With this healthy carrot cake recipe, now you can keep up your clean eating lifestyle and still eat your cake, too! This is the perfect light dessert for Spring!
Alright, peeps. We've hit carrot cake gold up in here.
Clean. Healthy. Carrot. Cake. Gold.
Yep, and it's amaaaaazing.
Now, to be honest, I'm not a huge cake person.
Sure, I'll enjoy a cheesecake now and again, a birthday cake...maybe.
But I don't tend to eat much cake.
Instead, I prefer sweet breads, pudding, these chocolate peanut butter cups, and little coconut bites for my sweets.
Out of all the cakes, though, carrot cake is my fave.
There's something about the earthy, naturally sweet flavors of the carrots mixed with the warm cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves that I find really delicious and almost comforting. It's like a combo of Winter flavors with Spring produce.
And, now that I think about it, it reminds me of being a kid again.
Alas, being a kid and eating cake is A LOT different than being an adult and eating cake.
Cue the collective [adult] sigh.
As a kid, you don't really care about calories or sugar or even gaining weight. You don't look at cake as something evil or harmful.
As a kid, cake is cake, ya know?
As an adult, however, there's a lot more baggage when we have cake. There's the guilt, pleasure, flavors, textures, weight loss goals, macros, and all the in-between.
Yep, I think "baggage" pretty much sums this up nicely.
That's why I love love LOVE this healthy carrot cake recipe.
Now, you can enjoy the cake as if you were a kid, maintain your healthy lifestyle, and not feel guilty that you're not making a good choice.
This carrot cake recipe includes no refined sugars, no refined flours, no processed ingredients. Just pure and whole goodness in carrot cake form.
This, my friends, is one good choice.
Is Carrot Cake Healthy?
If you’ve ever wondered, “Is carrot cake healthy?” and “Are carrots really in carrot cake?” the answer to both is a resounding yes! (if you follow this recipe, that is).
This easy, healthy carrot cake recipe contains no refined sugars, no refined flours, and no processed ingredients. Now you can enjoy pure and whole goodness in carrot cake form. Plus, it’s a sneaky way for you to eat your veggies!
This, my friends, is one good choice.
Recipe Substitutions
- Gluten-Free: You can easily switch the whole wheat flour with a gluten-free alternative, such as arrowroot flour, almond flour, gluten-free all-purpose flour or tapioca flour to make a gluten-free carrot cake.
- Dairy-Free: You can swap out the Greek yogurt for coconut yogurt in the cake and frosting recipes.
- Raisins: These can be left out if you don't care for them, but they do add a bit of sweetness and moistness to the cake.
Healthy Carrot Cake Recipe
Equipment
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
For The Carrot Cake:
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ cup plain greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup plain unsweetened almond milk
- 2 cups carrots about 3 medium, grated
- ½ cup raisins
For The Frosting:
- 1 ½ cups plain greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and coat a 9x13 baking pan with coconut oil.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, ground cloves, and set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut oil, vanilla extract, pure maple syrup, greek yogurt, and almond milk.
- Add the wet to the dry and stir until just incorporated. If needed, you can add ¼ cup additional almond milk to loosen. The consistency should be thin enough to easily pour. See the photos or video in this post for more details.
- Fold in the carrots and raisins.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Depending on oven, this may take a little longer. ,
- Allow to cool completely to room temperature before frosting.
- To prepare the frosting, stir together the greek yogurt, pure maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Spread on top of the cooled cake.
- Let the frosting set for 1-2 hours before slicing and serving.
Thi To
Am I the only one found that it need 45 minutes in the oven rather 25 minutes? After 25 minutes it was wet and raw at the middle. Did I missed something? It smelled amazing though and the taste is there 💯
Lacey Baier
Were you using a 9x13 pan? I've retested this again, and it still just requires 25-30 minutes to be perfect.
Vic
I stumbled across your blog while looking for healthy carrot cakes - I had a few carrots in the fridge that were about to go bad. I really enjoyed reading about the different ingredients you tried during your tests, and learning about your journey to getting to this recipe. The way you then wrote the instructions for the recipe, with every step in simple language and in order, made it easy for me to follow, and not mess it up. The only thing I missed was the almond milk, which I replaced with coconut milk. My first carrot cake was a glorious success - I couldnt believe it myself! Moist, flavoursome and very aromatic. I'll be checking the rest of your recipes for sure. Keep it up!
Lacey Baier
Vic, you made my day with your comment. Thanks so much for the kind words. I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe!!
Claudia GR
Hello,
Will the frosting hold if I spread it between layers of cake? Or does this frosting start to melt at room temperature?
Lacey Baier
It's not quite thick enough to hold up, but I'm sure it would be tasty!
Sharon
My family loves this carrot cake. I haven't tried the yogurt frosting yet but I plan to do that when I make it the third time. The first time I made this, I didn't have the maple sryup. I substituted treacle. It came out great. I just made this again yesterday and put in a bundt pan. Sprayed the pan, and it came out without sticking. The cake was delicious both times, and I can't wait to make it again. Thanks for such a fantastic recipe.
Lacey Baier
Hooray! Thanks for letting me know how it went 🙂
Colleen
Best carrot cake ever! Better than the full fat and gluten version. Husband (who is a carrot cake lover) was highly impressed with this recipe. Do not omit/substitute anything This recipe is perfect as is. 🙂
Lacey Baier
Thank you so much!
Eesha
Unreal! Tastes just like a normal carrot cake and I can enjoy it without feeling like I’m eating something very unhealthy! Thanks for this amazing recipe! Even the frosting was great!
Lacey Baier
Woohoo!
Heather Proulx
Hi! I did a trial run of this cake today for my son's first birthday! It tastes sooo good! I forgot the melted coconut oil in the microwave (mom brain) but followed the rest of the recipe exactly. Surprisingly, it came out very moist, maybe too moist? I checked it with a toothpick and it came out clean so I'm wondering if it's cooked all the way or if it is just very moist and dense. Also, the top fell a little after I took it out of the oven. Is there any way to prevent that?
Thank you so much for this recipe! It's my new go to carrot cake recipe for everyone, not just baby, and I'm so excited I can eat it guilt free from time to time!
Lacey Baier
I'm guessing it was just slighlty undercooked when it fell. I actually haven't had that happen to mine ever.
Gloria Rojas
Lacey,
Congratulations for creating this recipe. I just tried it yesterday and it has been my best carrot cake EVER.
Eventough I had to replace maple syrup with brown sugar - the taste and texture is amazing.
I also loved the icing. I am looking forward to try this recipe again using the maple syrup.
Angela
How to replace maple syrup with brown sugar?
Linna
I have two stupid questions:
1. Is the pastry flour different from the regular whole wheat?
2. Do I have to keep the cake in the fridge because of the frosting?
Thank you ! First time baker 🙋🏻♀️
Helen Bucher
Please can I have the cup conversion as I am in uk
Lacey Baier
Thanks so much for letting me know how it went!
Lacey Baier
I'm so happy to hear it!!
Lakshmi
Just made this and it came out amazing! Not too sweet, but just enough to be satisfying! I skipped the frosting and it was still pretty delicious. I added some pecans to it as well and it was perfect!
Lacey Baier
I love the pecan addition!
Andi Houston
I made this tonight with a few changes- I had a small pile of carrots and zucchini to use up so I used both, and left out the almond milk because the zucchini has so much moisture, and increased the oil to 1/3 c. It turned out REALLY good. Highly recommend this recipe.
Beth Sobieszczyk
Made this for my daughters bday. You definitely need parchment rounds. I ran out of parchment so used cooking spray. It stuck big time. Luckily the icing recipe made for plenty of volume that I stuffed between the layers .tasted nice ut not like traditional carrot cake. I ended putting leftovers into containers and it tasted better all mixed up the next day. Won't make again because finicky but nice tasting.
Lou
Hello there, I was wondering if you could use oat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour?
Lacey Baier
I don't see why that wouldn't work!
Jinan
Hi,
I made this recipe and it Is delicious. My only concern was that the shredded carrots changed color after baking to green. Do you have any idea why? Thank you
Yive
It is the baking powder/baking soda reacting with the natural colour in the carrots - nothing to be of concern, just a little odd to look at!
Lacey Baier
That's just an unfortunate product of carrots sometimes, so it's best to enjoy them quickly!
Tina Giordanella
Hi there, I want to make this as a desert for a bbq I'm having this weekend but I don't like raisins. Do you think this will work just as well with semi-sweet chocolate chips?
Nalini
Incredibly fluffy and delicious. We ate it all before I could make the frosting.
Lacey Baier
Haha! Love it!!
Kim Heber-Percy
That looks fabulous. Does it freeze well? Thanks.
Cynthia
I make this with gluten free flour and added some baking powder and it was wonderful!
Serena
Good!
Renee
Delicious!!! Very easy to make. I didn’t care for the frosting very much but it was great without it.
jenn
does this cake need to be refrigerated since it has a yogurt frosting?
Janice
Could I bake this in a 9 inch round cake pan?
Bianca L Sanchez
Can you swap out Greek yogurt for dairy free yogurt?
Anne Morgan
2 substitution questions:
1. Can I sub apple sauce for the coconut oil?
2. Can I use 1/2 plus 1/3 cup plain regular yogurt instead of Greek yogurt and almond milk?
Thanks!
Jennifer
This is a forgiving recipe. I find many quick breads or cake recipes that have fruit or vegetable as a main ingredient are very flexible - banana bread, zucchini bread etc. The same holds true for carrots!
I made several substitutions because I didn't have maple syrup or almond milk on hand and I didn't have quite enough wheat flour. Raw clover honey instead of maple syrup, an extra egg instead of almond milk and I subbed out some of the wheat flour for coconut flour. Also cacao nibs instead of raisins because I despise raisins. It turned out great, extremely moist and your spice proportions were just right!
Thanks for the idea of putting Greek yogurt into carrot cake. You helped me turn something that would've gone to waste into something delicious.
PS, if you own a juicer, carrot cake turns out amazing when you juice the carrots and bake your cake with the pulp!
K
👍🏽Great suggestion to reuse the pulp!
Farhana Chowdhury
Hi can i substitute the whole wheat flour for gluten free flour? Will it turn out to still be soft and moist? Thanks
Nicole
Great recipe!! I made these for my son’s first birthday party. So tasty and no refined sugar for the littles!!
Maranda
What can you substitute for the yogurt? I am dairy free.
Carrie
Yummy! I didn't add raisins just because I prefer carrot cake without them. It was really good!
Doreen Fear
Great recipe! Made it for a family dinner and it was a big hit!
Moist, tasty cakw
Michelle
I made this yesterday and it turned out great, thank you for the recipe!
Ksenia
My bff absolutely loved it. Thank you for the recipe!
Shawnee
Can I use regular whole wheat flour for this or it will it totally mess it up? Couldn't find pastry 🙁
Nina Nichols
Amazing! I really didn't think it would turn out right, as so many 'healthy alternative' recipes are disappointing and I tend to think, eat the real thing and go for a run! But I saw the tip at the bottom about substituting protein powder for some of the flour, so I used a rough ratio of 1/3 cup protein powder, 1/3 cup buckwheat flour and the rest all purpose (in UK it's called Plain) flour. Also I didn't have any rasins so had to use cranberries but they really work.
Thank you 🙂
plasterers bristol
Yum, love carrot cake. never made it myself though, Thanks for posting sounds delcious. Simon
Caro
Not to be too critical about this but i'd love to see the not-healthy version of this cake! Looks delicious!
Mindy
Lacey,
This is the best carrot cake - healthy or not- that I have made! I did substitute a cream cheese frosting (80z. organic cream cheese with 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1 t. vanilla) instead of the yogurt frosting but will try the yogurt frosting soon. Anyway, everyone loved it and have requested that I make it again soon. Thanks so much for all your recipes - everything I've tried on your site has been a hit!