A More Wholesome Take on Carrot Cake

Sometimes a good old-fashioned carrot cake chock full of granulated sugar, canola oil and white flour and topped with cream cheese frosting is just the cake to celebrate a special occasion, but other times, a slimmed down version is what’s called for. Such was the case last week when I was looking for a recipe that had low or no sugar so Sam’s dad, who is diabetic, could enjoy it as a treat.

When I searched for “no sugar added carrot cake” on Google, I was directed to diabetic recipes that simply substituted the regular sugar with Splenda or another sugar substitute. I didn’t know much about the effect of sugar substitutes on diabetes, but I knew I wanted to take a more natural approach and not use sugar substitutes.

I was about to make a carrot cake and simply leave out the sugar, knowing full well that this would undoubtedly affect the tenderness and texture of the cake. It would be the first in a series of experimental cakes until I found a good solution to my no-sugar-added goal.

Luckily, I didn’t have to experiment at all. I found a Carrot Cake recipe on Heidi Swanson’s blog “101 Cookbooks” that uses bananas and dates instead of sugar to sweeten the cake slightly. Not only that, the recipe calls for whole grain pastry flour instead of white flour—an added bonus.

Sam’s dad liked the carrot cake and was happy to finally partake in dessert with the rest of us. Sam, his mom and I were equally pleased with the cake. This cake is not very sweet, so don’t expect it to taste like the traditional sugar-loaded carrot cake. We also found that the flavor and texture improved on the second day, meaning this is a great make-ahead item.

I’ve included a list of the ingredients below in case you’re curious what else goes into the cake. For the recipe, check out “101 Cookbooks.”

Ingredients:

whole wheat pastry flour
baking powder
cinnamon
fine grain sea salt
walnuts
unsalted butter
dried dates
ripe bananas
grated carrots
plain Greek yogurt
eggs