This post may contain affiliate links. Click here for my affiliate disclosure. If you purchase items through my affiliate links, I receive a small commission but your price doesn't change.
This carrot cake has quickly become one of my favorite recipes to date, no joke (haha…get it? Happy April Fool’s Day, everyone!). I’ve been doing more baking with oat flour lately. Why not? It’s cheap and can be made at home by simply grinding up uncooked oatmeal. I do this in my coffee grinder, but I’ve heard that a blender can do a good job as well. Oat flour lends a nice, moist texture to baked goods, which fits the carrot cake’s persona perfectly.
This carrot cake is the perfect blend of flavors: carrot, a little ginger, cinnamon, and some cream cheese perfection on top. I even added a small amount of toasted coconut flakes on top for texture. This would make a great dessert for Easter, or any spring party, really.
This carrot cake is actually based off of a banana cake recipe I made a few weeks ago but still haven’t posted. That recipe was based off a banana donut recipe I made a few weeks before that (but also still have not posted). So many recipes, so little time. And I like to make the goodness last as long as possible, ya know? That way if I ever run out of inspiration I have some recipes to back me up until the creative juices start flowing again. Not like that’s happened yet, but we should always be prepared, right? Just so you know, the banana donut recipe will be coming out in about two weeks, unless I experience a change of plans. The banana cake, sometime after that. So that’s what you have to look forward to…
But back to carrot cake, because that’s what we’re talking about today. It’s perfectly sweetened with a lovely flavor. It takes no funky flours and it’s cheap. Me like. The only “special” ingredient that this carrot cake takes is a low-glycemic sweetener. If you’re into healthy baking at all I’m sure you have it on hand already – if not the kind I use, then another one that can be substituted (you can check out this sweetener conversion chart for help converting). I use THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder for most of my sweetening needs. Lots of stevia extract powders have weird aftertastes, but this one tastes a-maz-ing. Remember: with stevia, less is way, way more. You can purchase the sweetener I use from the Trim Healthy Mama online store. They also carry lots of other great products like whey protein powder, oat fiber, and defatted peanut flour. Top quality stuff, right there.
This carrot cake is so good that I would take it to a party. Yeah, a non-health-food party. There are some healthy desserts that you kind of have to acquire a taste for, but this one tastes relatively normal in my opinion. The sweetness levels have a lot to do with that (refer to stevia spiel above), and oat flour does a pretty good job of creating a nice texture. And unlike a lot of healthy desserts that use flours such as almond and coconut, this dessert actually tastes best the day it’s made!
Trim Healthy Mamas (you can click here for my quick synopsis on the plan), this is an E dessert. We need more of those around, right? This carrot cake uses healthy carbs but keeps the fats pulled back so we don’t create a fuel collision. Don’t let the cream cheese throw you for a loop; the cream cheese frosting uses a small amount of reduced-fat cream cheese, which (if you stay within the serving size) is well within THM:E guidelines (5 grams of fat or less per serving). I even had some wiggle room to add a small amount of toasted coconut on top for some texture! I used Let’s Do Organic’s low-fat variety, but you could use a small amount of regular unsweetened coconut flakes.
Question of the day (comment below): what’s your traditional Easter dessert?
You can snag my “official” pin for this recipe off of my THM Desserts board here.
Click here to see more E dessert recipes!
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- ½ cup egg whites (the carton kind works great)
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 T lemon juice
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 cup finely-grated carrot
- 1¾ cup oat flour (ground-up oats; use gluten free if necessary)
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 6 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (a doonk is 1/32 tsp.)
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. ginger (you may decrease this amount, if desired)
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 3 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
- 2 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- Dash vanilla extract
- 2 T unsweetened almond milk
- Small amount of toasted unsweetened coconut flakes for garnish, optional (I used the Let's Do Organic Reduced-Fat Finely-Shredded variety)
- Beat together the egg whites, unsweetened applesauce, lemon juice, water, and finely-grated carrot. Add the dry ingredients, baking powder and soda last, and beat until combined. Pour into a well-greased 9-inch cake pan and bake at 350 degrees F for about 19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out cleanly and the center is not mushy but still quite moist. Let the cake set in the pan for a few minutes, then take it out of the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate to chill completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting, combine all the frosting ingredients and spread onto the chilled cake. Top with a small amount of toasted unsweetened coconut flakes (a low-fat variety works great) for garnish, if desired. Store cake in the refrigerator. The flavors of the cake are best the day of baking, but it will keep for a few days and still be good. Serves 8-10.
- Trim Healthy Mamas, if you keep within the serving size, the fat from the cream cheese will be well within THM:E guidelines (5 grams of fat/serving or less).
Suggested products:
- I used these finely-shredded low-fat coconut flakes to garnish my carrot cake.
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder can be purchased from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
When you say “doonk” do you mean “rounded doonk?”
This is a really old recipe and most people like more sweetener than I do, so please just sweeten to taste. 🙂 That way you know you’ll like it.
Have you tried making cupcakes with this recipe?
No, this is a fairly flat cake – more like carrot cake bars – so it probably wouldn’t be the best candidate. 🙂
Brianna,
I think you are SO amazing! That’s an aside, btw. I am looking to make this cake for my birthday and was curious….did you even try using the baking blend? Why or why not? Just wondering how that would work since you’re the recipe-creating-genius and I am not! LOL Thank you for posting such wonderful, REAL food recipes. You make being a THM so much more enjoyable!
Hi Janet! I haven’t tried using Baking Blend in this recipe because I wanted to use oat flour since it’s more budget-friendly. 🙂 Baking Blend is drier than oat flour and soaks up more liquid, so if you try it in this recipe, you’ll need to use a little less than the oat flour called for.
Just making sure you know, this is a pretty flat cake, not really a fluffy birthday cake type of cake. 😉 You may want to check out this recipe from MamaShire if you want a more traditional 2 layer cake >> https://mamashire.com/gluten-free-dairy-free-carrot-cake/
I have this 2 layer E version as well >> https://www.briana-thomas.com/carrot-cake/
We have made this three or four times and it has always turned out great. My five year old is picky but even sometimes she likes it ? My two year old will ask me to make it since she likes it so much.
I would like to make it this for a potluck and am thinking I’d double it. At double it should bake ok in a 9 x 13? Anything I should be aware of when doubling it? (I am inexperienced…)
I think that should work fine! A triple batch may be even better to make it just a little thicker. (You may need to bake it longer, though.) I’m so glad you like it!
Hi there! So excited to try this for Easter! I’m not a huge fan of the taste of any stevia- even THM :-/
Am I crazy to try gentle sweet or super sweet blend? Which do u think would be better to try to sub for the stevia? Thanks!!
Not crazy at all! Either should work just fine. This sweetener conversion chart may be helpful, but always taste and adjust to your own preferences: http://www.trimhealthymama.com/main-home/sweetener-conversion-chart/
I was wondering if you could use all purpose flour instead of Oatmeal flour and also use splenda instead of the Stevie powder?
You’re welcome to try, but you may have to adjust flour amounts due to the different absorbencies of the flour. I haven’t used all-purpose flour for awhile, and I’m not sure if it would work or not. I advise you to find a regular carrot cake recipe if you’re planning to use all-purpose flour. 🙂 Yes, you could use Splenda (to taste), but you’ll need to add a lot more since stevia powder is super concentrated.
This looks so good but I would have to use something other than the almond milk for the frosting since my husband has a nut allergy. I know if I subbed milk, I would want something pretty low fat. Has anyone used skim milk in place of the almond milk for the frosting? Or would half and half be a better choice? ( I checked and half and half has the same amount of fat as almond milk..) I would not be including the coconut since his nut allergy includes coconuts.
Either of those options would be fine. 🙂
Hi – great recipe! I was wondering if you could use eggs instead of egg whites if one does not care about the fat content. Is that the only reason or would it not be as fluffy if I did that. Thanks!
Huge fan,
Marla
Hi Marla! I haven’t tried using whole eggs, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work!
Could you add walnuts to this? Or is that a no no? Just curious and I am a newbie to THM!
You could add a small amount, but since this is an E dessert you want to stay under 5 grams of added fats per serving (assuming you want to avoid a crossover, that is). Since the frosting already contains a small amount of fat from the reduced-fat cream cheese, you’d have to keep your walnut addition to just a sprinkling. 🙂
thank you so much for making so many desserts with oat flour. it makes it easy to buy and make because it is cheap and i dont have to buy any special products. i hope you dont stop
I made this cake last evening for my husband & I. Before THM we always ate apple cake with whipped cream & Butter Sauce in the fall. I was misding it so I added chopped apples instead of carrots, and made the butter sauce with xylitol. It was a Crossover, but this cake mimicked the real deal. It was amazing and my husband said it was better than his mothers ‘unhealthy ‘ recipe.
Awesome! That is a wonderful idea…thanks for sharing!
I wonder if this could be “simplified” with the new baking blend that you created a little bit ago?
This recipe only calls for one flour, so using the Baking Mix wouldn’t really simplify anything. 🙂 I try not to use the Baking Mix in an E setting if I can help it because it contains THM:S ingredients (although it can fit with FP or E numbers-wise if you stay with a 1/4 cup serving). You can always feel free to try substituting if you’d like, though! You’d need less Baking Mix than oat flour.
Do you have a recipe (or idea) about how to make your own apple sauce?
Hi Cathy! I don’t have a recipe, but I’m sure there are tons all over the internet. We usually cook our apples down until they’re soft, then run them through a Victorio strainer to make sauce. We make it witih Granny Smith apples and don’t even put sweetener in it (we like tart applesauce).
I absolutely LOVE this cake! And the fact that it’s an E makes me so happy! 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much, Rose! I’m so glad you like it.
Hi, Thanks for the recipe. Carrot cake is my dh favorite.
When I made it , it was very gummy. Did this ever happen to yours? The toothpick came out clean. Wondering if not cooked enough or too much oatflour.
Any ideas?
TIA
Barbara
Things baked with oat flour do tend to be more on the gummy than fluffy side, but I wouldn’t have described mine as very gummy. Maybe try baking a little longer next time and see if that helps it out. 🙂
This happened with mine as well, it was a bit gummy but I am glad for your suggestions, I think next time I will bake longer. Overall it was pretty good. Thanks for the recipe!
How much Truvia do you think this recipe would take? I haven’t bought the THM sweetener yet.
This sweetener conversion chart will help you out: http://www.trimhealthymama.com/main-home/sweetener-conversion-chart/