I was never a huge carrot cake fan, mainly because I never really ate it. It wasn’t usually what I went for when I wanted a treat, and when I was younger dessert with carrots in it seemed counterintuitive. I decided to make these healthy carrot cake cupcakes the other day and am SO happy I did! They turned out so moist and delicious!

I started baking more and more during quarantine, I had absolutely nothing else I had to be doing and nothing soothes boredom like baking and eating. But I also really wanted to make sure I didn’t come out feeling worse than when I went in. I wanted to use the time in quarantine to better myself. So that plan didn’t include indulging in a ton of high sugar, bad fat, nutrient-poor treats! Replacing normal treats for healthier versions are a big part of creating a healthy lifestyle (in and out of quarantine). That’s the main reason I started finding healthier options for the desserts I like!

For all of my recipes, I try and use all-natural, organic ingredients. There have been studies showing how ‘conventional’ food production (aka non-organic) can create a lot of different health issues. But I do understand that organic food can be a bit pricy. So my suggestion would be (if possible) try to at least get pasture-raised eggs and organic carrots. These are the two ingredients that I think are the most important to get organic.

For baking these healthy carrot cake cupcakes (and anything else I bake) I try to use reusable cupcake liners. I’m doing my best to produce as little waste as I can (it’s a slow process but I’m working on it).

The first time I made these I didn’t measure anything and spent the next three batches trying to figure out exactly what I did. Some turned out really good and some turned out not as good but in all of the batches I only got to try one or two. They would disappear so quickly I barely got to try any of them and figure out what I wanted to change in the recipe. But I figured it out and it turned out so good! Having the right tools

Healthy Carrot Cake Recipe

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 3 scoops unflavored protein powder
• 2 Tbs coconut flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tsp ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 2 Tbs maple syrup
• 2 Tbs coconut oil
• 1/4 c. pecans
• 1/4 c. walnuts
• 1/2 c. raisins
• 1 c. shredded carrots

Frosting ingredients:

• 1/2 c. coconut cream
• 1 scoop protein powder
• 1 Tbs honey
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Mix all dry ingredients, raisins, pecans, walnuts, and carrots into a bowl.
3. Melt the 2 Tbs. of coconut oil and mix in the wet ingredients, whisk continuously while adding to the wet ingredients so it doesn’t cook the eggs.
4. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients
5. Scoop the batter into a lined cupcake tray (2/3 of the ways up)
6. Bake for around 16 minutes.
7. When the cupcakes are baking start the frosting
8. Mix all the ingredients for the frosting and cool in the fridge until the cupcakes are fully baked and cooled.

I’m going to give some of the usual health benefits of the ingredients in these healthy carrot cake cupcakes and all of that. If you’re curious and want to know there are studies linked if not or you don’t really care you can skip this part no judgment! But I want to point out while there are some general health benefits of these ingredients this is still a treat. A lot of times people, and by people I mean me, use a healthy a treat as a free pass to eat the whole batch.

Health Benefits

The main things I’m going to focus on are the carrots, nuts, and raisins, well because that’s all that is really healthy in this. The rest makes it delicious and bakeable but doesn’t actually contribute that much to the overall health benefits (I mean I could go over every single thing and make this post ridiculously long and boring). The honey and maple syrup add some minerals. The eggs and protein powder add protein (shocking I know!) The coconut and olive oil add good healthy fats and the almond flour add carbohydrates.

Carrots

The carrots have different phytochemicals in them. Phytochemicals are different from vitamins and minerals. The phytochemicals are mainly carotenoids, ascorbic acids, polyacetylenes, and phenolics. A study shows that these phytochemicals reduce the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease because they contain anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxidant properties. Carrots also contain vitamin A is also called the ant-inflammatory vitamin because it plays a big role in the development and regulation of the immune system. In a time like this, anything that can help boost my immune system is a win for me. Biotin (one of the B vitamins) helps the body use and breakdown fats, carbs, and proteins. Carrots also contain vitamin K1, which helps with having healthy blood by helping it coagulate normally. It also helps to keep bones strong by helping to move calcium into the bones and incorporate them into the matrix that makes up bones. It also contains potassium which helps to reduce and normalize blood pressure and can help reduce age-related bone loss. Vitamin B6 is the last one we are going to go over. Vitamin B6 is crucial for cellular metabolism and is being shown to be important for mental health because it helps make important neurotransmitters.

Raisins

This section is going to be a little shorter than the one above. Mainly because there is some overlap in the vitamins and minerals. Raisins contain Calcium and boron which helps with mineral metabolism and helps keep bones strong. Raisins also contain phenols and polyphenols are antioxidants that help protect against the development of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Pecans and Walnuts

Nuts also have the antioxidants (phenols and polyphenols that we talked about above). Nuts are also a really good source of omega-3. Omega-3 is important for brain health and also in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Nuts are also a good source of dietary fat which is important for cell and brain health because they play an important role in the function and structure. Good amounts of dietary fat help with cognition (thinking and brain function), emotions, and behavior.

If you read all of that good for you! Go make these healthy treats and know that you are doing something to improve your health!