Hello friends, hope you all are enjoying the holiday season and eagerly waiting to welcome the New Year. I'm doing great and so are the kids too. Just another month before my mother leaves to Chennai. Hopefully, I can manage the 3 kids/boys (yes 3, including the biggest kid my husband) after she leaves.
But I have to give it to my husband this time. He is helpful than ever when compared to the time we had our first son. I haven't baked anything in the past 3 months except for the sugar-free cake recipe I'm going to share with you all today.
Actually, I haven't even been cooking anything different as often as I used to do before. I'm thinking of getting back on track again from this week onwards, please wish me luck so that I can stick to my plan.
At this moment I would also like to acknowledge that we have been receiving a lot of sincere suggestions/feedback from visitors through emails. Thank you very much for showing genuine interest in the growth of this website.
We are working towards making this blog more user-friendly and interactive. You will be seeing a lot of cool and interesting features in the days to come. Again everything depends on how well I'm going to manage the 24 hours we have.
It's not just any carrot cake, but a fat-free, sugar-free, vegan carrot cake made with whole wheat flour. As I type this all I can remember is the Thanksgiving episode of Friends featuring Brad Pitt (watch the first 30 seconds of the video).
I know what must be running in your mind. "How yucky can it get?"
But wait my dear friends, you are in for a total surprise when you taste this sugar-free cake. I know I say this a lot in a lot of the recipes here, but you have to believe me when I tell this "healthy doesn't have to taste bad; it can be damn good and this cake is definitely delicious for the health conscious people and the rest of us."
The specialty of this recipe is that it doesn't require any added sugar or artificial sugar substitutes like most of the sugar-free desserts call for. The cake gets its sweetness from dates and raisins. The only fat is from the walnuts, if you are using it. The credit for this wonderful sugar free cake goes to Beverly Lynn Bennett.
I just made some minor changes and the cake turned out very good. As for whole wheat flour, I used freshly milled flour and didn't find any difference at all in the taste. I'm not sure how the cake tastes with store-bought whole wheat flour.
I also increased the number of carrots and nuts to make it healthier. Bake this sugar-free cake for yourself to indulge without any guilt during this holiday season or it can also be a perfect gift especially for the special someone who cannot enjoy treats made of sugar.
Recipe
Sugar Free, Fat Free Vegan Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 and ¼ cups Water
- 1 and ¼ cups Dates Chopped
- 1 cup Raisins
- 1 teaspoon Allspice Powder
- 1 cup Carrots Shredded
- 1 cup Walnuts Chopped , optional
- ⅓ cup Carrot Juice (or any other juice)
- As Needed Water or some more juice depending upon the consistency of the batter.
Instructions
- Preheat oven for 15 minutes at 375F/190C. Lightly grease and line an 8 or 9 inch cake pan.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda and powder and salt; set aside.
- In a saucepan, combine together the water, dates, raisins and allspice powder. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Place the shredded carrots in a large bowl. Pour the hot liquid mixture on top of it and let it cool completely.
- Once it is cool add the chopped walnuts and carrot juice; combine it well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well together.
- Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Mine was done in about 40 minutes itself.
- If you have lined the cake pan with parchment paper you will be able to remove the cake just after 20 minutes. On the other hand if you have just greased the pan, it might take a couple of hours before you could remove the cake from the pan without breaking.
- This sugar free cake tasted absolutely delicious without frosting, but if you choose to frost wait for the cake to cool completely and frost it with your favorite frosting.
My Notes
- The original recipe calls for ½ cup each of shredded carrots and walnuts, but I have increased it to 1 cup each. I also used allspice powder instead a mix of various other spices because I didn't have them in hand.
- Also frozen orange juice concentrate has been used in the recipe, which I have substituted with carrot juice I had, which was not sweetened with added sugar. You may want to add about a tablespoon or 2 of water/juice to adjust the consistency of the batter.
Nutrition
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Brigitte Clark says
What is the total carbs content of the cake please?
Kajol says
I tried to bake for 1 hour but the tooth pick still didnt come clean
Madhuram says
Was the oven preheated?
Robin Casey says
Can I sub whole wheat for almond/coconut or rice flour? I have so many restrictions!
Madhuram says
Gluten-free flour may not work as well as the whole wheat flour/all-purpose flour. Maybe try halving the recipe and see how it turns out.
Radunka says
I don’t like allspice. What were the original spices as you mentioned you only had allspice in hand.
Madhuram says
I think it must have been cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg probably. It's been quite a few years since I made this cake.
Amanda says
Just made this and had my first slice! Absolutely delicious
I swapped the dates for prunes, it’s soo tasty. Thank you for sharing this recipe
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Amanda. Good to know that this recipe works well with prunes too.
Cynthia Bailey says
I made this cake for my husbands birthday and just pulled it out of the oven after only 20 minutes baking time! It looks and smells amazing. I used carrot pulp from our juicing and added some fresh pineapple. I hope my plant based husband loves it. I will be serving it along with brownies for the grandkids.
Madhuram says
Hope the cake was baked enough and your husband liked it, Cynthia. Using carrot pulp from the juicer sounds awesome!
Nicole says
Dont be silly. It obviously means none added. Any carbohydrate other than fibre breaks down to sugar so if you truly want zero fat and zero carbs then just have a slice of ice and stop looking at dessert recipes. Flour = sugar.
Madhuram says
Thank you for the comment, Nicole.
TD says
I was worried as I had to keep on adding juice and wasn't sure if I had just completely botched it, but the end result was a delicious moist cake! Thank you!
Madhuram says
You're welcome, TD.
Verna says
Are there any changes to be made if I use whole wheat pastry flour, also can buttermilk be used?, if so how much and Thanks in advance.
Madhuram says
Yes, you can use whole wheat pastry flour. You may replace the orange juice with the same quantity of buttermilk.
Patricia says
Hi I made this with left over pulp from carrot juice because we always have so much. The fact that this didn’t have any (added) sugar or fat was wonderful and I loved that everything was natural! Just what I was looking for and I apologise for those who missed the point of this recipe and what you were trying to provide. In no way was this misleading! Thank you for sharing. God bless
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for trying the recipe, Patricia, and especially for being such a kind soul. Please accept my heartfelt gratitude.
yen says
hi. can i repace the whole wheat flour with chickpea flour? thank u
Madhuram says
Sorry, Yen. It might or might not work. Chickpea flour is gluten-free and generally baking recipes that are gluten-free need a lot of tweaking. So I'm not sure without trying it for myself.
Jim Cirillo says
How do you get by with saying this recipe is fat free and sugar-free? You need to change that because it’s a misnomer! Dates, raisins, and carrots all have sugar in them so it’s not sugar-free. Walnuts have fat in them so it’s not fat free! I’m not trying to be ugly, but let’s be truthful here!
Madhuram says
I have updated the title and made walnuts optional.
Christine says
This is an awesome and easy cake to make. I now double the recipe and it is perfect for snacking. I do lower the amount of dates so it is not as sweet. I have added grated ginger , coconut flakes, even tried with anis. This recipe is a perfect base to try our different flavours. Wonder if could replace carrots with zucchini’s or apples. Thank you.
Madhuram says
That's awesome Christine! Yes you can use zucchini or apples too instead of carrots.
Madeline says
Is it possible to double this recipe without it getting too heavy? I would bake it in a bundt pan and probably add a few minutes to the baking time.
Madhuram says
I'm guessing that the recipe will be too dense to double and bake it in a bundt pan.
Katarina Stuart says
Two cups of whole wheat flour contains 6g fat. One cup of walnuts contains 14g Fat. If you have CAD you could go to bed after eating this cake ... and never wake up!
Madhuram says
The fat-free mentioned in this recipe is added fat like oil and butter.
Christine Ingall says
could you give your recipes in grams too please, i have been looking at conversion charts and they differ widely.
Madhuram says
Sorry that I'm not of much help here, Christine. I have got used to measuring in standard US cup measurements. Did you by chance take a look at the conversion charts I have on the baking measurements page?
Andrea says
I made the carrot cake. It is delicious. The second time I made it I used one cup of whole wealth flour and I used one cup of oat flour. I just puréed a cup of oat meal. Even better. Thank you so much.
Madhuram says
That's great to know, Andrea. Thank you for the feedback.
Kaye says
Can we skip the dates and raisins? What can be replaced that is not sweet ?
Madhuram says
Dates and raisins are used in this recipe to substitute sugar. May be you can try stevia or monk fruit sweeteners.
E Chen says
Can you provide the nutrition chart? I would like to know how much grams of fat per serving. I want to make this for my friend who can't process too much fat due to removal of gallbladder.
Madhuram says
The below would be nutrition info (approximately) if you omit the walnuts;
Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1 slice
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories 170
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.3g 0%
Saturated Fat 0.1g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 168mg 7%
Total Carbohydrate 40.9g 15%
Dietary Fiber 2.8g 10%
Total Sugars 19.8g
Protein 3.1g
Vitamin D 0mcg 0%
Calcium 39mg 3%
Iron 1mg 8%
Potassium 320mg 7%
Madhuram says
The following would be the nutrition info (without adding walnuts so that you can keep it as low fat as possible)
Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1 slice
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories 170
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0.3g 0%
Saturated Fat 0.1g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 168mg 7%
Total Carbohydrate 40.9g 15%
Dietary Fiber 2.8g 10%
Total Sugars 19.8g
Protein 3.1g
Vitamin D 0mcg 0%
Calcium 39mg 3%
Iron 1mg 8%
Potassium 320mg 7%
Leeanne Giggey says
So the daily values do not change whether or not you use the walnuts? I would have thought the fats would be altered. Anyway, I just wanted to say I am very excited to make this cake. I am new to the vegan lifestyle and my husband is diabetic, so is our friend. My husband is not a fan of my choice of foods. I want to surprise him with his favorite cake but not tell him it is a vegan recipe until I get his reaction to it. The only thing that would make it better is sugar free icing. Do you have such a recipe?
Madhuram says
Yes, the caloric value and other macro nutrients will change if you add walnuts. Sorry, I do not have a sugar-free icing recipe.