This has to be a quick one this morning since I am shortly off to catch the train up to Teddington to do a spot of judging for the Nature’s Path and Waitrose competition that I wrote about here.
At the beginning of the week I was having a peek at fellow judge and brilliant blogger, Carly Talbot’s site (Gluten free B) and came across a recipe for little sugar-free carrot cakes. It looked like a fabulous recipe (of course, they all are) and so I decided to have a go. Only me, being me, couldn’t possibly follow the recipe. Instead I used it as inspiration for my own version of these beauties.
Mine contain nuts so may not be any good to some of you, but I added them in to increase the protein content and decrease the carbs. I also added flax seeds for additional goodies!
They are beautiful and moist, taste divine and got an all round thumbs up from everyone in the family. They would be even more impressive with some honey-sweetened cream cheese frosting (I would suggest 4tsp to a tub of full fat cream cheese, plus the zest of an orange) but I was trying to do a recipe completely free of any sugar bar that naturally found in fruit.
So here they are. Let me know what you think!
Super Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 ripe bananas
- 60 g pitted dates
- 30 g dried apricots preferably the brown ones without sulphites
- 30 g dried mixed fruit
- 2 medium carrots
- 60 g coconut oil I used Biona mild that doesn't have any taste
- 2 medium free-range eggs
- 1 tsp ground flax seeds
- 75 g gluten-free self raising flour
- 75 g ground almonds
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Method
- Grate the carrots.
- Place all the fruit and the grated carrots along with the oil and eggs into a food processor or mini chopper and leave to mix on high for a couple of minutes.
- Add all the remaining ingredients and mix for a further minute or so. By this time the carrot will be nicely chopped up and won't be noticed!
- Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases in a muffin tray.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees (160 degree fan oven), gas mark 4 for 17 - 20 minutes until springy to the touch.
- Leave to cool and add frosting if you want it.
This is a very forgiving recipe. It can be made suitable for the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) by replacing the flour with the same amount of ground almonds and by skipping the baking soda. It can even be made without banana’s if you don’t have them. I forgot to add them one time I made them and they were still ok (but I did add 2 tbsp coconut sugar instead).
I shared this recipe with:
I have also entered these into a competition being run by Eat your veg and Bangers & Mash for Family Foodies!
Sonia says
These look lovely! I am going to make these next week for the kids lunches! I’m having to stop using milk for my daughter so am finding your blog very helpful right now x
The Free From Fairy says
Great! Not that your daughter has to give up milk…that is not great at all! But I am glad that you are enjoying my recipes. Let me know how your muffins turn out and when the kids liked them. I am about to make another batch…the perfect ‘healthy’ treat for lunchboxes or hungry kids at hometime!
Michelle Twin Mum says
Ohh yum and the honey cream cheese frosting sounds divine too. Mich x
The Free From Fairy says
Mmm, next batch is going to have the frosting too…just for a bit of naughtyness…although to be honest they don’t need it!
Mel says
These muffins look delicious, Vicki! Next time I see you, can you bring some along please? x
The Free From Fairy says
Give them a go! They seriously take about 5 mins to prep and you won’t regret it!
mummytries says
Love the sound of these my dear, they look fab too. Clever lady 🙂
The Free From Fairy says
Ah, thanks! We are crumble addicts at the moment!! Had it again last night with lovely blackberries from the park!
Dave says
Hey Vicki I am still new to this whole thing of baking for yourself, can you tell me where I’d normally be able to get ground flax seeds and coconut oil? I’d love to make a carrot cake proper, my additional difficulty is I have to avoid cows milk, but can get by with goats. IN cakes this can make them taste as good as the ‘normal’ version. Do you have a way to make this into a normal tin carrot cake. When I make stuff my family loves it, even though I’m the only Coeliac, a tinned Carrot cake would probably last a bit longer than individual cakes ;-).
Thanks again
The Free From Fairy says
Hi Dave, so glad you are starting to experiment with baking for yourself…you will get some great tasting cakes compared with what you can buy! If you have any questions then just ask. And don’t expect everything to go well the first time!! We all have bad days (am having one today for some reason!). I buy linseeds from Tesco (in wholefood section) and grind them into a powder with my coffee grinder, then keep in the freezer to retain the nutrients. You can buy milled linseeds or flaxseeds (same thing but called different things sometimes!) from supermarkets too. I buy my coconut oil from Amazon. I get the Biona brand and if you don’t like the taste of coconut you can use their ‘cuisine’ one which has no flavour! With this recipe you could just sub this for sunflower oil…the reason I use coconut (only virgin) is because it has many health benefits. This recipe has no dairy in it, apart from the icing so I would go with this recipe but put the mixture in a round or square tin and bake for about 40 mins (you will need to check on it – it may need more – you will know it is done when a skewer comes out clean. You could ice it with a mixture of icing sugar and lemon or orange juice – make it quite thick so it stays on the top. I think that would be lovely…or just have it without icing (which is what we have and it is delicious!). Let me know how you get on!
Dave says
Wow thanks for the comprehensive response, and the tips. Great help thanks for the inspiration and encouragement 😉
D.
The Free From Fairy says
You are welcome!
Michelle Murray says
Wow these look delicious. I do have a weak spot for a piece of cake cake!
The Free From Fairy says
…and this is healthy carrot cake…really!! They are so moist you would never know they didn’t have sugar in. Let me know if you make them!
Honest Mum says
Will be trying these without the nuts, utterly scrumptious! Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays
The Free From Fairy says
Oh yes, they would work fine without the nuts…just use flour instead…oat flour would be good. I only put nuts in to add protein 😉
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
I love that they are super healthy and cake!!! Delicious x #BakeoftheWeek
The Free From Fairy says
Oh yes! If I can make cake and make it even a little bit healthy then I do!! 😉
Helen at Casa Costello says
Brilliant recipe – I love the fact that these will taste delicious but be healthy too. Thanks so much for joining in with #Bakeoftheweek – great to have you part of the team x
The Free From Fairy says
Ah thanks Helen. I will to remember to drop by again soon!
Xeni says
Made these this afternoon with the honey cream cheese icing. Very possibly the best cakes I’ve ever made, thank you! I don’t bother looking elsewhere now for cake recipes – free from fairy ones are always brilliant and always turn out really well.
Vicki Montague says
Ah thank you!! I honestly didn’t pay her to say that although she is a friend of mine ;)! Thanks for your very sweet message – it has perked my day up!
Lou, Eat Your Veg says
How lovely to see cakes totally sweetened naturally with dried fruits and zero added sugar! That’s one impressive recipe and very fitting for January’s ‘Family Foodies’ ‘Healthy Kids’ event.
Vicki Montague says
Thanks Lou! They are super scrummy too!