Without a doubt the Best Darn Healthy Protein Carrot Cake you will ever eat: Made with whole ingredients and protein powder, and topped with a protein yogurt frosting. This will be surely your new favorite carrot cake recipe!

This was my first time ever baking a carrot cake – actually second, since the first round of recipe testing was quite a fail. Flavor was on point, but I messed up a bit on the process and substitute ingredients (read on), so I ended up with something a bit too gummy.

Round 2? Oh my! This cake was perfectly moist, perfectly sweet and with the perfect hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. Just SO DARN GOOD!

What makes this the best healthy protein carrot cake:

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

Using whole a whole wheat flour in this recipe is the biggest factor that makes this carrot cake healthy. It’s a lot more nutritious than regular white or all purpose flour since it comes from whole grain.

Make sure its the whole wheat pastry flour though, because that’s what makes the cake light and moist. Using a regular whole wheat might make it too dense.

Protein Powder

I recently discovered that you can use protein powder in baked goods to replace up to ⅓ of the flour.

While it does need adding a little more moisture to the recipe since protein powder is quite absorbent, the major benefit is that it drops quite a lot of the carbs and calories.

Use an unflavored protein powder (I use Quest Nutrition’s Multi-purpose Mix) and it won’t affect the taste one bit.

Low sodium Baking Powder

Most carrot cake recipes call for baking soda as well as baking powder, but you can replace baking soda by 3x baking powder, so there you go! Less salt!

Applesauce to replace some of the Oil

Another substitute: Unsweetened applesauce can be used as a replacement for oil in recipes to get some of that moisture in.

I replaced most of the oil in the original recipe with applesauce, to make the carrot cake a lot more healthy. Best decision ever!

Why so? Switching out the oil for applesauce really drops the fat content, making this healthy carrot cake not only low-fat but low calorie well, it’s just that easy!

Less (Coconut) Oil!

In order to get some of the moisture in and also slow down the gluten formation while baking (apparently that’s a reason oil is used in cakes), I used a tiny bit of coconut oil, which makes this carrot cake a very reduced fat version.

Butter could work, but coconut oil is a lot healthier.

Naturally Sweetened with Sugar-free sweeteners!

To add a hint of sweetness to this spiced cake, I use a combination of stevia-sweetened maple syrup and stevia sweetener.

Since it’s made with only stevia and no sugar, it not only reduces the calories in this carrot cake, but also makes it super healthy and sugar-free. While honey is natural, it does have an exorbitant amount of sugar in there, which is probably not the best.

You could always use normal maple syrup – keep it pure though – but it would change the nutrition values.

Recommendations? Lakanto Maple Flavored Syrup

Protein Yogurt Frosting!

Skip the usual cream cheese frosting made with tons of butter and powdered sugar.

This carrot cake has a healthy high-protein frosting made with greek yogurt and vanilla protein powder.

How to make it? Just stir together the 2 ingredients. You might need to add some sweetener (go for the stevia) if your protein powder isn’t sweet enough.

You can also make this carrot cake frosting vegan by using non-dairy yogurt such as almond or coconut or flax based, as well as a compliant protein powder.

Some tips for making this Whole Wheat Flour Protein Carrot Cake:

Stir the carrots into the dry mix

To avoid too over-mixing the batter, stir the carrots into the dry ingredients first. This also ensures that the carrots are uniformly distributed all over the sweet cake.

Don’t over-mix the batter!

Pour the wet mix into the dry and just fold them in. Don’t over-mix it or too much gluten will develop, which is what will make the cake gummy (this was one of my mistakes on round one).

There will be some lumps, but that’s completely okay!

Don’t go overboard on the moisture

Another round 1 mistake.

When you bake with protein powder, you need to add some moisture back into the recipe, but don’t add too much. Too much moisture will not only make this carrot cake too dense, but will also make the cake rise and then sink when it cools.

To make this carrot cake dairy free:

Use coconut or almond based yogurt for the frosting.

How to store this High Protein Carrot Cake:

This tasty carrot cake will stay good at room temperature for about a day.

If it happens to last longer, place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for even up to 4 days.

More healthy baked goods with Protein Powder?

Best Darn (Healthy) Carrot Cake with Protein Yogurt Frosting

Print recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Total Time35

Servings: 16 slices (1 3-layer 7” cake)

Calories: 156kcal

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Without a doubt the Best Darn Healthy Carrot Cake you will ever eat: Made with whole ingredients and protein powder, and topped with a protein yogurt frosting. This will be surely your new favorite carrot cake recipe!

Ingredients

3 cups Carrots, Grated fresh, 330g
1¾ cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 210g
2½ scoops Unflavored Protein Powder, about ¾ cup + 2 Tbsp about 70g, see notes for sub
3¾ tsp Baking Powder
2¼ Tbsp Cinnamon
¾ tsp Nutmeg
¾ tsp Salt
Stevia Sweetener, 3½ Tbsp sugar worth (Use your brand’s Conversion Chart)
3 Eggs, Room Temperature
¾ cup Almond Milk, or other
⅔ cup Applesauce, Unsweetened, about 160g
⅓ cup Coconut Oil
⅓ cup Maple Syrup, Stevia Sweetened
1½ tsp Vanilla Extract

Optional Mix-ins:

⅓ cup Raisins
⅓ cup Chopped Walnuts or Pecans

Frosting:

2 cups Greek Yogurt, Non-fat, about 400g
2 scoops Vanilla Protein Powder, about ⅔ cup, 60, see notes for sub
Stevia Sweetener, if your protein powder is not sweet enough (Use your brand’s Conversion Chart)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line the bottom of 3 7” loaf pans with parchment paper rounds and spray the sides with non-stick cooking spray. See notes for 1 pan.
Parchment paper is essential on the bottom or the cake will stick.
Shred carrots using a grater or food processor. Don’t use store-bough shredded carrots.
In a large bowl, combine flour, protein powder, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and sweetener, and stir.
Add in carrots and stir again to combine.
In a medium bowl, whisk egg, almond milk, applesauce, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla.
Pour wet ingredients into dry and gently fold to combine. DO NOT OVER-MIX or too much gluten will form from the wheat flour. Few lumps are okay.
Gently fold-in optional mix-ins: Chopped walnuts, pecans or raisins.
Divide batter equally between pans and spread out with a spoon/spatula to smoothen the tops.
Bake on center rack for 25 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and center of cake is springy to touch.
Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. It is very importat that the cakes are completely cooled to room temperature when you frost them.

To frost:

In a small bowl combine yogurt, protein powder and option stevia sweetener. Stir until uniform.
Invert one cooled cake on a surface, spread ¼ of the frosting over it, repeat with the other 2 layers and then spread the rest of the frosting along the sides of the cake.
Top with chopped pecans or walnuts if desired, and serve!

Notes

Recipe adapted from Cookie and Kate.

If you have only one pan, make only ⅓ of the batter, bake the cake, let it cool completely, and then reuse the pan for the other layers. Do not put all the batter into one pan or the cake will not cook completely.
Make sure the eggs and milk are at room temperature or the coconut oil will harden.
Do not over mix the batter or too much gluten will develop because of the whole wheat flour, giving a gummy texture.
To replace protein powder in cake:
- Use equal amount of whole wheat pastry flour
- Reduce applesauce to ½ cup
Be sure to let the cakes cool completely before you frost them, or the frosting will “melt” away and not hold well.
Nutrition value does not include mix-ins.

Storage:

Room temperature: 1 day in an airtight container.
Fridge: 4-5 days in an airtight container.

Product Recommendations:

Quest Nutrition Multi-purpose Mix Protein Powder
Lakanto Maple Flavored Syrup
SweetLeaf Organic Stevia Sweetener Powder
Quest Nutrition Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder

Nutrition:

Servings: 16 slices (1 3-layer 7” cake) | Serving size: 1 slice
Calories: 156kcal
Fat: 5.9g | Saturated fat: 4.2g
Carbohydrates: 15.1g | Fiber: 2.9g | Sugar: 3.3g
Protein: 11.9g

Best Darn Healthy Protein Carrot Cake with Protein Yogurt Frosting