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This Healthy Carrot Cake Loaf is perfect for spring! It’s naturally sweetened, spiced with a dash of cinnamon, moist, and tender, and topped with a light and sweet maple glaze.
Easy Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipe
It’s no surprise to anyone that I love carrot cake—as demonstrated by my Carrot Cake Baked Oats, Healthy Carrot Zucchini Bars, Healthy Carrot Muffins, Gluten-Free Carrot Sheet Cake, and Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies.
This Healthy Carrot Cake Loaf is a new favorite carrot cake-inspired recipe. It’s made using a gluten-free and paleo-friendly blend of almond and coconut flour, so moist, naturally sweetened with honey and applesauce, and topped with a simple and sweet maple glaze.
This delicious and healthy carrot cake recipe is loaded with carrots and optional add-ins like raisins, nuts, or chocolate. It’s a sweet treat that everyone will love!
Bonus: it’s made in just one bowl for easy cleanup!
Is Carrot Cake Healthier than Chocolate Cake?
This carrot cake definitely is better for you than a regular chocolate cake. Not only does it have carrots in it, which are packed with nutrients, it’s also naturally sweetened, gluten-free, and paleo-friendly. Nothing unhealthy here!
Ingredients Needed
- Eggs: Binds everything together so the loaf can hold its shape.
- Applesauce: Unsweetened applesauce is a great way to add moisture and a little natural sweetness to the bread.
- Honey: Our other natural sweetener of choice.
- Oil: Use avocado or melted coconut oil to add moisture to the bread. Avocado oil will have a more neutral flavor while coconut oil will have a subtle coconut flavor.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds flavor depth and warmth.
- Flour: We’re using a blend of almond flour and coconut flour to give the loaf its structure and keep it gluten-free.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda: We’re using both leavening agents to make sure we get a light and fluffy texture.
- Ground Cinnamon: Adds a touch of sweet spice.
- Salt: A pinch of fine sea salt cuts the sweetness and enhances the flavors in the bread.
- Carrots: You’ll need about 2 medium carrots, grated so they incorporate well into the batter.
- Optional Glaze: If you want, you can whip up a simple glaze using organic powdered sugar, maple syrup, almond milk, and optional maple extract for a little extra maple flavor.
Optional Add-Ins
- Raisins: Turns out, carrots and raisins are a delicious combination. A handful of raisins adds some extra sweetness and a delicious chewy bite.
- Chocolate Chips: You can’t go wrong with a scoop of mini chocolate chips.
- Nuts: Chopped walnuts or pecans adds the perfect crunch in each bite.
How to Make Healthy Carrot Cake
This delicious carrot cake loaf takes just 10 minutes to prep!
- Make the batter: In a bowl, whisk together eggs, applesauce, honey, oil, and vanilla. Add in flours, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk until combined, then fold in carrots and other add-ins if using.
- Bake and cool: Pour the batter into a parchment-lined loaf pan, smooth over the top, then bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.
- Add the glaze: In a bowl, whisk together all of the glaze ingredients. Drizzle over the top of the cooled loaf, then slice and serve.
Is Butter or Oil Better for Carrot Cake?
While that depends on the recipe, I definitely recommend oil in this recipe. It keeps the gluten free carrot cake even more moist than butter does, so the texture stays deliciously tender longer!
How Do You Keep a Gluten-Free Cake Moist?
There are a couple things we’re doing to make sure our gluten-free carrot cake stays nice and moist!
- Adding moisture to the batter: We’re adding plenty of moisture to the batter using applesauce and oil. The carrots add moisture too!
- Baking just the right amount: Take the loaf out the oven as soon as a toothpick comes out clean. Over-baking can cause it to dry out pretty quick.
- Storing in an airtight container: If you have leftovers, make sure they are stored either in an airtight ziplock bag or container at room temperature. This preserves the moist texture the best.
Tips and Notes
- Line the loaf pan. I recommend lining the loaf pan with a parchment paper sling. This makes it so much easier to lift the loaf out after its done baking.
- Don’t swap the flours. I don’t recommend using any flours in place of the almond and coconut flour. This recipe is designed for those specific flours and the amount of moisture they absorb. Other ones won’t work the same.
- Check for doneness. After 45 minutes, stick a toothpick into the center of a loaf. If it comes out clean, then it’s ready to go.
- Cool before glazing. Make sure the carrot cake is completely cooled before you add any glaze. If it’s too warm, it will become runny and melt off.
- If you want to skip the glaze, it’s delicious without it too. You could also try the glaze we use on our cinnamon roll overnight French toast bake.
How to Store
Leftover healthy carrot cake will last in an airtight container or ziplock bag at room temperature for 2-3 days. I don’t recommend storing it in the fridge because it is more likely to dry out.
For longer storage, you can wrap the loaf tightly and store it in the freezer (without the glaze) for 2-3 months. When you’re ready to serve, simply thaw it at room temperature!
More Carrot Recipes You’ll Love
- Honey Glazed Carrots
- Healthy Carrot Muffins (Gluten-Free and Nut-Free)
- Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookies (With Maple Glaze)
- Carrot Cake Baked Oats
- Healthy Carrot Zucchini Bars
Watch the Video Here:
Healthy Carrot Cake Loaf
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- ¼ cup cup honey
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or coconut oil melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups 200 grams almond flour
- 2 tablespoons 15 grams coconut flour
- 1-½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 1 cup grated carrots from about 2 medium carrots
Optional Add-ins:
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup walnuts or pecans chopped
- Glaze:
- ½ cup organic powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1-2 tablespoons almond milk
- ½ teaspoon maple extract optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a 8″x5″ loaf pan with a parchment paper sling.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, applesauce, honey, oil, and vanilla until combined. Add in almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and whisk until fully combined.
- Fold in carrots and any optional add-in’s.
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth over the top.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool the loaf cool completely.
- To make the optional glaze: Whisk all ingredients together. If the glaze is too thick you can add a tablespoon more almond milk at a time until it has reached the desired consistency.
Notes
- Looking for a glaze made without refined sugar? Check out the glaze used in this recipe.
Hi, I made this and recipe and it turned out beautifully; however I did substitute the honey with pure maple syrup (because I am out of honey at the moment). Would you by any chance have fat/carb/protein ratio figures for this recipe.
Many thanks
Hi, would you know how many carbs per serving?
Would really like this recipe but am on low carb diet.
Thanks!
Cindy M.
Will this loaf freeze well? Trying to stock up on postpartum meals and I LOVE this recipe!
Yes!
These turned out delicious a healthy treat…do you have the calories?
You can enter the ingredients into any free online calorie calculator!
Hi there! I would love to try this recipe but I just cannot find it anywhere on the page. I have looked on several devices thinking that would fix it. Help! 🙂
Hello. I would love to make this recipe. What could be used to replace the eggs?
Hey all,
I found it took longer than 20-25 mins in my oven. More like 45-50. Hope that helps!
Beth
Hi I made this yesterday, and followed the recipe exact and even left it a little longer in the oven as I noticed the middle of the cake sunk, and when I took it out the centre of the cake was soggy and not entirely sure why??
This looks absolutely delicious and I am definitely making this today! I just have a question. What if I would do two batches and freeze one loaf? How long do you think it will last?
Cake was unsuccessful first time was uncooked on the inside, crust burnt. Second time I used 1 cup ground almonds, 1 cup flour and chi seeds in place of eggs, skewer came out clean. Still a touch soggy. Should it be like this?
No, this recipe works well! I haven’t tried it with your substitutions, so can’t ever guarantee it’ll work any other way than how I wrote the recipe!
Where do you live? Perhaps lower the cooking temp and increase cooking time.
calories in this? I have made it and love it !
Hi there! This sounds so delicious but my autoimmune restrictive diet does’t allow baking powder. Do you think it would be ok without it? Or is there anything to substitute that?
Beautiful recipe. Just wondering, I ordered and purchased some Almond Flour from the States and when I received it, it is very much like my Almond Meal. I was a bit disappointed as I expected it to be much finer…now I am a bit concerned about it not being fine enough for your recipe….thks again for your beautiful recipes
What brand Cheryl?
This is AWESOME!!! Couldn’t be better. This recipe is a KEEPER. This will be a favorite “go to” bread for me from now on. Thanks much for sharing
You are so very patient! It’s quite ironic that you spend a lot of time perfecting a recipe, yet everyone wants to change something, then wonders why it doesn’t turn out! I have discovered that I don’t like the texture of baked goods made solely with coconut flour, so I’m anxious to try this with only 3 tsp of it. My son, who is a health fanatic, has a birthday soon so I will make it for him. Thanks for sharing your recipe, which I will follow exactly!
This comment made my day, Toni! I try!! 🙂 Enjoy, hope you love!
Made this recently, but made them into muffins! I got 7 really good sized muffins out of this recipe. I also added a little ginger and allspice, topped with raisins and chopped walnuts. Delicious! Will definitely be making them again. 🙂
Amazing. Best paleo bread I’ve made yet. The first I would actually make for non-paleo folks. Thanks! Anyone tried freezing some? Success or not a good idea?
Yep I have frozen it and its fine!
Best recipe I have tried to date. Its a regular in my house! LOVE LOVE LOVE!
WOW! This cake is amazing! The taste is fantastic. It is light and fluffy and I think I cooked it to long. Did not hurt it at all. Thanks for such a great recipe.
Hi, can we do without the applesauce or is there a replacement for it?
I made this just now..added walnuts and only change I make was only used 1tbs of rice malt syrup instead of honey….and its the best paleo cake I’ve made to date. YUM!
Will have to try some more of your recipes Lexi 🙂