This carrot cake was a special request recipe, as I needed to bring a dessert to a family event. It is sugar free and mostly fruit sweetened. This carrot cake uses a coconut flour base and a dozen eggs, so it is quite protein dense and fairly nutritious for a dessert.
My kids actually enjoy this for breakfast, and I don’t mind giving it to them occasionally since it has so much protein.
Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipe
A healthy carrot cake made with coconut flour and a lot of eggs for extra protein. Filling and delicious!
Ingredients
For cake:
- ½ cup raisins (or dates)
- ½ cup coconut milk
- ½ cup water (warm)
- 12 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (or applesauce)
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 2 TBSP cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp cloves
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¾ cup coconut oil (or butter, melted)
- 1 cup crushed pineapple
- 2 cups carrots (grated)
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- ¼ cup honey (optional)
For Icing:
- 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
- ¼ cup butter (softened)
- ¼ cup honey (or stevia taste)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter or coconut oil.
- In a blender or food processor, combine the raisins or dates, coconut milk, and warm water and blend until smooth. This will create a sweet liquid base for the batter.
- Add eggs and vanilla and blend until smooth.
- Add pumpkin puree or applesauce and blend until smooth.
- Pour into a large bowl.
- Add coconut flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, sea salt, baking soda, and baking powder and mix until well incorporated.
- Add melted coconut oil or butter and mix well.
- By hand, stir in crushed pineapple, grated carrot, shredded coconut, and honey if using. You can also wait and drizzle honey on top after baking.
- Add extra coconut milk or pineapple juice if needed to thin. It should be spreadable, not pourable.
- Spread batter in prepared pan.
- Bake at 350°F for 60-90 minutes, until middle is set and no longer soft. Coconut flour takes a while to bake, so be patient. You might also need to reduce heat and cook longer, depending on your oven.
- When done baking, remove and let cool.
For icing:
- Whisk together ingredients for icing and spread over cake just before serving.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Make into muffins for a fun hand-held treat, just reduce cooking time accordingly!
Nutrition
Calories: 391kcalCarbohydrates: 30.5gProtein: 8.6gFat: 27.8gSaturated Fat: 20.6gCholesterol: 148mgSodium: 271mgFiber: 8.5gSugar: 15.3g
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What’s your favorite cake? Have you made a healthy version yet?
I live at 7000 ft and have a hard time with altitude. Do you think there is anything I should change to compensate for the altitude? I plan on making this later in the week, so we’ll see what happens, but I was wondering if you had any suggestions. Thanks!
My favorite cake is a flourless chocolate cake that Bon Appetit magazine called “La Bête Noir”- The Black Beast. I call it my Chocolate Nightmare cake. I don’t think you’re allowed to attempt to create a healthier version; sometimes you just have to surrender to the sin 🙂
Thank you, thank you for not having sugar in this. I’m on the SCD diet and I thought your website being grain-free would help me meal plan (I have some SCD cookbooks, but I still need to find things my kids are willing to eat that has vegetables in it.) and I kept finding interesting things, but then it called for sugar or sweet potatoes or such.
I have found a lot of helpful recipes, I was just excited that this was cake and didn’t say sugar to begin with. Recipes never taste right when I try to adapt them, but I’m not a very good cook.
Can’t do eggs. Any idea what I can sub? Would love to try this.
I’ve heard other readers substitute 1 tablespoon finely ground chia seeds and 3 tablespoons water (mixed together) for eggs in recipes.
I am making this today! Woo hoo so excited!
I just want to let you know that I just love your carrot cake. I loved it so much that I decided to make them into muffins. I did tweak the recipe a bit. Today was the third time and it worked to perfection. these are the changes I made. I added 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, changed the quantity of coconut flour to 1/2 cup and added 1 cup of Almond meal and 2 TBSP of potato starch( for moistness. And when you grease the muffin tin with coconut oil sprinkle it with some potato starch and the muffin really won’t stick to the pan. I was just so excited to have them not stick I just had to share. thanks again for what you are doing to make this planet a healthier place.
These were great! Left out honey and the frosting….also made them into cupcakes…yummy!
What does it mean by “Remove and let cook.” Did you mean cool? Usually when the batter is thicker, it doesn’t cook right, so I hope this cooks right! Thanks for the recipe!
yep- thanks for catching that!
Sounds delicious! Can’t wait to try this. My all-time favorite dessert was Angel Food Cake with fresh strawberries and real whipped cream. Haven’t tried to make a healthy version yet.
Sounds delicious! Can’t wait to try this. My all-time favorite dessert was Angel Food Cake with fresh strawberries and real whipped cream. Haven’t tried to make a healthy version yet.