Oatmeal Carrot Cake
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Published Mar 22, 2023, Updated Apr 28, 2023
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This healthy oatmeal carrot cake is studded with carrots and raisins, naturally sweetened with maple syrup and topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting. It’s gluten-free and super easy to whip up in your blender.
If my carrot cake baked oatmeal and these carrot cake bars had a baby the end result would be this oatmeal carrot cake!
This recipe is a little more indulgent than baked oatmeal (especially with the cream cheese frosting!), but healthier than your typical carrot cake, which is exactly what I was going for. I’d say mission accomplished!
This cake is awesome for an everyday healthier dessert option, but it would also be perfect for Easter or Mother’s Day brunch! And want to know the best thing about this recipe? It’s so easy to whip up… just add all your ingredients to a blender, blend until smooth, bake, frost and serve!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s a healthy twist on a classic dessert.
- Comes together quickly in a blender. No bowls needed!
- The cream cheese frosting takes this cake to the next level!
Ingredients Needed
- old fashioned rolled oats – my fave brand is Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free old-fashioned rolled oats. If you’re gluten-free make sure to grab certified gluten-free oats. I do not recommend swapping in steel cut oats for this recipe.
- ground cinnamon – you can’t have carrot cake without cinnamon!
- baking soda and salt – two baking essentials.
- orange juice – adds a pop of citrus and helps to keep this cake moist.
- applesauce – provides moisture without adding extra fat.
- maple syrup – the perfect natural sweetener for this oatmeal carrot cake.
- eggs – helps the cake rise and binds the ingredients together.
- olive oil or avocado oil – just a little oil to keep this cake moist and add some healthy fats.
- vanilla extract – the perfect flavor enhancer!
- shredded carrots – the star of the show here! You can use store-bought grated carrots to save time or peel and grate carrots yourself.
- raisins – I love the hint of natural sweetness the raisins add to this carrot cake. Just make sure you’re using unsweetened raisins.
- cream cheese frosting – this cake wouldn’t be a complete carrot cake recipe without a cream cheese frosting! I used my healthy cream cheese frosting, which is made with cream cheese, greek yogurt, maple syrup and vanilla.
- chopped walnuts – optional, but this adds a nice nutty crunch to the top of this cake.
How to Make
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray three 6-inch cake pans with cooking spray or coconut oil and set aside.
Step 2: Add 2 ½ cups rolled oats, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, orange juice, applesauce, maple syrup, eggs, oil and vanilla extract to a high-powered blender. Blend until smooth, using a tamper as needed.
Step 3: Once mixture is combined gently stir in remaining 1 ½ cup oats, shredded carrots and raisins.
Step 4: Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Step 5: Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove cake from pans and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cake is at room temperature frost it with your favorite frosting and top with chopped walnuts if you prefer. Cut cake and serve.
Substitutions & Notes
- Orange juice: If you don’t have orange juice on hand you could use pineapple juice or more applesauce.
- Applesauce: If you don’t have applesauce you could try using mashed banana or canned crushed pineapple instead.
- Maple syrup: Honey or agave nectar could be used instead of maple syrup.
- Eggs – I haven’t tested this recipe without eggs, so I’m not sure how a vegan substitute like flax eggs or chia seed eggs would work, but let me know in the comments if you decide to try it!
- Raisins – If you aren’t a raisin fan, you can use chopped dates, figs or skip them altogether.
- Walnuts – These are optional, so feel free to skip them or you can sub them with a different nut like almonds or pecans.
- Frosting – I love the carrot cake + cream cheese frosting combo but feel free to use your favorite store-bought or homemade frosting. Vanilla buttercream would be my second choice.
- Pan – I tested this cake in two 8″ pans and it turned out well! The layers just needed a little more time to bake. I would say 25-30 minutes is good.
What to Serve With Oatmeal Carrot Cake
I love having this oatmeal carrot cake as a healthy dessert option, but it would also make for a great addition to an Easter brunch spread and this is what I’d serve it with:
- Coffee: Cold Brew Coffee or a warm cup of coffee
- Eggs: Dairy-Free Spinach Quiche or Kale and Feta Crustless Quiche
- Fresh fruit: Easy Fruit Salad
- Adult Drinks: Mimosas or this Easy Bellini
- A salad: Strawberry Salad or Easy Spinach Salad
How to Make in Advance
You can totally make this cake ahead of time for a special occasion! Just let the cake layers cool completely then wrap separately in plastic wrap and leave on the counter or fridge for up to 2 days. Then frost as directed. If you need to store it for longer I would store the individual layers separately in an airtight container or bag (I love my Stasher bags). The day before you’re ready to serve, let the layers thaw in the fridge then assemble and decorate as desired!
How to Store Leftovers
Store any leftovers in an airtight sealed container on the counter at room temperature for 1-2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. For longer storage, you can store this cake in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Cake Recipes to Try
- Grandma Miller’s Pound Cake
- 3 Ingredient Icebox Cake
- Vegan Coffee Cake
- Healthy Birthday Cake
- Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Easy Berry Cake
- Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Healthy Carrot Cake Bars
- Easy Strawberry Cake
More Oatmeal Recipes to Try
- Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies
- Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
- Baked Oatmeal Cups 4-Ways
- Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal
- Zucchini Bread Baked Oatmeal
- Blueberry Lemon Baked Oatmeal
- Easy Basic Overnight Oats
Check out all of the oatmeal recipes as well as the full collection of dessert recipes here on EBF!
Oatmeal Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 4 cups old fashioned rolled oats, divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup pulp-free orange juice
- ¾ cup applesauce
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup shredded carrots
- ¾ cup raisins
- Healthy cream cheese frosting
- Chopped walnuts for topping, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray three 6-inch cake pans with cooking spray or coconut oil and set aside.
- Add 2 ½ cups rolled oats, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, orange juice, applesauce, maple syrup, eggs, oil and vanilla extract to a high powdered blender. Blend until smooth, using a tamper as needed.
- Once batter is combined gently fold in remaining 1 ½ cup oats, shredded carrots and raisins.
- Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove cake from pans and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cake is at room temperature frost it with the healthy cream cheese frosting and top with chopped walnuts, if desired.
- Cut cake and serve.
Video
Notes
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- 6″ pans: I tested this cake in two 8″ pans and it worked well! I would just bake the cake a little longer (25-30 minutes). My layers were done at 27 minutes!
- Orange juice: If you don’t have orange juice on hand you could use pineapple juice or more applesauce.
- Applesauce: If you don’t have applesauce you could try using mashed banana or canned crushed pineapple instead.
- Maple syrup: Honey or agave nectar could be used instead of maple syrup.
- Eggs – I haven’t tested this recipe without eggs, so I’m not sure how a vegan substitute like flax seed eggs or chia seed eggs would work, but let me know in the comments if you decide to try it!
- Raisins – If you aren’t a raisin fan, you can use chopped dates, figs or skip them all together.
- Walnuts – These are optional, so feel free to skip them or you can sub them with a different nut like almonds or pecans.
- Frosting – I love the carrot cake + cream cheese frosting combo, but feel free to use your favorite store-bought or homemade frosting.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Looks yummy – Do you think it will work with flax seed eggs instead?
Hey Terri, I haven’t tried it, but I bet it would work! Definitely let me know if you end up trying it and how the cake turns out.
These came out wonderful as cupcakes! I like that the recipe yielded 19 so I can stay on track with proper serving size! Next time I will shred the carrots instead of cheating and using julienned carrots!
Ah this is great, Rebekah! Thank you so much for sharing! I am glad to hear that this recipe turned out great as cupcakes and you enjoyed them. Thank you for sharing your review + star rating, it means so much to me!
Do you think this could be made as cupcakes and what would your experience tell you am about bake time and temperature?
Hey Jean – I am not sure. This is a denser cake, so I’m not sure how the recipe would turn out as cupcakes. But I bet it would turn out similar to my baked oatmeal cups though. Let me know if you end up trying it and how the recipes turns out!
Can I make this in a 13 x 9?
Hi Shelly – I haven’t tried this recipe in a 9×13 pan, but I bet it would work. I’m just not 100% on the cook time. Definitely keep me posted if you end up trying it and how it turns out for you.
Hi Brittany, I don’t have a blender. – could I use a food processor for the first part then just hand mix-in the rest of the ingredients ?
Yes! Thank should work great. Hope you enjoy this recipe, let me know how it turns out!
Would substituting more applesauce for orange juice be the same amount?
Hi Olivia – I haven’t tested it, but a 1:1 sub should work great!
I made this and it turned out perfectly delicious!! I used more applesauce in place of the oil and left out the raisins, not a fan. It is so moist that the oil is not needed at all. I had shredded carrots so it pulsed them on the food processor until they were minced. I also used my food processor (don’t have a blender) for the batter since we travel full-time in an RV and space is limited. Just had to be careful it was a lot of batter and a little too deep for the center hole when the blade was removed. I also used 2 8″ pans. I will definitely be making this again. Well done and thank you!!!
Aw this is great! I am so glad you are loving this recipe and it turned out great for you, Bobbie. Thank you so much for sharing your review + star rating, I really appreciate it!
Tremendous
Thank you!!
Such a great Easter cake! I am loving my first oatmeal cake (even cold out of the fridge with a hot cup of coffee at 6am). I topped with your EBF cream cheese icing recipe and walnuts. I have two tips for people thinking of making this. I would take the time to grate small-medium carrots. I opted for the bag of shredded carrots from the store but they are not as sweet as if you use smaller carrots. It’s not a deal-breaker but there is a difference! Also, give your batter a really good blend. If your baking soda is not evenly mixed through, any little clump can turn your carrots in that spot green (carrots are sensitive to this)!! My family is totally happy with this cake but I can’t help evaluating my cake for my next bake!
Woo! I am excited to hear that this cake is a hit, appreciate your feedback as well. Thank you for sharing your review + star rating, it means so much to me!
This was amazing! I halved the recipe and used a single 8×8 square pan and it came out perfect. I will definitely be making it again!
YUM! I am so glad this recipe turned out great of you and it was a hit, Courtney. Thank you for sharing your review + star rating, I really appreciate it!