t remember exactly if they rose a lot. Either way, I’m so happy that you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for your comment. :)
This recipe was a bit of a disaster! I checked and rechecked the amounts but my batter was waaaay too wet. No way these would be done baking in the timeframe given as a cake (I did cupcakes and still had to bake longer). I added more flour to second batch to help remedy them. It also seems like way too much oil, as the cupcake papers ended up saturated in oil. Good flavor though.
I’m sorry it didn’t work out! If you click on “older comments” at the bottom of the page, you’ll find several reviews and they’ve all been positive. I’m afraid something must have gone wrong. They definitely shouldn’t be oily! Did you make any changes or subs at all to the recipe?
Made these as cupcakes this morning and they turned out incredible! The flavor is fantastic and the texture is awesome! They are moist yet light. The flavor reminds me a lot of Morning Glory muffins, which are my favorites but I have never found a good recipe for them. The only things I did differently was adding some vanilla because I love vanilla and adding one tsp baking powder for extra fluffiness. I am so glad to have found this recipe. My son loves it as much as my banana muffins and thus far those have been undefeated favorites. Thanks for a wholesome alternative to the traditional cake. Serving these with cream cheese frosting on Easter and I don’t think anyone will miss the sugar. Excellent job!
Thanks so much! I’m so happy that they worked out well as cupcakes for you and that you’ll be making them again for Easter. I’ll have to try these with extra baking powder and see how they are! Thanks a bunch for your thoughtful comment. :)
Hey! This looks amazing and I am thinking of making it for Easter. I always want to use whole wheat flour in cake but have found that it requires a recipe intended to be that way for it to turn out well. So I am really excited to try this. I was wondering if you have any idea how many cupcakes this might make? I look forward to making it and letting you know how it turns out.
It’ll make 24 cupcakes (each mold filled 3/4 full). Bake for 12-18 minutes. :) I hope you’ll enjoy them!
Hi, I just had a couple of questions… I read above that you think I could substitute coconut oil, no problem? And if I wanted to make a slightly bigger cake, would you recommend 2 x 9″ square pans? Also… approximately how many cups of grated carrot do I need? I’ve been looking all over the internet for a yummy, slightly healithier carrot cake recipe for Easter (yes, Easter=bunny=carrots=carrot cake for me!) and I’m really excited to give yours a try!
I haven’t tried it so I can’t guarantee it but I’m pretty sure coconut oil would work fine. :) You could use two 9″ pans and bake them for about 30-40 minutes. Cool 15 minutes and then turn out onto cooling racks. And that’s about 3 cups of carrots. Hope you’ll enjoy the cake! :)
Honestly the best carrot cake!!! A bit too sweet for me but perfect. Unfortunately i put al the mixture in one big pan and when i tried to cut in halves I realised that it was still uncooked in the middle :( i baked it for only 30-35 mins. I believe next time i will have to bake it for 45-50 m.
I did use a toothpick but i guess i didnt push it all the way down !!!
Still the cooked pieces are perfect! 10 stars for it!! May i ask if we can use coconut oil instead??
Thank you!!
Oh no! I hope next time will work better. :) What size pan did you use? I think you’d have to use a very large pan for the full recipe! I haven’t tried it but I’m pretty sure coconut oil would work fine. :) Thanks so much for your comment!
hello! yes, it was a big one :)
I slightly changed the frosting, so I used just the cream cheese and 3 TBS of honey. Few lemon drops as well.
P.S: kind request:Please make us a marble cake !
I’m happy that the cream cheese came out well with so little honey! That’s great. I’m sorry to say that I’m not so sure about a marble cake. I don’t have any vanilla flavored cakes on here because they’re hard to make healthy and taste good. I’ll keep it in mind, though. :)
You nailed it, girl! The best I’ve ever made. I halved the recipe, added 1/2 c. drained crush pineapple, and baked it as a thin, one layer cake in rectangular glass pan (25 min. on 325) Used regular cream cheese icing recipe w/ 1/2 tsp. orange extract added. Divine!!
Thank you for the recipe. My baking usually does not end up this scrumptious!
The little clock for comments is wrong. I submitted this around 8 pm, not 2 AM!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed it and that the added pineapple worked out well! Thanks for sharing the baking time and pan size. I’ll have to try that! Thanks a bunch for your comment. :) And the time you see is my time. I currently live in Germany. Sorry for the confusion!
Hi! I am interested in trying out this recipe to make for my family but the problem is that we are sugar free. Seeing that this has a cup of sugar in it, i was wondering how could i replace that with something more natural or even and artificial sweetener. plz help!
Hi! You could use raw sugar but I don’t use artificial sweeteners so I can’t help you there. I reduced the sugar quite a bit already from the original recipe and I don’t recommend reducing it even more.
Made this for my hubby’s birthday and he LOVED it. It made a nice treat for my severely diabetic father-in-law too. AND my sister-in-law made white-flour-full-sugar carrot cake at Thanksgiving and my hubby says this one’s much better! ;)
This recipe is so good!! And as healthy as carrot cake can get! I used the normal grater on my food processor (because I can’t figure out the fine grater attachment!) I also added 1/2 cup of walnuts and 1/4 cup of raisins. It may have been a touch dry with the added ingredients. I’m wondering what would happen if I doubled the applesauce (and cut back on the sugar). I also baked this in a 9 x 9 x 2 baking dish for about 35 mins! The frosting is perfect!
I’m so happy that you enjoyed it! This cake definitely shouldn’t be at all dry so maybe reduce the added ingredients next time. :) I wouldn’t recommend doubling the applesauce. It’d make the cake less moist (since you’re reducing the amount of sugar and sugar adds moisture and creates a nice texture). And then you’d have to figure out how to reduce the other liquid (since you’re adding liquid in the applesauce). And it’s great to know it fits a 9×9 well! Thanks a bunch for your feedback. :)
Dear Erin, I have never commented on any on your recipes before, I am more of a secret admirer type of person :D but I absolutely have to do it now. This cake is incredibly soft, moist, fragrant and delicious. I made it for my husband yesterday, changed nothing, just added some blueberries and bananas and we both loved it. Thank you so much for your hard work and all wonderful recipes (your GF chocolate muffins are the love of my life :)). Have a happy summer <3
Hi Sasha! Thanks so much for your nice comment. :) I’m happy to hear that you liked the cake and the chocolate muffins! Your blueberry and banana addition sound nice! I’ll have to try that. Thanks again for your comment and happy summer to you, too!
Hiiiii , I have a question what can I put instead of the apple sauce ???
Hi there! The recipe I adapted my recipe from (I link to it at the bottom of the recipe) uses 2 cups granulated sugar and 1 1/4 cups canola oil so you could do that instead of the amount of sugar, applesauce and oil I list in my recipe. Enjoy! :)
Can I use raw honey instead of sugar? If yes then does the quantity remain the same as sugar or can we alter it?
Sorry for my slow reply! Subbing honey or any liquid sweetener for sugar can be tricky. The original recipe (I link to it at the bottom of the recipe) uses 2 cups of sugar and I reduced that to 1 cup and added 3/4 cup applesauce (I also reduced the oil). If I were you, I’d try 1/2 cup honey and 1/3 cup sugar, though I haven’t tried it so I can’t say if it’d work well. Using only honey would require adjustments to the liquids and since I haven’t tried it, I have no idea what they’d be here. Sorry about that! I hope you’ll enjoy the cake if you try it. :)
did you use plain regular applesace or the type with cìnnamo?
I used regular unsweetened applesauce but sweetened works as well. And if you have applesauce with cinnamon, I’m sure that’d be fine, too. :)