Paleo carrot cake made with sweet potatoes instead of flour. 159 calorie gluten free carrot cake. This cake is so delicious you won’t even know it’s healthy! Whipped lemon frosting is also made from sweet potatoes!
Ohhhhh, all the carrot cake.
You don’t even know what kind of yumminess you are in for.
The light and fluffy carrot cake with pockets of juicy raisins and all that whipped lemon frosting is not only great for celebrations, but it’s a reason to celebrate! 🙂
It’s no secret that I love baking with sweet potatoes instead of flour.
So, when carrot cake season came around, it was time to make a cake that was not only healthy, but also, you know- really really delicious. 🙂
I fed this to my non-paleo people and they all went crazy for it, so I think it’s safe to share here?
The list of paleo carrot cake excuses by kaylie
This week has been jam packed!
Aside from getting back from a family reunion out of state, it just seems like work keeps piling up around me, a.k.a trying to swallow me.
But it won’t!
I just need a few days to get back into the groove of things and GET IT DONE.
All of that is a good excuse for more carrot cake, am I right?
In fact, I’ll pretty much use any excuse for more carrot cake in my life.
I’m just a basic fan of the stuff.
Was I the only kid who used to despise and shudder at the thought of carrots in my cake?
Like, that was health food; serve it to mom my, because I am here for chocolate.
Before even attempting carrot cake, I would go for all the other cakes laid out on the table when there was a celebration… or just a reason to eat cake.
I would eye the chocolate or vanilla waaaay before the carrot cake.
Desperate times call for desperate measures though, and sometimes there was no other option.
So, I would have to resort to carrot cake, which my seven year old self was less than thrilled about.
The crunchy pecans and the thought of veggies in my cake was just about as appalling to as trying to mix my foods at the dinner table.
I remember trying it once out of sheer necessity for cake…
And I didn’t eat another bite of carrot cake for a very very very long time.
current carrot cake status:
Flash forward years later, and I’m advocating for carrot cake, because I can’t get enough of this good stuff!
The reasons I hated carrot cake back as an anti-veggie-pecan-cake-lover seven year old are the exact same reasons why I fell in love with it years later.
Come on, the crunchy pecans and veggies in cake, who doesn’t love that???
I might of been crazy then, but now I think I have made up for it.
P.S. this is the baking dish I used in this recipe.
Paleo Sweet Potato Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup grated carrot
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 medium white sweet potato peeled
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons butter or coconut oil for paleo
- 1/2 large lemon juice + zest
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of a 8" square baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a food processor, mince sweet potato until it reaches a fine rice-like consistency. Then add rest of ingredients (except raisins and carrot). Blend for about 1 minute until smooth. Then stir in grated carrot and raisins.
- Pour batter into 8" square cake pan lined with parchment paper and bake on 350F for about 70 minutes until golden on top. You will know it is finished cooking when a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Peel and cut sweet potato for the frosting. Place in a small saucepan with about 1-2" water and cover with a lid. Steam for about 5-10 minutes until soft when poked with a fork.
- Add steamed sweet potato and rest of ingredients for frosting to food processor and puree for 3-5 minutes until completely smooth. Optional: after pureed, press frosting through a strainer to remove any lumps of remaining lemon zest flakes for a totally smooth result. Chill frosting in freezer in a large metal bowl for about 15+ minutes or until it reaches buttercream frosting consistency and is cooled down.
- Frost cake as desired and top with chopped pecans (optional, but delicious).