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Remember the mini carrot cake recipe I posted awhile back? I promised that a larger version of that THM:E carrot cake would be coming your way eventually, and I’m here to deliver. Deliver a recipe, that is. I’m afraid I can’t deliver a cake ’cause I ate it all. Sorry about that. 😉 Come on over and we’ll make another one.
Yes, this really is a THM:E cake. Now I know that when you think carrot cake, you think mounds of fluffy cream cheese icing, and I get that. I will work on a recipe like that at some point. But for now, I wanted a recipe in which I could use all the carrots I wanted (since you have to use carrots sparingly in a THM:S setting), and I’m always trying to develop more THM:E recipes because they’re sadly neglected (especially desserts). There really aren’t very many THM:E dessert recipes out there when you look at percentages, and if you’re like me and have a sweet tooth, you like your S meals because you can have dessert afterwards. Well folks, we’re taking away the excuses! Now you can have your cake (er…THM:E meal)Â and eat it, too!
(Click here for all my E dessert recipes.)
This carrot cake recipe is going to be denser than what you’re used to because I used a good amount of oat flour to make it. Oat flour is super inexpensive – you can make it by grinding oats to powder in a blender or coffee grinder! Since oat flour on its own tends to be gummy, I used some oat fiber along with it to improve the texture of the end result. The cake has a great flavor, plenty of carrots, and rises nicely! You’ll find out the trick to that when you read the recipe below.
This cake has a hefty dose of protein thanks to egg whites, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, and even the oat flour to some extent. You could enjoy it for breakfast, a snack, or dessert.
Don’t turn your nose up at the frosting until you give it a try. I used some reduced-fat cream cheese (because what is carrot cake without cream cheese frosting?), but I couldn’t use too much without going over the THM:E fat limit of 5g per serving and ending up in crossover territory. Enter cottage cheese, my favorite stealthy ingredient. When mixed up with the cream cheese it loses most of its texture, and as long as you put it between the cake layers, not on top of the cake, you probably won’t notice it (unless you have a very sensitive palate).
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As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for extra info. Check out the links in and below the recipe to see the products I use and recommend. Some of the links included in the recipe and blog post are affiliate links, which means that if you make purchases through these links, I make a small commission to help defray the costs of running this blog (at no extra charge to you). Thanks for your help!
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- Starting THM
- my recipe index
- my recipes grouped by fuel type, allergy info, and theme
- all my THM:E dessert recipes
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Try the mini version! Carrot Cake for One, coming right up!
- 2 c. oat flour (use gluten free if necessary)
- ¾ c. oat fiber (use gluten free if necessary)*
- 1 T. baking powder
- 1½ tsp. cinnamon
- ¾ tsp. ginger
- ⅜ tsp. THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- ⅜ tsp. salt
- -
- 2 c. finely-grated carrot
- ¾ c. low-fat Greek yogurt
- ½ c. water
- -
- 1½ c. egg whites
- 1 tsp. cream of tartar
- 4 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese (softened)**
- ¾ c. low-fat cottage cheese***
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp. THM Super Sweet Blend
- -
- Cinnamon for topping
- Whisk the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. (Yes, I mean a *large* mixing bowl. You'll see why in a bit.) Add the carrots, Greek yogurt, and water and mix with a hand mixer. (The mixture will be very thick.)
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. The egg whites will expand a LOT (hence the note about the big bowl earlier). Pour the egg whites into the mixing bowl with the other ingredients and fold them in on a low speed with a hand mixer. Finish the job by hand with a spatula until the batter is just mixed. It's OK if there are a few streaks left.
- Pour the batter into two greased 9" cake pans and bake immediately at 350* for about 21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing them and letting them cool completely on the counter.
- FROSTING | Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the cottage cheese, vanilla, and sweetener and beat until relatively smooth.
- ASSEMBLY | Place one cake layer on a cake stand and spread the frosting on top. Top with the second cake layer. Dust the top of the cake with cinnamon. Refrigerate to chill completely before serving. Store in the refrigerator.
- I intend to make a low-carb, THM:S carrot cake with lots of creamy frosting at some point, but I've been trying to get more E meals into my life lately. (Plus, you have to go easy on the carrots in an S setting.) This cake may not be your traditional carrot cake, but I happen to love it! You can enjoy it for breakfast, snack, or dessert.
- A small squirt of fat-free Reddi-wip on top for serving wouldn't be a bad idea! A drizzle of sugar-free maple-flavored syrup (or just a smidgen of real maple syrup if you're feeling naughty) and a sprinkling of chopped pecans would be welcome additions as well.
**The fat from the reduced-fat cream cheese comes to 2.4g per serving if the cake is cut into 10 slices.
***Trust me on this one. When beaten with a hand mixer, the cottage cheese loses much of its texture. If you put the frosting between the cake layers instead of on top of the cake, you don't even notice the texture! If you're super skeptical, you can substitute with low-fat Greek yogurt, but I personally don't like the tang.
You could add a few chopped pecans to the frosting (or some maple extract), but I wanted to keep things simple.
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Maribeth Cansanay says
I don’t have oat fiber. Can I leave it out?
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
No, I’m afraid not.
Cindy Treadaway says
I wonder if this recipe could be used for cupcakes?
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
I’m not sure! I guess you could try it and see. 😉
Molly Braaten says
Can you substitute the oat flour for the THM flour blend?
Briana Thomas Burkholder says
THM Baking Blend is “drier” than oat flour and soaks up more liquid, so you would use less Baking Blend than the oat flour called for in the recipe. I’m not sure what the amount would be. You’re welcome to experiment! You can make oat flour yourself by just grinding dry oatmeal in a high-powered blender or coffee/spice grinder to a flour consistency. 🙂
LindaV says
I wonder if I can try making this up in muffin tins, so, sort of for 1, but easier to transport to work and such and there are more!
Briana Thomas says
Worth a try!
Carla says
What are the macros?
Briana Thomas says
Hi Carla! I follow a healthy eating lifestyle called “Trim Healthy Mama”, which centers around eating healthy foods and separating carbs and fats into different meals to speed up the metabolism. Counting is not required on THM, so I embrace that and don’t count nutrition facts in my recipes. You’re welcome to put the recipe into an app like MyFitnessPal to check and see whether it would fit into the particular lifestyle you’re following. 🙂
Anita says
Would putting the cottage cheese in the blender work to even out the texture? Has anyone tried it?
Briana Thomas says
That would definitely be worth a try! I haven’t done it and I’m not sure if it would make the frosting too runny. It would probably be OK.
Liz W-E says
I’ve had excellent results using cooked oatmeal in muffins and cakes. Very moist compared to oat flour. I don’t have my own website or blog so maybe you’ll find this helpful and usable information ?
Briana Thomas says
Thanks, Liz! I’ve done that too!
Cassie says
Can this be made with flax egg?
Briana Thomas says
I’ve never tried it and I don’t have much experience with egg substitutes so I’m really not sure. I’m sorry!
Catherine Robinsin says
I used to make a cheese cake that subbed part of the cream cheese with cottage cheese. The trick to the texture issue is to put the cottage cheese into a wire mesh strainer and push it through, using the back of a spoon. It’s an effort and takes time, but nobody could tell there was cottage cheese in it. Now, I’d only go to that much effort if I was serving this for company, but it’s something to think about if you really want to use cottage cheese but have a real problem with texture.
Rebecca Parks says
Could this be frozen successfully? How long will it last if refrigerated? There are just 2 of us and this looks wonderful!
Briana Thomas says
Hi Rebecca! I’m not sure how the frosting would freeze (sometimes dairy gets watery when frozen, then thawed), but it would be worth a try. Or you could just make the single-serve version (really, it’s big enough for two people as a dessert) linked in this post. 🙂
Sarah McEwen says
Oh yum!! I love carrot cake and have missed it since being on THM. Now I really need to get some oat fiber!
Amy says
I know what I am going to be making tonight!!! Thank you so much for this recipe!
lynnita says
I would like to try the cake for one first, but I notice that the instructions are different for this one and the larger one. Any reason for that? I want to be sure before I begin.
THANK YOU,
Lynnita
Briana Thomas says
Yes, the instructions are different on purpose. I wanted this larger version to have more fluff to it (whipping egg whites for a single serve cake just didn’t seem worth it to me…lol).