A few "secret" ingredients make this delicious and healthy carrot cake recipe. I love to freeze it for a ready breakfast or snack!
Amidst my holiday baking--enter BEST ever Baklava Rolls and my aunt Maha's Egyptian Basbousa Cake--I do try to bake a few healthier items to balance things out.
This Italian Apple Olive Cake is one tasty attempt; perfect for those who like their dessert less sweet.
And because carrot cake happens to be my husband's absolute favorite, I decided to try my hand at a healthy carrot cake recipe.
Carrot cake, healthyfied, Mediterranean-style!
This is not the layered sweet carrot cake, covered with cream cheese frosting. Think a lighter, lower-calorie carrot cake. An olive oil cake with whole wheat flour. And in place of sugar, we use natural sweeteners like quality dark honey and chopped Medjool dates.
Ground cinnamon takes a prominent spot as the main flavor maker in this healthy carrot cake recipe, supported by a little cardamom and ginger. That's why this cake looks dark.
Make ahead tip for this healthy carrot cake recipe
I've been using squares of this healthy carrot cake as breakfast or snack with coffee. It's great for that purpose because you can make it ahead, cut it up and freeze it in the form of individually wrapped squares. Simply thaw as many pieces as you need overnight in the fridge.
See full freezing instructions in the notes below the recipe.
Healthy Carrot Cake Recipe with Honey and Whole Wheat Flour
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: serves 12 1x
Description
A healthy carrot cake recipe that feeds a crowd! Or, freeze it for a ready breakfast or snack. A few secret ingredients keep it light and low-calorie. And what an easy cake to make?!
Ingredients
- ½ cup Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup Greek yogurt (reduced fat)
- ⅓ cup milk (2% reduced fat milk)
- ½ cup quality dark honey
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 2 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 2 cups finely grated carrots (you can use food processor to very finely chop instead)
- 6 Medjool dates, pitted and finely chopped (you can use food processor)
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
- powdered sugar for light dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, geek yogurt, and milk. Add eggs one-by-one and whisk to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and spices
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing with a wooden spoon.
- Fold in the carrots. Mix to combine, then add the dates and walnuts. Again, mix with your wooden spoon until well combined.
- Line a 9-inch square baking pan like this one with parchment paper (or coat well with olive oil). Pour the carrot cake batter into the pan.
- Bake in 350 degrees F heated-oven for 1 hour (until a tooth pick inserted in middle of the cake comes out clean). Let cool completely. Sprinkle powdered sugar, if desired. Cut into 9 or 12 square pieces. Enjoy!
Notes
- Freezing instructions If you want to make this for a smaller crowd or as breakfast for yourself, you can easily freeze this cake. Once cooled completely, slice the cake into the number of pieces you need; cover and freeze in its baking tray (if it's freezer save) or transfer to a freezer safe tray. Let it freeze until solid (about 4 hours). Then remove, take out the pieces and wrap individually securely in plastic wrap and a final layer of aluminum foil. Thaw the pieces you need in the fridge overnight.
- Featured in this recipe: Our Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil (from organically grown and processed koroneiki olives). SAVE! Try our Greek olive oil bundle.
- And From Our All-Natural Spice Collection: Ground Green Cardamom. SAVE! Try our Ultimate Mediterranean Spice Bundle or our Mediterranean Essentials Bundle! Create your own 6-pack from our all-natural or organic spice collections.
- Visit The Mediterranean Dish Shop
- Cook Time: 60 min
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: Carrot Cake, Carrot Cake with Honey, dessert, healthy carrot cake
SHOP THE MEDITERRANEAN DISH
More Recipes to Try
Kuku Sabzi: Persian Baked Omelet
Olive Oil Fried Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Hazelnut
Question: Would this recipe be followed exactly the same using white flour?
Hi, Rowen. Likely not. If you want to substitute white flour for the wheat, you may need to adjust the amount white flour used, the amount of liquid in the recipe, and even the baking time. It's not something we've tested before with this recipe, so it's a bit hard to give specific advice. You may just have to do a little experimenting... maybe even starting with 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour. If you do end up giving it a try, we'd love to hear how it turned out for you!
Hello, what’s dark honey ?
Hi, Mart! A few examples of dark honey are Buckwheat Honey and Manuka Honey.
I made this and it finished with a bitter aftertaste. I am wondering if I made mistake or which ingredient would cause bitterness. Thank you.
Hi, Mike! Sorry to hear it was bitter. Try drizzling a little honey over the next slice and see if that helps. My guess is it was either the carrots or maybe your olive oil was expired. I know sometimes carrots can taste bitter instead of sweet. Early season carrots and small carrots tend to taste sweeter than larger late season carrots. Olive oil is a fat and if it's old it can go rancid, which can also create a bitter taste.
Hi,
Can I replace Baking powder with Bicarbonate of Soda?
If answer is Yes, how many grams?
Thank you
Hi, Jelena. No, we don't recommend using Bicarbonate of Soda in place of the baking powder here.