A weird thing about carrot cake is that, even though it’s got a vegetable in its name, many carrot cake recipes are actually pretty unhealthy. Luckily, a few people have found ways to invent carrot cake recipes that are nearly as healthy as the cake’s name might imply. On myrecipes.com, we found a commendable carrot cake concoction by dietician Kathie Kitchens Downie. Then we tweaked it to make it a bit more fiber-friendly. So keep reading for a heart-healthy carrot cake recipe that tastes delish!

While the myrecipes.com version of carrot cake has .9 grams of fiber per serving, we traded 1 cup of all-purpose flour out in exchange for a 1 cup of high-fiber coconut flour, giving our version about 3 grams of fiber per serving – or about 2.5 grams without the FiberLove decoration. (If you were to only use high-fiber coconut flour, rather than a mix with all-purpose flour, each piece of cake would have almost 5 grams of fiber – but your cake might have a weird texture. Another option is to use part coconut flour and part whole wheat flour.) With the American Heart Association recommending 25 grams of daily fiber for women and 38 grams for men, a slice of this cake can help you get to where you want to be.

We also used way less sugar in the cream cheese frosting – but don’t worry, it still tastes wonderful 😉

So without further ado, here’s our recipe!

Fiber Friendly Carrot Cake Recipe

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the cake

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour)
• 1 cup coconut flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups grated carrot (about 2.5 to 3 large carrots should do the trick, if you’re grating the carrots yourself)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 large eggs (or ¾ cup egg whites)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup low-fat buttermilk
• Cooking spray
• A 13×9 cake pan, two mixing bowls, and some measuring cups/spoons

For the frosting

• 8 oz 1/3 fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Carrot Cake FiberLove bar (or your flavor of choice)
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts

Here’s what you do with it:

First:

Preheat your oven to 350°. And put some cooking spray in that cake pan.

Next:

Mix both types of flour with baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Stir it up. Then stir in your 2 cups of grated carrot. (Grating the carrot yourself can be kind of time-consuming, so just be aware of that.)

Then:

In a separate large bowl, add the sugar, brown sugar and butter. Beat with a mixer or spoon until the ingredients are fully integrated. Add vanilla, then mix in each egg (or egg white) one at a time.

Now:

You’ll want to combine the contents of the first bowl with the contents of the second bowl, adding the buttermilk and mixing thoroughly. You’ll get a nice thick cake batter.

Finally:

Pour the batter into your greased 13×9 pan and spread it evenly. Pop the pan in your pre-heated oven for about 28 minutes, or until you can stick a wooden toothpick in the center of the cake and have it come out clean. Let the cake cool before you frost it.

To make the frosting:

Pretty simple. Combine the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and powdered sugar. Whip it ‘til it’s creamy.

Finishing touches:

Decorate your cake with walnuts and FiberLove! By cutting up one FiberLove bar and adding it to your icing, you’re adding 12 grams of fiber to the cake! Carrot Cake FiberLove is a perfect taste buddy flavor choice. But Cinnamon Raisin is a great option too! Serves 20.

Fiber Friendly Carrot Cake Recipe bonus benefits:

Adding high-fiber coconut flour to your cake will make each piece more filling, so you’ll want to eat less at a time. (You’ll probably still want to eat the whole cake though. It tastes pretty dang good.) Adding FiberLove to the icing also makes the cake more chewy, which means that eating each piece will take a bit longer, giving your stomach more time to realize that it’s satisfied.

What are your favorite healthy cake recipes?

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