Healthy gluten free carrot cake muffins made with almond flour and coconut flour. Grain free and paleo, these maple syrup sweetened muffins make a tasty snack. Ice them with coconut yoghurt or cashew cream for a little extra indulgence!
Note: this is an older recipe from the blog (from October 2015) which has been tweaked, refreshed and updated! I reduced the almond flour a little and made a few other minor adjustments to make the muffins more moist and “carrot-y”. 🙂
Around Easter time my carrot cake cravings intensify. It’s pretty hard not to want a slice or three when so many recipes start popping up. How can a humble little veggie make SUCH a great cake! It’s a classic sweet treat. I love a juicy carrot cake studded with crunchy nut pieces and chewy bites of fruit. Lots of grated carrot too of course, it adds so much natural sweetness, moisture and a healthy element to the recipe. (Hey, it’s got veggies in it, riiiiight?)
Now, I think everyone loves the convenience of a muffin, so I thought I’d make some healthy carrot cake muffins. These little beauties are a perfectly portioned way to get your carrot cake fix, plus you can easily freeze and store a few for future carrot cake cravings. Healthy carrot cake muffins, we love you!
Though I’ve just sung the praises of baking muffins, this recipe could also easily be made into cake or loaf if you prefer. Just increase the baking time so the centre is properly cooked through. You can cover the top of the cake if the top starts browning too quickly during baking.
Icing Ideas for Carrot Cake Muffins
I’ll often just dollop on a little coconut yoghurt before I eat one (I really like Coyo vanilla bean yoghurt, it’s super thick and lush, and sweet without sugar. Not a sponsored mention!). Some other suggestions are:
- Greek yoghurt with a little vanilla extract and cinnamon stirred through;
- Cream cheese;
- Ricotta cheese;
- Cashew cream (soak cashews, drain, blend in a high speed food processor/blender with little vanilla extract, maple syrup and lemon juice).
I really, really love them with cashew cream too, I’m just often too lazy to make it!
Hope you have a wonderful Easter guys. With lots of healthy carrot cake muffins involved, of course 🙂
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
- 100 grams almond flour - 1 cup
- 55 grams coconut flour - 1/2 cup
- 2 tsp baking powder (gluten free)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg - increase to 1 tsp if you want a more noticeable nutmeg flavour
- 200-250 grams carrots about 2 medium-large carrots, or 3 smaller ones
- 4 eggs
- 100 grams overripe banana - 1 large overripe banana, weighed without the skin
- 85 mL maple syrup - 1/3 cup, (or sub another liquid sweetener)
- 60 mL coconut oil measured melted - 1/4 cup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup walnuts roughly chopped
- 3/4 cup sultanas
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 170 C and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan (lightly grease with coconut oil, olive oil or butter, or use patty cake liners). FYI, my muffin pan capacity is 1/2 cup per muffin hole.
- Grate the carrots and set aside. Mash the banana into a puree and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add in the grated carrot and stir again.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the banana puree, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla into the eggs and whisk again.
- Pour the wet ingredient mix into the dry mix and stir until you have a thick batter. Stir through the chopped walnuts and sultanas.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the muffin holes. You can fill the muffin holes up as they don't rise too much. Smooth the tops over with a spoon or use your fingertips to press the batter in a little (as it will be very thick from the coconut flour).
- Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until the tops are dark golden brown and the centre feels firm to touch.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before placing on to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, or freeze for a longer life.
Notes
HI Monique, first of all thank you for your lovely recepies. I want to make a carrot cake for my husband’s birthday, do you think this recepie will work as a cake instead of muffins? I have no idea if I would need to adapt the amounts of the ingredients. I have made your banana cake a few times now and we absolutely love it but this time he asked for carrot cake which I also love.
Mamy thanks
Hi Elena, I think you could easily just bake this as a cake 🙂 I do not think you’ll need to adapt the ingredients for a small cake, I’d estimate it would make maybe one 20-22cm diameter round cake? You could also make two of them and stack them if you want to make something a bit special! Cashew cream, ricotta, coconut yoghurt or cream cheese could be used between the layers.
Absolutely delicious! I made them for my neighbors that are both diabetic and they loved them. 😊
Healthy carrot cake muffins are always welcome in our table. Totally kid friendly and filled with veggies !
🙂 A muffin filled with veggies is always a win isn’t it!
They look so moist yummy and gorgeous ! Can’t wait to try them. YUM !
Hope you do try them out! Thank you so much 🙂
One of the reasons I love Easter is because of carrot cake! I love that you have used those flavors in these adorable muffins!
Exactly why I love Easter too! Thanks so much Carrie 🙂
These look amazing and perfect for Easter brunch. Love how they are grain free and nutrient dense. Although they are higher in carb than I usually eat, I just might have to splurge!
Haha I think Easter is the perfect time for a splurge Yvonne! 🙂
Looks super delicious! I have never made a carrot cake muffin, this recipe is going to come in real handy! And your photos already make me drool 🙂
Aw, thank you so much Yang. Carrot cake in any form is a favourite of mine, and I like making these muffins because they are so easy to take along for a breakfast or snack when I’m busy 🙂
These are sooooooooo pretty!! I love that you’ve used maple syrup as your sweetener! <3 Just perfect for Easter! And basically every day LOL because all the days call for carrot cake.
Hahaha EXACTLY every day is carrot cake day! And yep the maple syrup in this is so good. I like them with honey, too, but there’s just something about maple syrup… 🙂
I love your frosting suggestions! Ricotta cheese… YUMMMMM!
If you can do dairy, these really are so delish with ricotta. So creamy, so good!!
Oh wow! I use cashew cream for so many things but never thought to top a muffin with it!with cashew cream!
Oh Linda, yes you definitely need to have cashew cream on a muffin, it’s so damn good!
I’d love these for breakfast today, so yummy! There’s nothing like a muffin, and carrot cake is the best. Such pretty photos, too!
Thanks so much Megan! I don’t mind one (or two!) of these for breakfast myself. And yep, carrot cake is definitely the best!
These muffins look amazing! I will try these with the cashew cream.
Thanks Joni! Yes they are awesome with cashew cream!
yum!! Great combination of healthy ingredients! I love the dollop with the carrot slices!
Thanks Tessa! Haha the carrot slices were a last minute thought, but they ended up being so pretty like that!
These are so perfect!!! I love all things carrot cake – how fun that these are in the form of muffins. The topping and sliced carrots makes them so festive for spring too. Beautiful!
Aw, thanks so much Emily 🙂 I can’t go past carrot cake, it’s always been a favourite of mine.
Well. aren’t these the cutest muffins ever! Carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts so I know I’ll love this.
Thank you so much Jean! I am obsessed with carrot cake and am always coming up with different ways to enjoy it, I love these muffins!
We have muffins every Thursday morning for breakfast! I’ll have to add this to our rotation!
I bet you have some amazing muffins in your house Renee, your recipes are awesome 🙂 I hope you enjoy these ones too!
Monique, I love your website. Wonderful recipes, and I am always tempted to try new ones. I have already tried making your Maca pancakes (at least 4 times) and they came out so delicious (every time different taste though). Today I am planning to make Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins, but don’t have banana. I am thinking to grate zucchini into mashed consistency and see how it goes. I’ll definitely let you know. Thank you again!
Hi Elena, it’s so lovely to have this positive feedback from you, I’m so pleased to hear you like my website! I’m still amazed anyone ever reads it, haha. The maca pancakes are my favourite pancakes on the blog! I love them. Good luck with the muffins – let me know how the zucchini goes as I would like to try that myself if it works! 🙂
Hi Monique,
Sorry for the significantly delayed reply. To be honest, completely forgot to check the message from you.
I wanted to update you on the Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins. I used zucchini instead of banana. The taste came out very delicate and muffins were soft/tender. I put zucchini through a grater and then drained all its juice using the cheese cloth. And followed the rest of the ingredients and the steps in your recipe. I can highly recommend using the zucchini. However, I do suggest putting muffins in the fridge so they don’t get bad. One batch that I put in fridge was good, the other batch I left on the counter for two days and on the third day it smelled as spoiled.
My friends really loved these muffins and my boyfriend asks for me every time.
Hi Elena, thank you for taking the time to leave me this feedback! I am sorry for my delayed reply also. Great to hear these muffins can also work with zucchini, one of my favourite vegetables! Oh and yes, they definitely need to be stored in the fridge, or frozen, to keep them in good condition. I think there is a note in my recipe which says they keep in the fridge for about a week 🙂 I usually end up freezing some of them for later!