Sweet Potato Carrot Cake
UPDATED RECIPE: Paleo carrot cake made with sweet potatoes. Topped with creamy lemon frosting made from white sweet potatoes. A healthy carrot cake recipe that is gluten free and dairy free. Moist and flavorful carrot cake perfect for spring!
Well, you guys asked for it, so here it is: paleo carrot cake made with sweet potatoes…
And sweet potato frosting. 🙂
Yup!
We are fully committed to the sweet potatoes frosting and all.
Sweet potatoes are in the cake, the frosting, and all over my kitchen.
This layer cake is sandwiched with creamy lemon frosting made from white sweet potatoes, because you haven’t heart the word potatoes enough, right?
I have to say, this is not your average carrot cake!
But it’s a health lovers carrot cake for sure. 🙂
If you don’t like sweet potatoes, then there is a chance, this isn’t the cake for you…
But then again, maybe you will!
Because all my friends and family loved it- even my dad who hates sweet potatoes!
I wouldn’t know, because I happen to love sweet potatoes.
Try it and let me know what you think, please. 🙂
sweet potatoes in cake?
When you guys asked me to make a carrot cake made with sweet potatoes, like in my blackout chocolate cake…
I have to say, I had a bit of a brain stretch trying to convert that recipe into carrot cake.
Okay, so we ended up throwing out that recipe all together and went with this, but it is drawing from all the same main highlights of that chocolate sweet potato cake.
Some highlights include:
- It’s moist.
- Made with all the veg!
- Light + fluffy cake (all the heart eyes).
- Covered in a whipped vanilla lemon frosting.
- And the cake itself if loaded with spice and carrots- you could also add raisins, which would be bomb!
- Even all my wheat eating/non-paleo friends and family devoured this one!
So, if you aren’t into moist carrot cake and smooth lemon frosting…
Then stay tuned, because I am planning on brining a more traditional carrot cake your way (for all you non-health-cake-lovers).
This cake it dedicated to all those who can’t really eat too many things because of allergies, and to those who maybe have a hard time finding recipes that don’t include gluten or refined sugar.
I feel you- been there and done that (but not anymore!).
Please enjoy this healthy spin-off on carrot cake!
P.S. This is the size cake pan I used in this recipe.
- 2 large/medium sweet potatoes
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 2/3 cup honey
- 2/3 cup coconut oil
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1 cup raisins optional
- 2 medium/large white sweet potatoes peeled
- 1 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2/3 cup butter or coconut oil
- 2 large lemons zest + juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
| Info |
| Cook Time | 60 minutes |
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
slices
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Rate this recipe!
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Ingredients
Cake
Frosting
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- I tweaked the recipe and this is the UPDATED RECIPE: Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of three seven inch cake pans with parchment paper and grease the sides with coconut oil.
- Mince sweet potatoes for cake in a food processor, until they reach fine rice consistency- this will be the flour base for the recipe. In a bowl or stand mixer combine all ingredients for cake batter, except the grated carrots until smooth. Then stir in grated carrots (and optional raisins).
- Divide cake batter between three seven inch cake pans and bake on 350F for about 60 minutes until golden on top. Tip: You will know the cake is finished baking when a toothpick when inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool before frosting.
- For the frosting: Peel and slice sweet potatoes into rounds and steam in a large saucepan with about 2-3 inches water on high for 5-10 minutes until soft. Then drain hot water.
- Add steamed sweet potatoes and all other ingredients for frosting in a food processor or high speed blender and puree for about five minutes until completely smooth.
- Chill frosting in freezer in a large metal bowl for about 15+ minutes or until it reaches buttercream frosting consistency and is cooled down. Stir frosting then put through a mesh strainer- to remove any flecks of lemon zest, so it's perfectly smooth.
- Assemble and frost cake, top with chopped pecans (optional) then serve. There will probably be leftover frosting. Store leftovers in fridge or freezer.
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Nutrition Facts
Sweet Potato Carrot Cake
Amount Per Serving
Calories 423
Calories from Fat 180
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 20g
31%
Saturated Fat 14g
70%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 91mg
30%
Sodium 486mg
20%
Potassium 182mg
5%
Total Carbohydrates 58g
19%
Dietary Fiber 5g
20%
Sugars 41g
Protein 4g
8%
Vitamin A
136%
Vitamin C
3%
Calcium
4%
Iron
6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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48Comments
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So here begins the substitution dance😋 do you think I could use potato starch instead of tapioca?
Hi Artemis, potato starch may work in place of tapioca- not 100% sure on the results, because I haven’t tried baking with potato starch in this recipe.
>I would like to know “per serving”, what potion of the cake is this? How many total slices or portions of the whole cake makes one serving?
Hi Iiris, this cake makes 12 servings- see serving size at the top of each recipe. Enjoy! 🙂
I love this healthy recipe and will definitely try it out. But before that, I have this question. When you say, minced sweet potatoes, it means, just mincing the fresh sweet potatoes, right? It’s not cooked/steamed, I suppose? Thanks in advance for your inputs.
Hi JC, I updated the instructions with more detail about the minced sweet potato- hope that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions. Enjoy!
When you say ‘minced’, do you mean raw? And finely chopped? Can you grind these up in a food processor? Thanks for the recipe, I’d like to try it!
Hi Christine, yes- I mince/finely chop it in the food processor when raw, then bake it together with the rest of the batter.
Ugh Kaylie this looks so delicious. My favorite cake has always been carrot! I have made a ton of your recipes and your cassava hamburger buns and sweet potato bread are almost weekly staples for me. Unfortuantely, I have not only have celiac disease but had another food intolerance test done and am currently not doing great with eggs and coconut (and almonds and nuts and all seeds and….UGH) so I’ll have to figure this recipe out replacing the coconut flour and eggs. Hopefully I can figure it out because I miss making all of your recipes (not asking you to BTW)! Thanks for working so hard and posting such delicious looking food always for those of us with so many food issues. GOSH THIS LOOKS SO GOOD
Thank you Cori! Hope you find something that works!
Do you cook the yellow sweet potatoes first for the cake or do you put them in raw?
Hi LIsa, the sweet potato in the cake is raw before baking. 🙂 Enjoy!
Do you think this recipe could be used for cupcakes?
Yes, cupcakes should work good!
Would the more common orange sweet potato work? Where do you find white sweet potatoes?
Hi Christy, orange sweet potatoes should work as well, but it might need more flour in the batter.
Kaylie:
This one sounds YUMMY!
Could you use this recipe for cupcakes? If so, would you make any changes?
Thanks
Hi Carol, this should work great as cupcakes- I might make a 1/2 batch. 🙂
Hi Cori, I too have a problem with eggs, but for myself and my adult son, it’s egg whites. So, for egg recipes, I’ll add in ground flax seeds, which I love anyway, and then a few egg yolks from grass fed chickens. Sometimes, allergies are triggered by what the birds are eating!! Has your food testing differentiated between yolks and whites or can you tell? Also, neither of us can tolerate tapioca starch, so I’ll have to experiment with alternate flours for that part. Boy, these food substitutions are challenging, aren’t they!! But, I completely agree with you that this recipe looks incredibly delicious!! Cheers and good luck!
I have a question about the minced sweet potato… do the pieces soften enough in the baking process so you don’t notice them?
I ask because I’m wondering why you leave it raw/ minced rather than pureeing the sweet potato. I’m picturing kind of grainy pieces in the batter.
Can’t wait to try it though.
Hi Tina, yes they do- you won’t even notice it. 🙂
Hello….in the recipe…I can change the eggs in something else? Thank you. 😁
I haven’t tried making this without the eggs and I don’t think it would work the same…
What do you recomend as an alternative to 3 seperate cake pans? Will this work as a sheet cake or in 2 8-inch pans. Would the temp or baking time change? thx
Hi Sarah, you can half the recipe and bake it in an 8″ cake pan for about 70 minutes and it works great too!
I am so excited to try this! Do you peel the sweet potato before mincing or leave the peel on?
Hi Molly, I leave the skins on for the cake batter and peel them for the frosting. 🙂
i made this for a dinner party this weekend and it was a HUGE hit. No one believed it was “health-ified” and said it was the best cake they’d had in awhile. thank you for such a great recipe!
That is so awesome Rachel! Thank you 🙂
I cant believe no one else has yet asked the approx weight of the sweet potatoes. 2 large/med would leave me analysing the sizes at the produce section lol. Can u tell me the weight of them please
Hi Jacque, I don’t have the weight of them, but I just bought a food scale so I should be adding the sweet potato weights in future recipes from here on out- I realize it can be a bit confusing. Sorry about that! I am editing a video for this recipe that will show the weight of them, if that helps at all. Thanks!
Can I substitute arrowroot flour for the tapioca flour?
Yes, that totally works! Enjoy 🙂
What would I substitute tapioca flour with?
Hi Arlene, you can use arrowroot flour in place of tapioca in this recipe. Enjoy!
What do you think would happen if I cooked and mashed the sweet potatoes instead of mincing them? I don’t have a food processor!
Hi Julia, I think it would change the recipe quite a bit, I’ve tried the same thing on another recipe I made that was similar and it didn’t turn out the same.
Can I subbed the 1cup of the 2 flours for 1 cup wheat flour?
Hi Erin, that might work, but I haven’t tried this cake with wheat flour to be sure.
I was too scared I’d mess it up so I didnt switch it up. One thing that would be helpful to others, I’m sure would be the weight needed of sweet potatoes! Mine were too large, I guess the first cake pan didnt cook properly and was very mushy. I adjusted with extra of the 2 flours for the other pans which helped. But a weight or cup amount would be super helpful! Also thank you! the moms all went nuts over the baby smash cake as much as the babys or more so ^_^
Hi! This looks really good. I want to try it out, but I was wondering about the nutrition facts. Are those numbers set for one serving or for the entire dish?
Hi Hannah, the nutritional information is per slice/serving. 🙂
How Do you think this recipe would turn out in a bundt pan? Any thoughts as to how it might bake?
Oooh, that sounds fun! Love that idea, I think it should work okay, just make sure to grease your pan!
Do you have a weight or a cup measurement for the sweet potato ? I made this today and though it was cooked through it came out on the wet side of moist.
Thanx.
I don’t sorry Jody.
May I know 517 calories for this recipe refers to one serving of the cake or the whole cake (12 slices)?
Thanks
Hi Adeline, the nutritional info is actually per slice, but it was slightly off so I had to adjust it, it’s actually 423 per slice! 🙂 Thank you!