Vegan Strawberry Banana Carrot Cake is a naturally sweetened take on the traditional carrot cake without all the heavy cream cheese and sugar. This healthy, naturally sweet cake is also full of fiber, real food, and perfect for any breakfast or brunch!
One of my favorite things about spring’s arrival every year is all of the fresh ingredients found in springtime recipes. From bright green asparagus, bright orange carrots, and beautifully red strawberries, springtime foods just beg to be used up as much as possible!
Easter is a great time to celebrate life and the arrival of a fresh, new season along with the traditional spiritual meaning that Easter holds. Our family has always loved to get together on Easter to celebrate one another and the gift of a new life and new season each spring, and we always love making a variety of dishes for everyone who attends our Easter brunch to enjoy.
When I was a child, I remember my mom always baked this delicious cake made of lots of shredded coconut, strawberries, and also lots and lots of sugar!
So as a nutritionist who loves creating healthier dishes, I knew I had to put a “better for you” spin on my mom’s traditional cake. And guess what? She actually loves this version that I make now and I sure hope you will too!
Vegan Strawberry Banana Carrot Cake Recipe
The trick to making this cake so healthy is to eliminate the refined flour and refined sugar. I used whole grain oat flour, coconut flour, and just a few other ingredients. The result is a thick, deliciously moist cake that is just full of nutrition and naturally sweet goodness in every single bite!
Not to Miss Tips: This cake will need to bake longer than traditional cakes, but not too much longer, and I promise that it’s well worth the wait. You’ll know it’s done when a fork comes out clean, but it should still be moist and the top of the cake should be a dark, golden brown color.
This is also a denser cake, not an airy and fluffy cake, simply because it contains no sugar and contains more real food ingredients. Vegan Strawberry Banana Carrot Cake keeps well in the fridge all week or can be frozen in individual squares if you’d like to keep it around for longer.
Feel free to serve this with some shredded coconut as a pretty garnish as I do and pair it with fresh fruits you enjoy. I think oranges are just delightful served with this cake, but you can choose whatever fruits you like or serve it with some coconut yogurt for another vegan option.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of gluten-free oat flour
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 2 tbsp ground flax meal
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- ¼ tsp Sea salt
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Ginger
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp Ground cloves
- 4 ripe, mashed bananas
- 1 cup frozen or fresh strawberries
- 1 cup baby carrots or diced/shredded carrots
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract or ½ tsp Vanilla powder
- 1 cup unsweetened, non-dairy milk
- Optional - Strawberries and pecans for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Grab a large bowl and add in the oat flour, buckwheat flour, and coconut flour. Stir with a fork to sift out any lumps. Then add in the ground golden flax meal, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
- Next, add in the bananas, strawberries, carrots, unsweetened applesauce, vanilla, and non-dairy milk into a blender. Blend until you get a thick and creamy batter. It should be the consistency of muffin batter, and you can leave a little bit of chunk/texture to the mix if you want more texture inside the cake.
- Add the blended mixture into the bowl with the flour and spice mixture. Stir together with a fork or spatula until everything is mixed well. This mixture is quite thick, so you may have to add in ¼ cup of water to make sure everything combines properly. It should be a thick consistency just like banana bread mix is but should still be thoroughly mixed.
- Once you have the desired consistency reached, spray a large 9"x9" inch baking dish with nonstick spray (I used coconut oil spray), and spread out the batter evenly into the dish.
- Alternatively, you can spray 2 loaf-style cake pans and turn the batter into 2 loaf cakes if you wish.
- Once the batter is spread evenly into the pan, top it with some strawberry halves and chopped pecans (or almonds, walnuts, etc.) if you wish. Press slightly into the top of the cake with the back of a fork.
- Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean. This cake should still be moist inside but will have a golden brown topping when it is done. It is a denser cake, but should still hold together nicely when sliced.
- Slice into 9 even squares and serve with fresh fruit or coconut yogurt for brunch, or serve it with coconut ice cream for a delicious vegan dessert.
Notes
Home Chef Tips: Feel free to make this cake ahead. It will keep up to 5 days in the fridge. Once cut, you can also freeze this into mini slices for individual servings by putting each slice into a reusable dish. It will defrost in 30 minutes on the counter or overnight in the fridge.
We hope you love this delightful Vegan Strawberry Banana Carrot Cake recipe from SoFabFood Contributor, Heather from The Soulful Spoon, as much as we do. If you like this recipe, be sure to stop by our Breakfast Section for even more like it. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter so that you never miss a single recipe, and be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Pinterest for even more fabulous breakfast and dessert recipes. Enjoy!
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