Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Frosting | Renee's Kitchen Adventures

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Frosting


Finally, a healthy carrot cake recipe that tastes great, is moist, and satisfies your sweet tooth without compromising your healthy eating plan! This Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Frosting will become your go to easy healthy recipe for carrot cake!

A piece of Healthy Carrot Cake by Renee's Kitchen Adventures on a white plate with a fork


This recipe for healthy carrot cake has been on this blog for some time now. I decided it's a great recipe that wasn't really getting the attention it deserved, so I gave it a facelift with new images and an easy to read, printable recipe card and I'm sharing it again!

Is carrot cake healthy?


The short answer, is no. Traditional carrot cake might sound healthy because it's got carrots in it, but it's quite heavy on not-so-healthy ingredients such as butter, white flour, and sugar. This Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Frosting is a healthier option thanks to some great swaps! 

Healthy Carrot Cake Recipe


The inspiration for this healthy carrot cake comes from Weight Watchers. It's no secret, I've had an on again, off again relationship with Weight Watchers over the years. Most recently, it's back on again, with a bigger emphasis on low carb choices. While this healthy carrot cake isn't low carb, I have found a way to reduce the sugar in the recipe, while retaining its deliciousness. I was recently introduced to a sugar substitute called Swerve. It's is made from ingredients found in select fruits and starchy root vegetables, and contains no artificial ingredients, preservatives or flavors. Swerve comes in both a granulated form and a powdered form, has zero calories, measures cup for cup like sugar, and has no nasty aftertaste. It also caramelizes just like real sugar!

So, you know the baker in me just had to experiment!


Healthy Carrot Cake by Renee's Kitchen Adventures cooling on a rack in a pan unfrosted

The thing about sugar in baking, is that sugar really acts as a wet ingredient. So care needs to be taken to make sure enough moisture is retained once sugar is removed...or you will end up with a dry, hard end product. And, no one likes that!

I decided to replace most of the sugar in this recipe with Swerve. But, I kept a small amount of granulated sugar to make sure the cake was still moist once it was baked. You can, of course, use all granulated sugar in this recipe, or experiment more than me, and replace it all with Swerve. Me? I was really happy with the ratio I used in this cake!

A forkful of Healthy Carrot Cake by Renee's Kitchen Adventures from a piece of cake on a white plate

This Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Frosting can be made with all all purpose flour and all real sugar too!

Healthy Carrot Cake Ingredients

  • Fresh carrots!  (Save time and buy them already chopped into matchsticks!)
  • Canned pineapple in 100% juice
  • White whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)
  • Swerve sugar substitute, both granulated and powdered varieties (or use real sugar)
  • Baking soda and baking powder
  • ground cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg
  • canola oil
  • eggs
  • golden raisins (or any dried fruit you like!)
  • walnuts (or any tree nuts you like!)
  • light cream cheese ( Neufchatel )
  • pure maple syrup 



healthy carrot cake recipe, easy carrot cake recipe
dessert, cake
American
Yield: 12 servings
Author:

Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Frosting

prep time: 10 Mcook time: 35 Mtotal time: 45 M
Carrot Cake with Maple-Cream Frosting is a healthy lower calorie, lower fat, and a lower sugar recipe that retains all the goodness you would expect from a delicious carrot cake! Moist and flavorful and topped with a delicious cream cheese based frosting!

ingredients:

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup Swerve granulated sugar substitute
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 egg white
  • 2 TBSP canola oil
  • 8 oz. crushed pineapple packed in 100% juice, drained reserve 1/4 cup of juice
  • 1 cup of shredded fresh carrots (or chopped finely in food processor)
  • 1/4 cup golden raisins
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 4 oz. light cream cheese (Neufchatel), at room temperature
  • 1 cup  Swerve powdered sugar substitute
  • 1 TBSP pure maple syrup

instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 inch square baking dish or pan with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt with a whisk.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the granulated Swerve, granulated sugar, egg, egg white and oil and whisk to blend.
  4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in pineapple and reserved juice, carrots and raisins. ( add chopped walnuts if using) Scrape into prepared pan.
  5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cake completely before frosting.
  6. For Frosting: Beat cream cheese, powdered Swerve and maple syrup until smooth. Spread on top of cooled cake. Cut cake into 12 equal pieces.

NOTES:

Nutritional Information is an estimate
Calories
275.79
Fat (grams)
6.11
Sat. Fat (grams)
1.38
Carbs (grams)
53.25
Fiber (grams)
1.82
Net carbs
51.43
Sugar (grams)
38.90
Protein (grams)
4.02
Sodium (milligrams)
278.77
Cholesterol (grams)
20.60
Created using The Recipes Generator

Love carrot cake? Try these other healthy carrot cake recipes!





Like this recipe? Don't forget to pin this healthy carrot cake recipe to your Pinterest boards and share on social media!

Healthy Carrot Cake by Renee's Kitchen Adventures pin for Pinterest


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11 comments:

  1. I'm a big fan of carrot cake, but never thought to put maple frosting on it. That sounds delicious!

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  2. awwwww! Those babies are so freaking cute. Love it. And carrot cake is tasty. And TOTALLY reminds me of easter (in fact, I'm making some mini carrot cupcakes for easter). I prefer them without the walnuts, so I'm making a mix of some with and some without. Great recipe! I hope it warms up for you!!

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  3. This looks and sounds delicious. I reminds me of a fall cake for some reason. Too many Points for me, though. :X

    The pic is too cute!

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  4. I want this in my stomach... NOW! I really need to bake something soon. I bought two large containers of no-sugar added applesauce ready to change up some recipes :)

    This looks delicious. My sweet tooth needs something sweet now haha

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  5. Your ducks are very cute and I might have to try this carrot cake. I make my mil's recipe so I might have problems if I try to lighten that though.

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  6. Your cake sounds fantastic and you mama duck and ducklings has started my day with a smile. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  7. Hi Renee,
    I just love the Mom and her babies, cute photo. Your carrot cake looks very moist and the texture looks good. I really wish I had that piece of cake right now. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week! Have a wonderful week end!

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  8. Mmm, that maple flavor would blend so well with the cake. Fantastic idea. I have a sweet treat linky party on my blog every weekend and I'd like to invite you to stop by then and link your cake up. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com

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  9. That cake looks THAT good and it's "healthier"?? SOLD! Great job!
    Glad I found your blog on Miz Helen's-I'm on the weight loss 'journey' myself:)

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  10. Any idea on WW points?

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    Replies
    1. Hi there! Thanks for your question. I used to furnish WW points, but stopped because they update their program and calculations for points each December and I couldn't keep up with updating everything. If you plug the nutritional info provided into your WW calculator, you should be able to find out how many points this cake is. Hope this helps.

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