Does the phrase “healthy dessert” seem like an oxymoron to you? If you’re like me, and want to have your cake and eat it too, I have an excellent recipe to share. In my opinion, carrot cake is one of the greatest creations since the discovery of the wheel. Unfortunately, most recipes are laden with butter and tons of sugar.
In my quest to stay lean and satisfy my sweet tooth, I did some experimenting and came up with an excellent recipe that combines healthy whole food, protein powder, and carrot cake. I can promise that once you make these delectable treats, you won’t be able to get enough!
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffin Comparison
Nutrition | BuiltLean Carrot Cake | Whole Foods | Shaw’s |
---|---|---|---|
Calories per serving (8oz.) | 71 | 360 | 277 |
Fat | 4.5g | 24g | 13g |
Saturated Fat | 1g | 7g | 3g |
Trans Fat | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Carbohydrates | 17g | 38g | 36g |
Sugar | 5g | 26g | 24g |
Fiber | 3g | 2g | <1g |
Protein | 11g | 5g | 3g |
As you can see, not all carrot cake is created equal, not even ones that may be considered “healthy”. Just because a recipe includes whole ingredients doesn’t mean that the loads of flour, butter, sugar are negated. In my opinion, that is an easy way to ruin a good vegetable!
A neat trick is to replace the white flour with heart-healthy oat or almond flour; you can do this with most traditional baked goods to significantly cut carbs without affecting the taste. If you really are trying to go low carb you can substitute half or all of the oat flour with almond flour which will add healthy fats and eliminate most of the carbohydrate.
Using whey powder and egg whites fortifies your dessert with muscle-building protein that helps you reach your diet goals instead of setting you back. Extra protein will also help you feel more satiated so you won’t have to go back for 2nds and 3rds whereas sugary stuff will make you hungrier.
In my carrot cake, I used both grated carrots as well as carrot pulp from my juicer. Since I hate wasting food, I decided to experiment with the carrot pulp one night. It was no surprise that they came out equally as delicious as when I used grated carrots! Just take note that they will be less moist since the pulp comes out dry.
If you want to add a few healthy optional ingredients, you could include raisins, crushed pineapple, walnuts or almonds. Although this will slightly modify the nutritional macros, they are all great additions to an already healthy treat!
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffin Recipe (servings: 14)
- – 8 egg whites
- – 1 cup Rolled Oats (*you may substitute ½ almond flour to lower carbs)
- – 4 scoops Whey Protein Powder (*unflavored or vanilla work best)
- – 2 tsp baking powder
- – 2 tbsp vanilla extract
- – 1-2 tsp Stevia (*or other sweetener)
- – 2 tsp Cinnamon
- – ½ tsp Cardamom
- – ½ tsp Ground Ginger
- – 1 cup Grated Carrots (*I used the pulp from my juicer)
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffin Preparation
Step 1: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well
Step 2: Carefully spoon mixture into muffin pan leaving about a ½ inch to the top of each cup
Step 3: Bake at 370 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove immediately and enjoy!
Hands down, these protein carrot cake muffins have easily become one of my favorite muscle-building snacks.
Do you like them? Love them? Have a healthy protein snack that takes minutes to prepare and tastes absolutely awesome? Let us know below and we can get some discussion going!
Well, it seems like tonight is a baking kinda night! 🙂
I just tried the frozen bananas yesterday and they were great!
Keep these coming, so that way we “can have the cake and eat it too”.
🙂
Super Thanks man. Just wanted to ask in the sweetener part I live in Dominican republic never heard of stevia before can I use honey there or splenda? . Cardamon does that has another name or any similar ?
huge difference! with the comparisons!
Thanks for sharing this recipe, Steve. I agree with Seb, the comparison is very surprising. One may think because they are shopping at Whole Foods that the food is healthy, but there is nothing healthy about eating over 8 teaspoons worth of sugar in one serving.
Stephen,
I’m going to try these as soon as possible. The only thing holding me back is confusion over the recipe. Should I use rolled oats or oat flour? I just don’t want to waste all the ingredients and then find out it was really oat flour instead.
Thanks.
Nate
I made these and used a combination of whole oats with soy flour and ground almonds, and sub’d in pea protein powder as am out of whey right now. I also added in a splash of milk as the batter seemed dry, and threw in some chopped dates and walnuts. They came out great! They didn’t rise too much, but make for great on-the-go protein snacks. I find that eaten with an apple and some almond butter, they’re the perfect mid afternoon snack to keep me going between lunch and dinner. Thanks for the recipe!
I followed the recipe strictly, using high-quality ingredients from Whole Foods Market, and the final product wasn’t very good. I think there might be an error somewhere. Maybe oat flour instead of rolled oats?
Che – Hope you enjoy, these muffins don’t disappoint!
Edwin – Any sweetener will work, it will just change the macros. Stevia is just a natural substitute for sugar. Cardamom is a baking spice, going without won’t change the recipe much but is great if you have it on hand!
Marc – But 8 tablespoons of sugar helps the medicine go down or something like that 😉
Nate – Oat flour is your best bet but if you don’t have any on hand you can make your own using rolled oats and a food processor or blender. It won’t be as fine but it doesn’t change the consistency.
Joanna – Your welcome! These protein and oat (or almond) flour recipes tend not to rise as much. My protein pancakes are the same and look more like crepes. They are really flat if you forget the baking powder as I have found out!
Looks awesome, stuff like this keeps me going! But I’m confused- the recipe says 71 calories, but there are 68 calories in just the 17g of carbs. And where does the 4.5g of fat come from? 1 cup of oats doesn’t have that much. Things aren’t adding up here!
Yeah I agree who calculated these values???
it should be 140.5 calories per 8 oz serving….
I am assuming the fat is from the oats and the protein powder.
Nice recipe but surely 2 tbsp vanilla essence must be an error? Maybe 2 tsp?