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
Do you have this recipe with weighted measurements instead of volume? I’d prefer to use my scale vs my measuring cups to keep things consistent.
I’m honored that you’d like to try my recipe, Jill! I just updated the recipe. I’m trying to go back and add the metric measurements to my older recipes, but because I’ve shared 1200+ recipe on my blog, it’s taking a bit of time to do! 😉 I’d love to hear what you think of this carrot cake if you try making it!
Wonderful. Thank you! I’ll be making this this weekend. I can’t wait 😊
It’s my pleasure, Jill! I’m really excited to hear how it goes! 🙂
I made this cake this morning along with the fudgy chocolate cake (will post my review on its own page). This carrot cake was SO good! It felt great knowing that it was a healthier recipe. I did use a different frosting recipe though, one which used a little bit of cream cheese. The chocolate cake was so healthy that I felt I had to put a little bit of “extra” in this one to balance it out. I will be following the frosting recipe shown here the next time I make it. Everyone praised how great the cake was!
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed this carrot cake, Jill! Thank you for taking the time to let me know — that really means a lot to me! 🙂
What adjustments should I make if I use sucralose as sugar for the cupcakes?
It means a lot that you’d like to try another one of my recipes, Rhodieleen! Are you planning on making these carrot cake cupcakes of mine? Or these ones?
How much sucralose granulated sugar should I put in place of the maple syrup and how much shouls I reduce the milk?
Oh sorry I meant carrot cake for this recipe
Thanks for clarifying, Rhodieleen! I actually don’t recommend that substitution in this carrot cake recipe. This is because pan sizes can actually greatly affect how recipes turn out, especially ones made with no-calorie sweeteners instead of sugar, maple syrup, honey, etc. With sucralose-sweetened recipes, pans that are too long or wide will often result in sunken middles (including both square and round cake pans!). This is because the sweetener molecules in maple syrup and sugar actually contribute to the structure of loaves and cakes, not just sweetness… So recipes sweetened with sucralose (or stevia or many other no-calorie sweeteners!) will lack that structural component because their molecules are very different, and if the pans are too wide or too long, the loaves and cakes will sink. (Unfortunately, I’ve learned this from personal experience when I’ve tried using no-calorie sweeteners in cake recipes baked in square pans, round pans, and 9×13″ pans! 😉 )
However, if you’d like to make cupcakes instead of a cake, sucralose would work as a sweetener for that! This is because cupcakes aren’t nearly as wide compared to square or circular cake pans, so they don’t depend on the structural component of the sweetener as much.
This looks so good! DO you use this frosting for any other recipes?
You’re so kind, Suzanne – thank you! I haven’t used this exact frosting for any of my other cake or cupcake recipes, but you definitely could, if you’d like. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of it (and the cake too!) if you try making this recipe!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
I’ve actually covered this exact question in the text directly underneath the recipe title in the recipe box! I know it can be easy to miss. 😉 I’d love to hear what you think of this carrot cake if you try making it, Vanessa!
Is there a good substitute for the egg? I’m hoping to make this recipe vegan. Thank you!
Yes! My brother is actually allergic to eggs, and Ener-G is my favorite substitute. Ener-G is a shelf-stable powder that keeps for ages. It works perfectly as an egg replacer in nearly all of my recipes, including this one! For my recipes, use 1 ½ teaspoons Ener-G + 2 tablespoons warm water for each egg white, and you’ll need an additional ½ tablespoon of butter or coconut oil {or Earth Balance, if you’re vegan!} for each egg yolk. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this carrot cake if you try making it, Kayley!
Hey Amy, this recipe looks great. Can I use honey instead of syrup?
Yes! Honey can be substituted in place of the pure maple syrup. I can’t wait to hear what you think of this carrot cake! 🙂
Thank you! I’ll let you know as soon as I make it. 😊
It’s my pleasure! I’m looking forward to it! 🙂