Fruit-Sweetened Carot Cake Loaf
This carrot cake loaf is sweetened with dates and applesauce and is made high in fiber thanks to whole wheat flour. A nutritious breakfast, snack or dessert.
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 1 cup pitted Medjool dates
- 1 cup apple sauce (room temperature)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup finely grated carrots
- 1 1/2 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- Pinch of clove
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Walnuts and raisins (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a loaf pan using butter or oil.
- In a food processor, add the dates, applesauce, oil and vanilla. Process until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Don't worry if you have small pieces of dates. Add the grated carrots and pulse a few times. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Transfer the date mixture to the bowl as well as the eggs. Stir it all together until combined.
- Transfer to the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Wait 10 minutes before slicing.
Video
Notes
You can add raisins and walnuts if you'd like.
The loaf was a little overly moist using spelt flour, but I still loved it. If you love extra moist (almost lightly undercooked) desserts, you can try it using spelt. Whole wheat flour resulted in a dryer, but still very moist loaf. I used whole wheat bread flour.
You can replace the olive oil with melted coconut oil or a light-tasting oil (like avocado oil) if you prefer.
I use a spoon and level method for measuring flour.
You can try replacing the apple sauce with crushed pineapple (in the same amount) or you can do half pineapple and half applesauce.