The first time my mom offered me a slice of carrot cake, I thought it was a secret ploy to get me to eat more vegetables. At that age, only seven or eight years old, the only cake (and frosting!) flavors I knew were chocolate and vanilla… So carrot cake sounded awfully suspicious!
I scraped off a small amount of the white frosting first. Thinking it was vanilla, I eagerly slid the fork into my mouth… And immediately felt confused. It tasted like the stuff Mom spread on my bagels, only much sweeter—but I decided that was just fine with me!
Mom looked over, and upon noticing the missing frosting from half of the slice, asked me, “What do you think of the cake?” I furrowed my brow, cut off an itty bitty mouse-sized piece, more like a generous crumb than a bite, and raised it to my lips.
Sweet… Cinnamon… Tender cake… I didn’t notice any carrot flavor in that first bite—probably because it was so small that it lacked any vegetable bits!—so I cautiously cut another bite. And another. And another.
With an empty plate, I finally looked up at Mom. “It’s okay… But I still like chocolate more!”
Since then, my taste buds have evolved quite a bit… And I now love carrot cake as much as chocolate. (And that’s definitely saying something, seeing as I wrote this cookbook called Healthier Chocolate Treats!) So I’m really excited to share this Ultimate Healthy Carrot Cake Recipe with you today!
This classic carrot cake is supremely tender, full of cozy spices, and finished with cream cheese frosting. Yum! So… Let’s keep it a secret that it contains no refined flour or sugar and just 185 calories in each big slice!
You can watch the episode below where I show you how to make this healthy carrot cake, and you can get my recipe directly beneath the video. And remember to subscribe to my TV show here, so you’ll be the first to know when a new episode airs each week!
I’d absolutely LOVE it if you leave me a comment below and tell me what you think of my TV show! And remember to subscribe to my TV show here! ♡
Oh yes, chocolate will always be #1 over carrot cake; but when a carrot cake is as good as your recipe (and a healthier version of the classic cake variety too), it’s still worthy 🙂 Again, thank you for the thorough walk-through for the recipe/cake-making/frosting-making processes in the video – really appreciate that you’ve done this in all episodes thus far. Love the funny ending too 🙂
Aww thanks for your kind comment Liz!! I’m truly honored! 🙂 It means a lot to me that you watch the entire episode all the way to the end! The endings are usually my favorite part. 😉
I love the idea of substituting Greek yogurt for some of the butter. I have successfully made oil-free and butter-free baked goods, but the texture does turn out rather dry and gummy. Your photos are beautiful and I appreciate that you took one slice instead of two huge ones, good to see someone else who is mindful about portions. The joke in your video was still amusing, however. Loved the video, by the way!
Thank you so much for your kind words Natasha! That means a lot to me. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try this carrot cake!
Hello,
Modified this recipe to use
1/3 cup swerve brown sugar instead of stevia.
1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup (Instead of maple syrup)
1% milk (added 1 cup instead of 3/4)
3/4 cup of toasted pecans
Tbs of applesauce and 1tbs of butter (vs the 2 of butter)
Frosting substitutes
Swerve confections sugar (instead of stevia )
Neufchâtel (1 8oz block)
Jennifer
Thanks for sharing, Jennifer! I hope you enjoyed this carrot cake! 🙂