Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins – A little bite of carrot cake heaven – ZERO oil, ZERO refined sugar. Easy to make & delicious!
Don’t you just love it when a recipe comes together ? This Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins recipe comes in response to request from a fellow Tweep, Badger @ Badger Bakes for more healthy baking recipes.
One of the best parts of blogging is the pleasure you get from fellow bakers trying your recipes. When I first started out, my family were my only readers and I honestly didn’t think anyone else would ever read them. Since then, Ted’s Rolls have been a great sucess and I still love to see photos of fellow Tweeps’ freshly baked soft bread rolls.
Although the recipes on my blog are tried and tested in the Kitchen Shed, feedback is invaluable to me because I get to hear how recipes work using different ovens or slow cookers. Also, it’s good to know if my instructions are easy to follow.
Feedback from Badger @Badgers Bakes about my Healthy Blueberry and Orange Muffins was particularly good to hear: Badger doesn’t use oil in cooking and had tried my recipe without oil. The muffins received the seal of approval from Badger and her family, so much so that she has made several batches since. Keen to try the oil free version for myself, I was pleasantly surprised the muffins remain lovely and moist exactly as reported.
I’d had another sugar free idea in mind for a while and was keen to see if it too would work without oil. I wanted to try the flavours of carrot cake (one of my favourite cakes) in a muffin – not least because I’m always looking for an excuse to bake in my Lakeland Mini Loaf Tin. That said, you can of course use a regular muffin tin too. The sweetness in these Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins comes from the eating apples and carrots (both naturally sweet foods) so the sweeter the apple you use, the sweeter your muffins will be. I’ve added cinnamon, sultanas, walnuts and an optional creamy topping sweetened with maple syrup to complete the carrot cake experience – carrot cake heaven !
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 50 g ½ cup porridge oats plus extra for sprinkling
- 100 g ¾ cup white plain flour
- 100 g ¾ cup wholewheat plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- A pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 100 ml 7 tablespoons yoghurt
- 2 eggs beaten
- 6 tablespoons maple syrup honey
- Zest of an orange
- 2 eating apples grated I used Braeburn
- 100 g 1 cup about 2 to 3 carrots
- 50 g ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 75 g ½ cup sultanas
Optional creamy topping:
- 6 tablespoons mascarpone cheese
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- A splash of milk
- 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
- A little orange zest
Instructions
- Grease and line a 12 hole mini loaf tin or muffin tin and preheat oven to 200℃ / 400℉ /Gas Mark 6
The muffin mixture:
- Mix oats, flours, baking powder, bicarb, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.
- Whisk together the eggs, yoghurt and orange zest in a jug, pour onto the dry ingredients and briefly mix together.
- Add the apple, carrots, walnuts and sultanas and mix in until combined.
- Equally divide the mixture between the holes in your mini loaf tin or muffin tin, filling them to about three quarters full.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack.
Optional Creamy Topping:
- Whisk the mascarpone and maple syrup together, adding a splash of milk to slacken the cream.
- Spread onto the top of each muffin and sprinkle with chopped walnuts and orange zest.
Notes
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins freeze well.
Pin for later:
I have never attempted a muffin without oil as I never really thought too, but your recipe goes to show it’s not necessary! They look great! Thanks for sharing with this month’s treat petite!
Thanks Lisa, I wouldn’t have tried it without the feedback from Badger’s Bakes but I’m really pleased with the result and I’ve made quite a few for my family since as they’re so popular.
Sarah, you had me at carrot cake but then you added healthy into the mix and you had me hook, line and sinker! Carrot cake is my favourite cake and you have made it healthier, this is a dream cake come true! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Thanks Kirsty, carrot cake seems to be a firm favourite with everyone and I’m happy to share a healthy version with #CookBlogShare x
Love the little loaf pan how cute is that! Randomly my 3.5 year old asked for carrot cake the other day so this couldn’t be better timed. Thank you for joining us at #BloggerClubUK hope to see you again next week xx
Thanks, I love the little loaf tin too, look forward to hearing how you get on x
I love the look of these, and even more so that they are sugar free! I have been after some healthy muffin recipes to sneak past the kids! Thanks so much for linking up to #YumTum this week with this fab recipe! x
Thanks Charlotte, healthy muffins are perfect for young children, I’m sure they won’t even notice they’re sugar free. A pleasure to link up with #YumTum x
These look perfect for an after school snack for my kids – love this recipe. I can feel a mini loaf tin purchase coming on… #cookblogshare
I am a sucker for healthy recipes and yours got me!! The carrot muffins look delicious and I love the way you have made them healthy!! Saving it!
Yum! These look delicious, I’ve added them to my “cakes to be made” folder!
Oooh these look scrumptious! Love it when healthy and cake appear in the same sentence 🙂
I love carrot cake, so will have to try this version #YumTum