I am so excited to get this recipe out on my updated website. It’s one of my classics, but I hated the picture from my previous site. This recipe was from my mom many years ago. She gave me a binder with many of her favorite healthy-ish recipes and this was one that has stood the test of time.
I decided to update this recipe with fun cutouts, but it is still my tried and true carrot cake recipe for a bigger cake. So, if you need a regular carrot cake recipe, this works for that too – although the baking time is longer.
I also updated my frosting recipe. It’s complete nonsense to eat carrot cake without cream cheese frosting, so I needed something different. My family does not like super sweet desserts, so a frosting with a lot of sugar doesn’t work well in my house.
I don’t use a lot of “low fat” products, but I only buy low fat cream cheese as a brick. It’s softer and just as tangy and creamy as regular cream cheese. So, that’s what I used for this frosting. A little greek yogurt, and of course, some sugar, because well…it’s frosting.
My kids go wild for carrot cake and this recipe…you guys – it’s perfect. It’s super moist, not too sweet, and so flavorful. They especially love the pineapple. I love that pineapple cuts out some of the saturated fat and added sugar.
You can cut these into any shapes you choose or tailor them to an upcoming holiday. Set them out at your next party or take to a friend.
Eat dessert every once in a while, it’s really okay.
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Carrot cake cutouts with cream cheese frosting
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: Makes approximately 15–3” cut outs 1x
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
1 cup finely shredded carrots – shred fresh, do not use pre-shredded carrots
8 ounce can of crushed pineapple in 100% pineapple juice
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground dried ginger
¼ teaspoon table salt
⅛ teaspoon cloves
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces low fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons greek yogurt
2/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 16×11 baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the shredded carrots, pineapple with juice, brown sugar, egg, canola oil, and vanilla – stir together.
In a small bowl, combine both flours, baking soda, salt, and spices.
Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined.
Spread out onto the baking sheet to a 1/2″ thickness.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Let cool completely before cutting into shapes
Cream Cheese Frosting:
Cream together cream cheese and yogurt until fluffy, about 3o seconds.
Beat in the powdered sugar until just combined, about 30 seconds more.
Spread on cooled carrot cake
Notes
You can cut the cream cheese frosting recipe in half and make sandwich cake cutouts instead of frosting each one.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes