Healthy apple and carrot Cake
What is the story behind it?
Years ago, I committed to a healthy lifestyle because of my health issues – anxiety, endometriosis, and moody menopause.
The hardest part was finding a healthy way to satisfy my sweet tooth and fuel my body with nutrients instead of spiking my blood sugar and promoting inflammation.
Since then, I have focused on creating nutritious desserts. After all, a delicious homemade cake is a delightful, heart-warming treat.
Every time I make a healthy treat, I focus on adding value to my health by using ingredients that nourish my body.
I feel better when I eat the most natural, nutrient-dense ingredients possible. After all, “food is medicine,” right?
This delicious apple and carrot cake is one of the best healthy desserts you’ll ever eat. It’s made with almond and oat flour and sweetened with dates. This recipe is a cake you can prepare in advance, tastes delicious, and healthily satisfies your sweet tooth.
Sometimes I bake this healthy apple and carrot cake with regular pitted dates as a sweetener. Since Medjool dates are too expensive, pitted dates will do as well.
Dates are a natural sweetener and offer a great way to sweeten without refined sugar. Since they are rich in fiber, they slow down digestion and help keep blood sugar levels from spiking. So you get a healthy dessert that will give your body lasting energy.
The cake is low in sugar, gluten-free, super moist, and delicious. I topped it with a delicate cream cheese frosting and garnished it with toasted flaked almonds and cinnamon.
This Healthy apple and carrot cake has become a staple in our house because it’s so easy to make, has lots of spices, is super moist, and we love to eat it with our morning coffee. It fills and healthily satisfies our sweet tooth.
What does this healthy apple and carrot cake taste like?
This healthy apple and carrot cake is moist, and each bite tastes super soft and extra luscious.
Its flavors come from dates, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The nutmeg adds the most delicious spice to the cake, but it isn’t overpowering.
I recommend preparing this cake in advance for a more intense flavor and an even more tender bite.
Ingredients for the apple and carrot cake:
300 g apples
200 g carrots
Three eggs
50 g coconut oil, melted
coconut oil – makes the cake soft and tender.
75 g almond flour. I recommend using fine-blanched almond flour.
80 g oat flour
½ tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tsp lemon juice
10 to 12 dates
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
Note: Coconut oil makes the cake soft and tender.
Cream Cheese Frosting for the Healthy apple and carrot cake
I created my brand new cream cheese frosting. It’s smooth and has a unique flavor from the coconut sugar I used to sweeten it. If you are not a fan of coconut sugar, you can substitute it with white sugar.
Ingredients for the cream cheese frosting:
200 g full-fat organic cream cheese block softened to room temperature
40 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt.
For garnish: Cinnamon and toasted flaked almonds
Tips for making this healthy apple and carrot cake:
You can add toasted walnuts or pecans to the batter, roughly chopped. I preferred to keep it simple. The toasted walnuts or pecans add a nutty flavor to the cake.
Use freshly grated carrots. It is better to grate the carrots at home than to buy pre-packaged, pre-grated carrots, as they are dry and sometimes hard. You will need about two large carrots for this recipe.
Use room temperature ingredients: let the eggs come to room temperature before using them in this recipe. Otherwise, the coconut oil will curdle the batter. The coconut oil should be at room temperature.
Oat flour: Place the rolled oats in a coffee grinder and grind until they are the consistency of flour. You can also use a food processor or high-speed blender.
Make this cake ahead: This Healthy apple and carrot cake gets better with time, so prepare it in advance. All the flavors need to come together.
How to make this Healthy apple and carrot cake?
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 45 to 50 minutes
Makes 8 slices
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius
Place eggs and dates in the food processor and blend until dates are minced.
Add coconut oil, almond flour, oat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda to the food processor and pulse until everything is well blended.
Wash and grate the carrots and apples.
Squeeze the juice out of the apple-carrot mixture by crushing the mixture between your palms. The good news is that you can enjoy fresh juice!
Put the squeezed apples and carrots into a food processor and pulse to blend.
Note: Please do not overdo it, as we need some texture to the cake and still want to see bits of carrot in the batter.
TO PREPARE THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
Step 1:
Beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer on medium speed until smooth. It will take about 2 minutes.
Step 2:
Add the coconut sugar, a pinch of salt, and the vanilla extract and beat until the sugar is dissolved.
Step 3:
Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase the speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes until well combined.
NOTE:
Do not over-beat the cream cheese. It can break down and become runny if whipped too much. Once the mixture looks fluffy and stiff, you should turn off the mixer.
Line a round cake pan (20 cm diameter) with parchment paper and grease it with coconut oil.
Pour the batter evenly into the cake pan.
Bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes. Test the center of the cake with a toothpick. If it comes out almost clean, the cake is made.
Let the cake cool completely before frosting.
Spread the frosting and garnish.
Store the carrot cake in the refrigerator. It will keep well for up to 4 days.
Please let me know if you make this Healthy apple and carrot cake by leaving a comment below.
Until next time, stay healthy and make the most of your days.
XoXo
Gabby
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Due to variations in ingredients, cooking temperatures, errors, omissions, or individual cooking abilities, you may not always get the same results we do.
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