healthy maple carrot sheet cake
This insanely delicious healthy carrot cake is only 254 calories per serving, and it is so sweet and moist and loaded with carrots, raisins, walnuts and pineapple. It is totally refined-sugar free. It has a simple maple cream cheese and coconut frosting that you can make without a mixer.
And the best part is the maple and fruit and carrots make this easy carrot cake so incredibly moist!! It keeps in the fridge for days and it is even better on day two so it is a great make-ahead dessert for a large group.
Phew, that was a lot to get into a teaser wasn’t it?
I am not going to even attempt to be humble about this recipe. Because this healthy carrot cake has got it goin’ ooooonnnnn! And I have some major bragging to do about it.
This maple carrot sheet cake is top shelf, my healthy recipe loving people. I’m putting it on the Best of List, and mark my words, if you are/were one of the people who was fanatical about my maple sweetened pumpkin chocolate chip bread, you will also become fanatical about this homemade carrot cake.
You may just end up calling it “my carrot cake.” As in, “I can bring my famous carrot cake.” Like, the one you’re known for that is so good people ask you for the recipe. Just sayin’, it’s going to happen. 😉
Okay. So let’s talk recipe notes, shall we?
How to Make This Healthy Carrot Cake
1. For best results measure your flour the way I do. When I worked in the EatingWell Test Kitchen, we measured our flour in the following manner: Stir the flour with a spoon to fluff it up. Then spoon it into a dry measuring cup. Next level it off with a knife. This method does not require a kitchen scale, something which many home cooks do not have. I’m not saying that this way is necessarily “right” and other ways are wrong. I am saying that in order for your results to be like mine we should measure our flour the same way. That way, as long as you always do this, and I do too, we should get the same results. Sound like a plan?
2. I use white whole-wheat flour because it is just as nutritious as regular whole-wheat flour but has a less pronounced flavor, which works well in baking. You can order it from King Arthur Flour.
3. I use a blend of spices for classic carrot cake flavor. Sometimes using spices overwhelms the flavor of maple, but in this case I felt it was important to have a balance of warm spices.
4. I tested this recipe several times, and I tried to make it with butter, coconut oil and avocado oil. I ended up going with avocado oil because it was the best texture on day one. And it was also good when the cake was refrigerated on subsequent days. The saturated fat in the butter and coconut oil made the cake dry when cold. I also ended up increasing the amount of oil to one full cup which is a lot for one of my recipes, but this serves 24 people, so you end up getting less than a tablespoon of oil per serving.
5. I used dark pure maple syrup from our family maple syrup business, Little Hill Sugarworks. It gives the best strongest maple flavor. You can read more here about why the way we make our maple syrup is better and order a bottle to try for yourself.
6. I added a ton of goodies to this cake. I wanted this to be chock full of carrots and other classic carrot cake additions like raisins, nuts and pineapple. I really love that there is some in every bite! Tip: for better flavor toast your walnuts before stirring them into the batter. That will increase the flavor even more.
7. I used an 8-ounce can of crushed pineapple. Make sure you drain it well folks. Do this in a fine mesh sieve to get the liquid out. Otherwise the cake will have too much water in it and it won’t rise correctly.
8. I used a splash of Maple Sapling Liquor. It is made from pure maple syrup and boosts the maple flavor of the cake. If you cannot find it, you can use dark rum or you can skip it if you prefer.
9. This frosting is amazingly easy and delicious. By using whipped cream cheese, you don’t even need to soften the cream cheese or use an electric mixer. You can mix it by hand with a silicone spatula! I’ll admit that there is not a ton of frosting, but I was trying to shave calories off of the cake. I asked my tasters if they wanted more frosting and they said no. The good news is that means each serving is only 254 calories! If this is a special occasion, you’re interested in more frosting and you are not super concerned about the calories you can double the frosting and you’ll have a very generous amount.
Don’t miss this Ultimate Guide to Carrots!
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healthy carrot cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 54 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 19 minutes
- Yield: 1 sheet cake, 24 servings 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
This healthy carrot cake is only 254 calories per serving, and it is so sweet and moist. Loaded with carrots, raisins, walnuts, and pineapple.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cup pure maple syrup, dark or amber
- 1 cup avocado oil or organic canola oil
- 2 tablespoons maple liquor or dark rum, optional
- 2 cups shredded carrots, from about 3 medium peeled carrots
- 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained through a fine mesh sieve
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
For the Frosting
- 8 ounces whipped cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons (granulated) maple sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons toasted unsweetened coconut for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Make Cake: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9X13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
- Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cloves in a medium bowl.
- Beat eggs, maple, avocado (or canola oil) and liquor in a large bowl until completely combined. Add carrots, pineapple, raisins and walnuts and stir to combine. Add the flour mixture and stir until completely moistened. Spread batter in the prepared baking pan and transfer to the oven.
- Bake until the cake is deep brown and set in the center when lightly touched with finger tips, 48 to 54 minutes. Test to make sure cake is done with a toothpick. Moist crumbs will be attached when cake is fully cooked. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack, 45 minutes to an hour.
- Make Frosting: Stir cream cheese, maple sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl with silicone spatula until the maple is completely dissolved. Vigorously beat in coconut oil until it comes together into a smooth thick frosting.
- Immediately spread the frosting over the cake. Top with toasted coconut if using.
Nutrition
- Calories: 254
- Sugar: 17 g
- Sodium: 177 mg
- Fat: 17 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 26 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
More Fall Recipes You’ll Love:
Coconut Raspberry Greek Yogurt Layer Cake
Sweet Potato and Brown Butter Hot Cross Buns
Greek Yogurt and Banana Maple Bread Pudding
Everyone at my house really loved it! Yum!
★★★★★
I love carrot cake! This has amazing flavors, and I love that it’s a little healthier so I don’t feel bad when I eat a second slice.
★★★★★
I just made this carrot cake and just tried it. Lots to say.
First, I doubled the topping recipe — the picture shows a double recipe of the topping. It’s just enough. Without it being double, there really would have been just a thin spread.
It tastes . . . luxurious . . . very moist, interesting. Not much carrot flavor.
I doubled the topping recipe, but changed it. I used regular cream cheese, instead of whipped. And I used maple syrup in it, instead of maple sugar. Where the heck does one find maple sugar? I added powdered sugar. And I did use the coconut oil.
Here begins my reasons for the 3 stars. I absolutely saw no reason or logic to this topping. Use whipped cream cheese so you don’t have to get the hand mixer out? When whipped cream cheese is a lot more expensive than regular cream cheese. And, what’s the reason for the coconut oil — another super expensive product hardly used in anything else — it it just adds to the fat already in the cream cheese. It does add a coconuty flavor, but who cares — given the expense and the fat. I used regular cream cheese and got the hand mixer out.
Then 1.5 cups of maple syrup. Again, maple syrup is really expensive, but, really it added nothing to the cake. In other words, you can have a great carrot cake without maple syrup and the expense of maple syrup.
And I did get the avocado oil, another huge expense. Basically, just the oil going into the cake was almost $5.00. I thought it might add something special, but I think, the suggested canola oil would have been just fine.
So, the reason for the 3 stars is that this cake contains a lot of really expensive ingredients — for no very good reason. Same results could be obtained with just normal ingredients.
For those reasons, I won’t be making it, again.
I’m thinking I need to skip recipes with expensive, unusual ingredients right off the bat, because the expense is not worth the taste.
★★★
Thanks so much Dawn for coming back to let me know how it went. I am glad you liked the taste and texture of the cake. I’m sorry to hear you won’t be making it again. Here’s a secret: you can sub white sugar or brown sugar in for the maple if you want. Just know that the cake will not be as moist or complex in flavor though. I’m sorry to hear you had a bad experience with avocado oil. (Look for the big bottles at Costco, if you shop there, it’s quite affordable!) But really, you can use any neutral cooking oil you have on hand, avocado and canola just happen to have the best nutrition profile.
I see you’ve commented before, so I assume you’ve been reading for a while. Though I do not know if you’re familiar with why I am a proponent of using Maple Syrup. Just in case you do not know I will explain. I live in Vermont and my husband and I have a maple syrup business. We sweeten almost exclusively with maple syrup. I am also a cookbook author on the very subject (Maple: 100 Sweet and Savory Recipes Featuring Pure Maple Syrup, Quirk Books 2015.) In my book I explain why it is better for the environment, economy and your health to sweeten with maple syrup. There are multiple reasons! You can read more about it on my sugaring website here https://www.littlehillmaple.com/choose-maple-sweeteners/ . Yes maple syrup is expensive, roughly $3.10 per cup at current market value! But this cake makes 24 servings, so you end up spending less than a quarter per serving on the sweetener.
I hope that helps explain a bit about the logic behind the ingredient choices. Let me know if you make it again with any tweaks to them. Happy Cooking!
Wow! I have been looking for a carrot cake recipe that used maple syrup or honey. Wow! This recipe is terrific. I used half canola and half avocado oil, used half honey and half maple syrup, replaced the pineapple with a grated apple and only used two eggs.
I used am immersion blender (stick blender) to emulsify the syrup, eggs, oil and vanilla (instead of maple liquor).
I made muffins so I baked them for 30 minutes.
I love carrot cake and these are super delicious.
I look forward to trying out more of your recipes. Terrific!
★★★★★
I’m thrilled you liked it and that your tweaks worked out so well. Great information. Have a great week Jaqui!