I think my favorite part of a WFP diet is that I can have my cake and eat it too. In other words, I can eat dessert and STILL lose weight and improve my health. I don’t have to feel guilty because it is made from whole food plant based ingredients! It makes it really easy to stick to this way of eating for life knowing that I can really enjoy DELICIOUS foods and especially dessert!
As you may know, being “vegan” does not necessarily equate to good health. The term vegan refers to not eating meat or dairy products. A vegan can eat processed foods and oils and not have as much health benefit. However, a whole foods plant based diet is focused on eating the most nutrient dense foods – whole foods. No meat or dairy (or very limited) and no processed foods including oils. This recipe does not contain any butter, eggs, white flour, or sugar. Instead it uses banana, dates, raisins, and oat flour as its base. It tastes great and won’t raise your blood sugar like regular carrot cake!
My oldest son is my pickiest eater, but he loves this carrot cake recipe. It makes me happy that I can get some vegetables into him without a fight! My husband tried it last night for the first time and he said he was very surprised at how good it was. Score!
Make Oat Flour from Old-Fashioned Oats in your blender
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This recipe calls for old-fashioned oats to be ground in your high powdered blender. Old fashioned oats are also called rolled oats. Don’t use quick oats or steel cut for this recipe. I have a Vitamix blender and it takes literally seconds to do this! It’s really easy to do, but you could always buy oat flour in your local grocery store baking aisle as well. You could also try using a food processor, but personally haven’t, so let me know in the comments if you do and it works.
You’re going to love the icing, too. It is SO yum! Feel free to use the icing recipe on any dessert recipe you have! The coconut flour can be left out if you want to have to a vanilla only flavor.
Related reading – Top 6 Reasons you should be come a Nutritarian
Making your own fresh shredded carrots
I highly recommend using organic carrots. They really do taste better. I don’t buy a ton of organic fruits & vegetables, but I do for the carrots. Hopefully you have a food processor so you can shred the carrots really easily. I always peel mine and cut off the tops and then throw them in the processor with the “shred” disk. Any extra shredded carrots I don’t use for the recipe, I keep in a ziplock bag for salads!
I don’t recommend buying the bags of shredded carrots you see in the salad section. Those are dry & not very fresh. This will affect no only how moist your cake is, but also the nutrient density!
Ripen bananas in 30 seconds
Also, I learned that If you don’t have ripe bananas, you can microwave them for 30 seconds to ripen them up! That’s what I had to do this last time because my banana was slightly green. Make sure you poke holes all over the banana with a knife. I did 2 rounds of 30 seconds in the microwave on high.
My youngest isn’t a fan of walnuts, but I am and of course he needs to eat them for the healthy omega-3s, so I chop them up super fine so he doesn’t even notice.
Definitely go easy on the cloves. I think I did a little bit bigger pinch that I should have this last time, as it was very strong! Still good though!
It keeps for up to 5 days in the refrigerator, although it will probably be gone before then!
Healthy Vegan Carrot Cake Ingredients
- 1 1/2cupsunsweetened almond or soy milk
- 4 1/2ouncespitted dates, chopped
- 3/4cupraisins
- 1/2cupsliced ripe banana
- 1teaspoonpure vanilla extract
- 1 3/4old-fashioned rolled oats not quick oats
- 2teaspoonsbaking powder
- 1teaspoonbaking soda
- 2teaspoonsground cinnamon
- 1teaspoonground nutmeg
- 1pinchground cloves
- 1 1/2cupsshredded carrots,organic tastes best
- 1/2cupfinely chopped walnuts
Turn this Carrot Cake into Muffins!
This recipe can easily be use to make muffins or cupcakes. Just fill a muffin tin 3/4 of the way with this carrot cake batter. Use a silicone muffin mold so that you don’t have to use oil or muffin liners.
Other WFPB Dessert recipes you might like –
- Lentil Peanut Butter Cookies
- Dr. Fuhrman’s Chocolate Cherry Cookies
- No-Bake Orange Coconut Balls
- Easy Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream
Register for the FREE Plant Based Diet Masterclass
Learn about how you can eat MORE and LOSE weight on a plant-based diet. But, there are many common mistakes I see people make all the time. Don’t let that be what holds you back from success! Click here to register for this FREE Plant Based Diet Masterclass for a limited time!
If you try this recipe let me know what you think in the comments!
Healthy Vegan Carrot Cake with Coconut Vanilla Icing
This whole food plant based recipe is dairy free and oil free.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Gluten Free, Nutritarian, Vegan, Whole Food Plant Based
Keyword Carrot Cake, dairy free, Dessert, Eat to Live, Gluten Free, Healthy, no oil recipe, Nutritarian, Vegan, whole food plant based
Prep Time 45 minutes minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes minutes
Total Time 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes
Servings 9
Calories 264kcal
Author Kim Murphy
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond or soy milk
- 4 1/2 ounces pitted dates, chopped
- 3/4 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup sliced ripe banana
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 old-fashioned rolled oats not quick oats
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots organic tastes best
- 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
Coconut Vanilla Icing
- 5 ounces pitted dates, chopped
- 3/4 cup raw cashews unsalted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup coconut flour optional
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a 8 X 8 baking dish with cooking spray or use a silicone baking pan.
In a medium bowl, combine dates, 1/4 cup of the raisins, banana, vanilla, and milk. Soak for 15 minutes.
Peel 3 medium organic carrots and cut off the tops. Using a food processor, shred 1 & 1/2 cups of carrots. You may have a some extra left over. You can save the extra in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator for salads.
Using a high powered blender, blend oats until they become flour. Pour oat flour into a large bowl. Add baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and stir until combined.
Pour the date liquid mixture into the high powered blender and blend until smooth. Pour smooth date mixture into oat mixture and combine. Add 1/2 cup of raisins, walnuts, & shredded carrots and stir until well combined.
Pour batter into baking pan and cook for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes.
Coconut Vanilla Icing
While the carrot cake is cooking, place dates, cashews, and vanilla extract in the blender. Cover with just enough water and let soak for 45 minutes.
Blend until smooth and creamy. Add the coconut flour (if desired) and blend again. If it is too thick you can add more water and if it is too watery you can add more coconut flour.
After cake has cooled, spread icing over cake.
Nutrition
Serving: 1piece | Calories: 264kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 204mg | Potassium: 589mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 3585IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 129mg | Iron: 2mg
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