A wonderful, fruity, sin-free take on the classic carrot cake. It is possible to remove the flax seed meal, however it is widely available at health food stores. Due to its moistness, this cake is best enjoyed cold.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs |
| Total Time: | 9 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 – 9×5 inch loaf |
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites
- ⅔ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup nonfat milk
- ⅓ cup applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract (Optional)
- 1 ⅓ cups whole wheat flour
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
- ¼ cup raisins
- ½ (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup grated carrot
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly oil a 9×5 inch loaf pan with vegetable cooking spray.
- Whisk together the egg whites, sugar, milk, applesauce, vanilla, and almond extract in a small bowl; mix until well blended. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, whole wheat flour, flax seed, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and baking soda. Mix the egg into the flour; stir until well blended. Fold in the walnuts, raisins, carrot, and drained pineapple. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (but not necessarily dry), about 40 minutes. Set aside to cool for 10 to 20 minutes before refrigerating overnight.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 178 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 34 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g |
| Sodium | 131 mg |
| Sugars | 15 g |
| Fat | 4 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made it and followed exactly, but middle wasn’t done on the bottom for some reason. They would probably be best as muffins. I agree that it seems more like a quick bread than dessert. I did add a touch of pineapple cream cheese frosting which bumped it up a notch.
It came out like a brick and the amount of cloves is way too much- it overpowered everything. Don’t waste your time and money –
More like “carrot bread” … part of a nutritious breakfast.
Yes, I agree it isn’t cake but luckily I was looking for a high fiber bread that didn’t have an extreme amount of sugar and fat. I have made this many times. I cut it up and freeze then micro it and wahla – breakfast. I may try to reduce the sugar in the next batch as I am working my way to a healthier lifestyle. Thank you Janice, it’s a winner in my book!
I wish we could give 1/2 stars because 3 seems too low and 4 seems a little too much. My boyfriend didn’t eat a second bite and that is rare because he’s usually easy to please. Healthy or not, he’s usually easy to please. It didn’t sit as well with him as it did me, I enjoyed this recipe. Yeah, it’s MOIST (maybe too moist) and dense, rather heavy. It’s far from seeming “sin free” to me, lol. I drove up half the loaf to my mother in Indi this morning and she liked it. And she’s not one to fib. I am not sure I’ll make it again seeing how I’ll be the only one eating it. There’s too much going on in this recipe if you ask me. The ingredient list never stops and as I said, it’s heavy. At any rate, it was fun venturing, thanks Janice.
Baked em at 350 for 20 minutes and they came out great, if you want more flavor, simply add more of the flavor you want. Its not difficult.
This is a great way to incorporate healthy foods into a tasty treat. I followed the recipe to the T except for I used the whole can of crushed pineapple. I made muffins and they were done in 25 min. Tastes great and good for ya!
WOW! I love it! It is more bread-y than cake-y, but that didn’t stop my husband from smearing cream cheese frosting all over a slice and devouring it!! I can’t wait to pop a slice into the toaster oven tomorrow morning. Making the recipe, I baked it for the recommended time and didn’t have a problem with it being baked enough. I didn’t have any almond extract so I added walnut oil (it’s what I had on hand). I will make this again for sure! **EDIT** Crud! The -ends- were perfectly baked but the middle is still kinda gooey. DRAT! Like another reviewer said, maybe it needs a longer time at a slightly lower temperature. *I also think that NOT baking it in a loaf pan would help!!* I’ll still give the recipe 5 stars because it’s a cook’s error and not necessarily the fault of the recipe.
A cake it’s not, but it makes a really excellent breakfast bread. I omitted the walnuts because I didn’t have any, and used 1/2 cup of golden raisins.
As other reviewers mentioned, it is more like quickbread. So I baked 12 muffins with this recipe for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. It turned out a little bit dry on surface but inside was okay so I will try lower degrees or shorter time for the next time. Recently using flax seed is a kind of my trend so I used 1/3 cup of ground flax seed. I skipped all-purpose flour and used 1 2/3 cups of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of oat bran. I usually make “Bran Flax Muffins” on this site and am looking for something another as healthy, fiberly and tasty as “Bran Flax Muffins”. I am glad to find this could be the one.
This was really tasty, but i wouldn’t call it carrot cake as it was not suitable as a dessert. It was more of a dense,fruity quick bread to have with coffee. I’ll probably make this again, it is a very healthy and diet friendly recipe for a quick bread.
A healthy mix of ingredients that resulted in a nice tasting carrot bread. Thumbs up from my 6 year old. NOTE: Although I tested it with a toothpick, mine still turned out a little goopy in the middle.