My junior year of high school, one of my best guy friends devised an elaborate plan to surprise his girlfriend for the anniversary, complete with roses, a fancy dinner, and a special dessert. Early in the afternoon of their date night, I went with him to the mall to pick up the sweet treat: a giant chocolate chip cookie cake from Mrs. Fields.
That was the first time I had ever seen or heard of a cookie cake. I thought there were just cookies… and cake… separate. But as soon as I peeked inside of the big red box at the oversized cookie staring up at me with frosting piped around the rim, I fell in love. So many chocolate chips! And that humongous gooey center!
I started asking for cookie cakes for nearly every occasion after that: the spring orchestra concert, my brother’s honor roll ceremony, school finishing for the summer, my birthday… I’d carve off sliver after sliver when I thought nobody was watching. It was a lot less noticeable when I snuck two extra bites of a cookie cake than it was with regular cookies!
When I left for college, my obsession died down. The dining commons set out huge platters of gooey, warm, freshly baked cookies at dinner every night, and as buffet-style all-you-can-eat meals, I gladly obliged.
But after baking skinny pizookies a few months ago, my excitement over larger pan-baked cookies resurfaced. So to finish off Carrot Cake Week, I made you this Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookie Cake! It’s warm, cozy, and the ideal sweet treat to finish off your Easter meal!
This recipe is based off of the most popular one on my blog: these carrot cake oatmeal cookies. Have you tried them yet? They’ve been pinned over 100,000 times, and hundreds of readers have raved about how soft and chewy they are. Seriously… They’re addictive and don’t taste healthy at all!
But the catch? They actually are! Yes, this recipe is clean-eating friendly. It contains NO butter, refined flour or sugar. Your taste buds and your waistline will thank you! It uses entirely whole wheat flour instead (gluten-free blends work too!) and is sweetened with maple syrup, which adds to the warm, cozy feeling that the spices provide.
The best thing about this cookie cake? Other than being able to sneak extra slivers, of course… (Not that I’d know or anything!) Because it’s baked inside of a cake pan, the cookie dough doesn’t need to chill, so you get to eat dessert that much sooner!
Tip: I prefer a springform pan because you can easily remove its sides when it’s time to serve, but a regular cake pan works too.
If you baked the carrot cake cupcakes from two days ago (you at least put them on your baking list, right?), then you already have cream cheese frosting left over. It’s the perfect amount to pipe around the outsides of this cookie cake! Lots of cute little dollops, plus enough to write “Happy Easter” across the center if you’re a big frosting fan.
Time to dig in!
| Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookie Cake | | Print |
- for the cookie
- 1 c (98g) instant oats (measured correctly & gluten-free if necessary)
- ¾ c (90g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured correctly)
- 1 ½ tsp (5g) baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp (3g) ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp (1g) salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp (5mL) vanilla extract
- ½ c (120mL) maple syrup
- ¾ c (68g) grated carrots (about 2 smallish medium, peeled first)
- for the frosting
- ½ c (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 4 oz fat-free cream cheese (half of one block)
- 1 serving (7g) fat-free, sugar-free instant cheesecake pudding mix
- 2 tbsp (3g) granulated sucralose (or other sweetener, to taste)
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and lightly coat a 9”-round springform or regular cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the maple syrup until thoroughly incorporated. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the carrots.
- Spread the cookie dough evenly across the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake at 325°F for 17-20 minutes. Cool completely to room temperature in the cake pan.
- While the cookie bakes, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl, beat the yogurt, cream cheese, pudding mix, and sucralose with an electric mixer on low speed for 2 minutes, or until thick. Chill for at least 2 hours before piping on top of the cooled cookie cake. (If chilling longer, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap or foil.)
To make your own instant oats, pulse 1 cup of old-fashioned oats in a food processor 5-8 times.
For the gluten-free flour, I used as follows: ½ c (60g) millet flour, 2 tablespoons (17g) brown rice flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca flour, and ½ tsp (1g) xanthan gum.
Melted margarine may be substituted for the coconut oil or butter. Regardless of which is used, be sure that the egg is at room temperature before whisking it in. A cold egg added straight from the fridge would rapidly cool the fat source, resulting in small blobs of semi-solid coconut oil, butter, or margarine.
Honey or agave may be substituted in place of the maple syrup.
There will be leftover frosting. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
More carrot cake recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Cream Cheese Swirled Carrot Cake Bars by Crème de la Crumb
♥ Carrot Cake Bars by Roxanna’s Home Baking
♥ Soft Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Glaze by Averie Cooks
♥ Soft Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies by Comfort of Cooking
All I have is hickory syrup. I’m giving that a shot.
I haven’t baked with hickory syrup before, so if it’s not too much trouble, I’d love to hear how that turned out! It sounds like a fun baking experiment. 🙂