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If you are looking for a super easy carrot cake, this is the one! A delicious and simple carrot cake, perfect any time, and totally fuss-free: blend it, bake it!
We all love delicious homemade meals and cakes, but we all have better things to do than spending too much time in the kitchen, right? That’s me.
I love keeping things simple and clever: economical, healthy, fast yet delicious.
And this healthy carrot cake is light, melt in your mouth and it doesn’t involve tons of sugar and butter.
What ingredients you need
- Carrots
- Eggs
- Whole wheat or all-purpose flour
- Cane or white sugar
- Unrefined canola oil
- Lemon zest
- Vanilla extract
- salt & baking powder
How to make it
(Note: this is a quick description with step-by-step photos, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Blend eggs, carrots, sugar, oil, vanilla essence and lemon zest.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add flour to the wet ingredients in 3 steps, blending for a few seconds.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes.
- Enjoy at room temperature, dusted with some powdered sugar. It tastes amazing with some sweet cream cheese on the side.
Recipe notes & tips
Carrots
Carrots are low on calories, rich in fiber, and vitamins. Cooking carrots helps to release a powerful antioxidant called beta-carotene, making this nutrient more available to your body.
Cut carrots into chunks or slice them, whatever it saves you time. You can peel them or not (I don’t) and, needless to say, a food processor is so handy and it definitely saves you the hassle of grating the carrots.
If you look for recipes featuring carrots, you might have a look at these easy carrot fritters and carrot and ginger soup.
Carrot cake variations
Carrots and lemon is such a lovely combination, but this soft cake is also a blank canvas for other delicious ingredients. You can add to this recipe orange zest, cinnamon, almond essence, walnuts, or even dark chocolate chips!
Do not overmix the batter because working flour too much can produce gluten, which creates a dense and rubbery cake. If you decide to add chocolate chips or chopped nuts, add them when the batter is nearly ready and blend only for a couple of seconds just to combine.
How long does this carrot cake keep?
It keeps well for up 3-4 days at room temperature, in an airtight container. It’s also freezable: wrap the cake, or slices of cake, in plastic wrap (clingfilm), store in an airtight container, and freeze for up to 1 month.
But do not refrigerate: refrigeration dries this cake out!
More easy cakes?
- Orange cake
- Cake with ricotta
- 1-Bowl yogurt cake
- Blender chocolate zucchini bread
- Apple cake
- Blender beetroot cake
- Pumpkin bundt cake
If you make this blender healthy carrot cake, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it or tag a photo #theclevermeal on Instagram. I would love to hear from you!
Blender healthy carrot cake
Ingredients
- 3 (10oz/280 grams) medium-sized carrots, sliced
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) canola oil (I used expeller pressed canola oil)*
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) unrefined cane sugar*
- 2 cups (250 grams) whole wheat or all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 large lemon, zest
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 360 F°.
- Grease with butter or line your cake pan with parchment paper (Mine is a ring pan 8.6 x 4 inch-deep)
- Whisk the flour in a bowl with 2 tsp of baking powder and a pinch of salt (if you’re not using self-rising flour).
- Place all the ingredients, except flour and baking powder, in a food processor and blend into a smooth consistency*
- Add the flour in three steps, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as necessary. Blend only for a few seconds until the flour is just combined with the rest of the ingredients, do not overmix.
- Scrape the batter into the pan, level the top and bake in the middle shelf of the oven for about 30-35 minutes.
- After 30 minutes check the cake by inserting a thin skewer/cake tester into the centre of the cake. If the cake is fully cooked then the skewer will come out clean, if there is still batter clinging to the skewer then return the cake to the oven for a further 3 minutes and test again (in my oven and with that round pan, the baking time is 35 mins).
- When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and let it cool.
- Remove your cake from the pan and dust with icing sugar.Enjoy it.
Mo
I love your yoghurt cake which I make often. However with the carrot cake, which I haven’t made yet, is it possible to reduce the oil to 80mls like the yoghurt cake because 180mls is quite a bit??? Also, would I be able to bake this in a 20cm cake tin? (don’t have 23cm) Thank you so much for all your recipes, especially the yoghurt cake😄
Katia
Hi Mo, I’m so happy you enjoyed the yogurt cake, thank you! : )
I’ve never tested this recipe with only 80 ml of oil, but I think you might use 1/2 scant cup rather than 3/4 cup of veg oil. A 20 cm tin should be fine, but the baking time might be slightly longer, make sure you check the doneness with a skewer.
Happy new year. xx
WIN
I made these today. It’s simple and not very sweet and I don’t feel guilty eating a lot haha good for kids snacks too.
Katia
I’m so pleased it turned out well and the kids loved it too! 😊 Thanks for your lovely comment.x
Annette
I would love to make the yogurt cake but I only use olive oil or avocado oil. Will these work with this recipe?
Katia
Hi Annette, both vegetable oils will work in the recipe (olive oil has a stronger flavor, though). x
Stefani
Not too sweet, taste great and easy to make 👍👍
Katia
Thanks so much for sharing your lovely feedback, Stefani! I’m so pleased you liked it.
Cheers x
Heba
Really delish and simple to make! Thanks!
Katia
Thanks for your lovely comment, Heba! I’m so glad you liked it 💛
Mai-Ru
Such a lovely recipe. I made it into muffins. Used 1/3 cup olive oil and orange zest. Butter was thick and the result was yumm…
Katia
I’m so pleased it turned out delicious! Thanks for sharing your feedback 😍
Merle Piazza
Is there any way the calorie content of the cake could be given?
Katia
I’ve done it right now 😊
Raven
Hello, are you able to use honey as a substitute for the sugar or is it unreplacible for the recipe?
Katia
Technically, it should be fine, but since I’ve never used honey in this recipe I’m not able to tell you the right quantity, sorry 🙂
A. Shaw
Hi! Could I use melted butter or coconut oil instead of the canola oil?
Katia
Hi! I’ve never tested this blender recipe with butter or coconut oil, I’m sorry x
Debby
Hi Katia. I love your carrot cake. Iys so easy but delicious. But why my dough feels too runny? So the cake result is not fluffy. What should I do? Should i add the flour or reduce the egg/oil?
Katia
Hi Debby, Thanks for your feedback! Just one question: do you weight the ingredients with a kitchen scale?
If the measurements are fine you shouldn’t have this problem, but if you’ve done it and you still think the batter needs to be adjusted, try to use only 1/2 cup of oil.
Hope this helps. Cheers x
Bianca Gabriel
This was a lovely cake and so easy to make. 🙂
I am loving your cake recipes in general , especially the yogurt cake.
I’m thinking of adding 1 cup of dried currants to the yogurt cake recipe, just to experiment because I like currants what do you think?
Katia
Hi Bianca! Thanks for your comment 🙂 the yogurt cake is very versatile, I think 1/2 or max 3/4 cup of dried currants is fine x
SANIKA
Thanks a lot for sharing the recipe again. The cake was just perfect! It was moist, healthy and very easy to make, (in shorter words, just the type of cake I was looking for!) I also tried out your beetroot cake recipe, and it was amazing! Again, we finished half the cake when it was still in the baking tray 🙂 I added a little more sugar, roughly 3/4 cup and it tasted excellent! The lemon zest gave the cake a lot more amazing freshness than I thought! Now, I’m in love with fruit and vegetable cakes! Could you also make a mango cake recipe? I would love to try more fruit cakes 🙂 I’ll definitely make this cake again along with your beetroot cake!
Katia
Hi Sanika, welcome back, and thanks again for your comment! 🙂 I’m so pleased you fell in love with fruit and vegetable cakes, that’s amazing! I love mango and I’m going to test new fruit recipes over the summer. Stay tuned ?
Christina
This was really nice! Not very sweet, which is perfect for my tastes. If you’re looking for something on the sweet side, you’ll need to use more sugar.
I used Just Egg to make it vegan and made it in a loaf pan. It needed closer to 45. minutes to be done. Would definitely make again!
Katia
I’m so glad you liked it, Christina! Thanks so much for your comment and tips 😉