After spending my entire three-week Winter Break sinking my teeth into every single dessert I saw—sugar cookies, hazelnut cake, raspberry truffles, and more—I decided to skip all sweets as my New Year’s Resolution during my sophomore year of college. Yes, I now bake and blog as a living… And I enjoy a small treat once, twice, or sometimes three times a day. But that holiday season, my sweet tooth completely spiraled out of control!
That year, I originally challenged myself to shoot for just one quarter—10 weeks, plus another week of finals—without dessert. After those three months passed, resisting treats basically became second nature, so I decided to continue and see if I could go the entire year without a single dessert.
For the record… Dark chocolate does NOT count as dessert. Just like your 8 glasses of water, a small square or two is a daily necessity!
The weekend my birthday rolled around in late June, I had to leave town for a few days. When I returned, I opened my apartment door and found bright purple and yellow crêpe paper strung all around the living room and hanging from the ceiling fan. Matching balloons came flying around the corner, closely followed by my two roommates shouting, “Happy birthday!!”
They handed me tissue paper-filled gift bags and brought out a large homemade sheet cake on our biggest cutting board from the kitchen. “We know you aren’t eating dessert,” the girls explained. “But we still wanted you to be able to make a birthday wish and blow out candles!” After setting down the cake on the coffee table, the three of us knelt down on the carpet with a packet of matches, carefully avoiding the temperamental smoke detector, and began my little birthday celebration.
Since they knew I wouldn’t sneak even a teensy tiny bite, the ladies elected against my preferred fudgy chocolate cake and baked their favorite flavor instead: carrot cake. They followed the directions for a boxed spice cake mix and simply added freshly grated carrots, but they happily finished it off in my honor over the next few days. Now whenever I eat carrot cake, I think of those girls!
My lightened Classic Clean-Eating Carrot Cake is much healthier but still just as easy as their doctored box mix version! Saturated with spices and topped with a generous layer of sweet vanilla ricotta frosting, each large square elicits memories of big church potlucks or decadent Easter feasts, grandma’s famous baking or special family dinners. This simple recipe will immediately win you over, convincing you that carrots are your favorite vegetable and cake is the best way to eat them!
Because I turned to melted coconut oil instead of creaming butter and sugar, there’s absolutely no need for a mixer. Just grab your favorite sturdy spoon or fork and stir! I know, I know… You probably think I’m crazy, adding coconut oil to a classic carrot cake recipe. But I promise you can’t taste the coconut! Its flavor is completely masked by maple syrup and plenty of spices. You’ll use both cinnamon and nutmeg; the latter adds a subtle depth and really helps the cinnamon’s warmth shine.
Like many of my other cake and cupcake recipes, this low-fat one only requires 1 tablespoon of oil. Instead, the majority of the cake’s tender texture comes from Greek yogurt. As a true powerhouse in healthier baking, it contributes lots of moisture while lowering the fat and calories. Bonus: Greek yogurt adds a little extra protein too!
Now for the star of the show… The carrots! Pack in as many as you can: the more the merrier. I mixed in a whopping 2 cups, but if you accidentally measure a little more, go ahead and add in the extra too. Make sure you use freshly grated carrots. Avoid the pre-shredded ones available in the produce section because those are dry and crunchy. Freshly grated carrots contain more moisture and natural juices, which they release as the cake bakes and make it unbelievably moist. Because of that, be sure to spray the pan really well to prevent the cake’s bottom from sticking!
Tip: Grate the carrots using a food processor with a grater attachment to speed up the process!
The frosting is laughably easy to make. Just mix the 4 ingredients together in a bowl with a fork! Do NOT use an electric or stand mixer because those would over-beat the frosting, resulting it a thin runny texture. Unlike cream cheese, ricotta has less of a “cheesy” taste, so this frosting actually tastes more like vanilla than cheese as written. Feel free to adjust the vanilla extract according to your tastes.
Ricotta also contains a grainier texture than cream cheese, so right after mixing the ingredients together, the frosting feels rather grainy on the tongue. As it rests, the graininess gradually fades. I found it best to frost the cake at least 1-2 hours before slicing and serving to really reduce that grainy texture.
Pure veggie dessert bliss.
Loaded with soft carrots and warm spices, this skinny Classic Carrot Cake carries all of the comforting flavors your childhood favorite but none of the guilt of typical oil-laden recipes. Its supremely moist texture draws you back bite after bite… I should know—I ate three slices the day I photographed this cake! One as an after-lunch dessert, another as post-dinner treat, and the third as an I’m-still-hungry-and-craving-something-sweet-as-a-midnight-snack just before bedtime.
Yup, it’s that addictive! Even the Easter Bunny would agree. ♥
| Healthy Classic Carrot Cake | | Print |
- for the cake
- 1 ½ cups (180g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120mL) pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup (60mL) nonfat milk
- 2 cups (180g) freshly grated carrots (about 3 medium, peeled first!)
- for the frosting
- 8 oz (227g) nonfat ricotta cheese
- 3 tbsp (45g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp (30mL) agave
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and coat a 9”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- To prepare the cake, whisk together the flour and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the maple syrup and Greek yogurt, thoroughly mixing until no large clumps remain. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, stirring just until incorporated, beginning and ending with the flour. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts and the milk in 2 equal parts.) Fold in the carrots.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, and bake at 350°F for 28-31 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Cool completely to room temperature before frosting.
- To prepare the frosting, stir together the ricotta cheese, Greek yogurt, agave, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Spread on top of the cooled cake. Let the frosting set for 1-2 hours before slicing and serving.
White whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the regular whole wheat flour.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the pure maple syrup in the cake batter.
Pure maple syrup or honey may be substituted for the agave in the frosting.
As written, the frosting tastes more like vanilla than cheese, so adjust the amount of vanilla to suit your tastes.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
Could this be made into cupcakes? What would the bake time be?
Yes! I’ve actually done that already, and you can find my carrot cake cupcake recipe here. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of them Jessica!
This is such a great recipe! Thank you so much for sharing this! I’ve made this twice actually, one last weekend and one back in 2014. Now that I’m keto, I am hoping to make this lower carb. Can this be made with Almond flour? If so how much?
PS the one I made last weekend I used Agave instead of Maple syrup if anyone is ever looking at trying that, it was still super yummy!
Thank you Amy!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying this carrot cake Christine! That means a lot to me that you’ve already made it twice. 🙂 Yes, almond flour should work! The carrot cake may turn out slightly denser (gluten is what makes baked goods hold their shape and structure after they’ve risen in the oven!), but the flavor will remain the same. I can’t wait to hear how that substitution turns out for you! 🙂
Hey Amy! I did end up trying almond flour, I used 3 cups of it plus 1tbls of flax seed, it still turned out really good! More moist than the originally recipe because of the flour but still yummy!
Thanks for such a delicious recipe!
Yay!! I’m so glad it turned out well Christine! Thanks for taking the time to let me know — I truly appreciate it! 🙂
Hello, Looks yummy. i want to make this cake for my daughters 4th birthday. she wants a carrot cake and she wants it in a ladybug shape. instead of 9inch pan can i use a 2qt pyrex bowl?
thank you
I’m so honored that you’d want to make this recipe for such a special occasion, Lise! That means a lot to me! I’ve never tried baking in a pyrex bowl before, so I don’t personally know how that would turn out. I don’t want to lead you astray! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try this carrot cake recipe!
Hello,
Yay. 🙂 The carrot cake turned out awesome!! I used 1 1/2 cup wheat pastry flour instead of just whole wheat as mentioned somewhere on your site as an ok flour to use.
I added a big heaping half cup of chopped walnuts mixed with raisins at the same time as I added the carrots.
The 2 quart Pyrex bowl worked awesomely. I sprayed the bowl with cooking oil spray, poured the batter in the instead of putting the oven at 350, I put it at 325. I checked it after 30 minutes and it was perfect!
The whole family loved it and my 4 year old daughters loved it too. I shaped it into a ladybug shape and used berries to dye the icing. Thank you. 🙂
I’m SO glad everyone loved the cake, Lise!! I wish I could’ve seen your ladybug cake. It sounded so cute — especially the berry-dyed frosting! (Fun story… My dad occasionally let me pick out the tie he work to work when I was about your daughter’s age, and I always picked out the one with a single ladybug on the front!) 🙂 I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating your daughter’s birthday!
Could I sub the Greek yogurt for coconut yogurt?
In the cake batter, yes! That should be fine. If your coconut yogurt isn’t as thick as Greek yogurt, then it may make the frosting a bit runny. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this carrot cake Maranda!
The recipe turned out great! I used Almond milk instead of regular milk and Coconut yogurt instead of Greek. I found one brand of coconut yogurt that has the same consistency as Greek. Its called CoYo and it worked like a charm. =) I did not make the frosting, but I will next time. Love this recipe. We used this recipe for our wedding cake. =) Thank you. Its so hard to find recipes that call or sweetener that isn’t cane sugar.
OH MY GOODNESS!! I had no idea you were going to use this for your wedding cake — WOW!!! I’m truly honored that you’d want to use my recipe to celebrate such a special occasion! Your comment completely made my day — thank you!!! 🙂 Congratulations as well!! I’m really glad that the almond milk and coconut yogurt substitutions worked. That’s really great to know about CoYo; I haven’t heard of that bran before! I need to try to find it! 🙂
Can you substitute the ricotta cheese for cream cheese in the frosting?
Yes, that’s fine! Just make sure it’s well softened first. I can’t wait to hear what you think of this carrot cake Carolina! 🙂
Interested in making this but was wondering if the maple syrup could be substituted with a non-liquid sweetener?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Ashleigh! What’s the sweetener that you have in mind? 🙂
Hi Amy.. sending you love from Ireland!! My family recently went sugar-free and I just made this cake for them and turned out great. I was afraid it wouldn’t turn good due to differences in the ingredients. I substituted liquid sweetener for maple syrup and used pre-made wheat free flour from the health shop. This cake is so moist and delicious!
Thank you so much for this recipe.
I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed this cake Mia! That means a lot to me. Thanks for taking the time to let me know! 🙂 I really appreciate you including your recipe modifications too — I always love hearing what tweaks work!