This is what happens when Easter is around the corner and you have carrot cake on the brain. I’m testing the recipes for the cookbook, and all I can think about with each recipe test is, “Wouldn’t these doughnuts be fun as a carrot cake version? Wouldn’t this cheesecake be fun as a carrot cake version? Wouldn’t this coffee chocolate chip ice cream be fun as a carrot cake version?”
Okay, so maybe not that last one… 😕
I probably ought to revisit that carrot cake cheesecake idea someday in the future. Today’s recipe is for Carrot Cake Crumble—like a deconstructed carrot cake, without all the extra flour getting in the way.
Above: carrot cake crumble topped with my favorite Healthy Ice Cream recipe.
Carrot Cake Crumble
(Serves 4-6)
- 1 1/2 cups sliced carrots ((180g)
- 3 cups diced pineapple (480g)
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp oil or buttery spread (Can omit, but crumble will be less rich) (30g)
- 1/2 cup rolled oats, gluten-free if needed (45g)
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp flour of choice, excluding coconut (I used sorghum) (35g)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- pinch pure stevia, or 3 1/2 tbsp sugar of choice
Preheat oven to 325F and grease an 8-inch square pan. Finely grate the carrots (I used a food processor), then combine with the pineapple, vanilla extract, and melted buttery spread or oil. In a separate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients. Pour wet into dry, and stir to combine. Transfer to the prepared pan, and bake 35 minutes or until golden. The recipe will be “fall apart” crumbly in the first few hours, but if left overnight in the fridge it becomes firmer. Eat warm or cold, topped with melted coconut butter or your favorite ice cream (my favorite recipe is linked under the second photo in this post) if desired. Leftovers can be refrigerated or frozen.
Click for: Carrot Cake Crumble Nutrition Facts
Question of the Day:
Do you like carrot cake?
It’s always been one of my favorite holiday desserts, especially with the frosting. When I was little, I looked forward to the day after Easter when we were allowed to eat leftover carrot cake for breakfast. Somehow, carrot cake tastes even better for breakfast than for dessert!
Link of the Day: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Ball
J says
This looks great, Katie! How many servings does it yield?
Chocolate Covered Katie says
Ooh sorry I forgot to mention that. Editing the post now. Four to six servings.
nabila says
hi you weardose
Laura says
Oh how original! This looks delicious =)
bella says
If I’m not the biggest fan of pineapple would apple work instead?
Lauren says
I’m wondering if there is something to sub for pineapple as well?
Suzanne says
Me too! I can stand the taste of it, but I really don’t like the pineapple texture while eating… creeps me out just thinking about it.
Chocolate Covered Katie says
You can always experiment 🙂
Arlie says
I also hate pineapple, so I tried it with apple! It worked very well, though the texture was definitely different from Katie’s version. Still totally delicious.
Mariah says
What kind of apples did you use?
Leslie - Definitely not Martha says
I seriously love this idea. I’d love to try it with spelt flour. It never occurred to me that you could do a less-cakey version of carrot cake (though I LOVE crisps and crumbles of all sorts). I bet my kids would love this too. Yum! Thanks for posting this! I’m tempted to add a little handful of raisins too.
Erika says
Ohh! Now I want to make my carrot cookies (a cakey type of cookie)! Do you think drained crushed pineapple would work in this recipe?
Chocolate Covered Katie says
Sure
Teresa says
Yum! I’ll definitely be trying this soon. I love carrot cake as long as it doesn’t contain evil raisins. (Raisins do not belong in baked goods where they get all plumped up and squishy.)
Mia (Mia in Germany) says
That looks delicious! Carrot cake is not something typical for Easter here, but I definitely like the idea of it for breakfast, yum. And thanks for the good laugh about the coffee chocolate chip ice cream as carrot cake 😉
Leah @ goodnight cheese says
I don’t love carrot cake for dessert, but this looks like it could make a great breakfast since it probably has less sugar than most yogurts.
Ilona @ Ilona's Passion says
Delicious carrot crumble!
beth says
I love carrot cake…but don’t really understand the directions you provided. what do you mean by sliced carrots and how do you shred sliced carrots. how do you dice pineapple? You through all ingredients into a food processor? What if you don’t have one? what kind of oil/butter did you use? Thanks.
Sarah says
1. She put the sliced carrots into a food processor until they were shredded.
2. You can buy diced pineapple. Or dice it with a knife.
3. You don’t put all of the ingredients in a food processor. Just the carrots until shredded and then the pineapple, vanilla and oil (probably just for a few seconds… not a puree… or you could just stir them together). Then mix the ingredients in a bowl.
4. What do you normally do for recipes that call for a food processor and don’t have one? Shred the carrot by hand with either a sharp knife or food grater. Combine the ingredients in a bowl.
5. Vegan butter and usually coconut oil I would think. Earth balance is a good type of vegan butter. Vegetable or canola oil would probably work too, but not impart as good of a flavor.
Kim says
I LOVE carrot cake!!! I recently made some carrot cake pancakes and muffins! So good! I can’t wait to try this!
Christine says
I have the same question as Beth about measuring the carrots pre- grating! And did you use a grating blade of the food processor or just processs the heck out of the sliced carrots? Thx
Chocolate Covered Katie says
Slice the carrots first so that they are able to be measured (if you aren’t using a food scale) and so that your food processor will more easily be able to handle them. I guess, if you are grating by hand, you can just measure a little less instead of slicing first… maybe 2/3 cup grated? And yes, I just processed them with the normal blade. My food processor isn’t fancy enough to have any special blades 🙁
Sara says
Hey Katie I love your blog and I had a question for you should you count calories or is that bad?
jackie says
Looks amazing!! Can the pineapple be subbed for something else? If so, please let me know! Thanks so much!!
Sarah says
If she has a substitute that she’s tried she will tell you. Other commenters suggested apples.
Cindy says
Came out great!!! I saw the calorie content, how big a serving was that?
Heather says
Sounds amazing! May I ask a question? Why no coconut flour?
EVA says
Coconut flour is really weird. It doesn’t bake up like regular flour, so the ratios and textures and whatnot differ.
Personally, I don’t dare test the wits of coconut flour. i don’t know how paleo dieters do it.
Heather says
EVA, thank you! I’m a glutton for punishment, sometimes, maybe I’ll test it out 😉 The dog always looks for treats, if it doesn’t work out 🙂
EVA says
Haha now THAT’S the spirit!
For your sake, I hope the experiment goes well!
For your dog’s sake, I hope it doesn’t!
Just kidding about the latter, he can have the colorful store-bought treats instead.
EVA says
Oooooh, there’ll be donuts in the cookbook? SWEET! Pun was indeed intended.
As for carrot cake, yeah I like it! It’s not overly sweet, but isn’t savory, so it balances out so well. It’s ORANGE! and it’s always decorated with those creepy little carrot fondant things. Carrot cake has no flaws.
As for your carrot cake crumble, I must try it. I made your carrot cake waffles as my last dinner at home before going back to college in the winter to take advantage of the wafflemaker and it was quite satisfactory! I’m also glad the pineapple gets ground up as I can’t digest regular pineapple.
Amy @ the anorexic chef says
What a brilliant idea! Carrot cake just happens to be one of my all time favourites as does a good old crumble. Yum!
Katherines Corner says
Oh my goodness. Please tell me you are sharing this at my blog hop today! Hugs
P.S. you can link up through Sat.
Lisa @ Simple Pairings says
Love carrot cake! It’s one of my favorite cakes, actually. This healthy take looks delicious! Pinned.
Steph says
Mmmm, yes, I am a carrot cake fan! I used to especially love the cream cheese frosting- kinda miss that now.. oh well- anything tastes good with a coconut butter frosting right!?! I love carrot-cake-ifying anything too- from doughnuts, to waffles, to ice cream- yum yum!
Liz says
I love love love carrot cake! Except occasionally when there are literally huge chunks of carrot in it, and I feel like I’m eating cake with some vegetables…then not so much. But this looks great; I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a carrot cake crumble before!
Jessie says
Mmm yes I do ! (like carrot cake) I was thinking of doing a traditional one for my birthday, but this recipe looks a little easier to share round as party food- LOVE it!
Autumn says
OK, hold it….
*FREAKING OUT* I just found out about your website, and I love it!! I must try out some of these recipes!
Lisa @bitesforbabies says
Actually, I was never a huge fan of carrot cake (I LOVE chocolate) until I stumbled upon a carrot cake recipe by Chuck Hughes that was absolutely DELICIOUS!!! It’s now up there on my list of favourite desserts! I especially love making carrot cake oatmeal (http://www.bitesforbabies.com/recipes/carrot-cake-oatmeal/) which I actually made intentionally for my kids, lol!
Crystal @ Confessions of Crystal says
This looks amazing! I would love this in a single-lady recipe. 🙂 I’m hooked on everything carrot cake. I had a carrot cake sandwich for lunch four times in one week. 🙂
Allison @ Clean Wellness says
I love carrot cake and all carrot cake variations! I think this crumble is a fabulous idea. I agree that carrot cake tastes better the next day -it’s like banana bread that way! And that ice cream on top looks AMAZING. There’s just something about those little vanilla bean specks that makes me hungry 🙂
samantha says
This looks so good, and so bright and healthy too. I LOVE carrot cake!
Tammela says
I love carrot cake and will have to try this! Here’s my go-to recipe: http://taplatt.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/recipe-classic-carrot-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/
Bernadette says
Made this last week and it was FANTASTIC!
Marcella Idsinga says
Question: the topping was very dry and powdery….Is the fat supposed to go in the topping, or in the filling, like the recipe says?
Michelle says
I don’t think there is a topping and a filling. The instructions say to mix it all together and then bake.
Unofficial CCK Helper says
It shouldn’t matter since everything is getting mixed together, but if you’d prefer to add it to the topping that’s fine!
eva says
just made this yesterday! it was delish! i made it with carrot and pineapple–i threw a shredded apple in as well because it was sitting by itself in my fridge…i’ll be making this over and over again…what a wonderful way to get more fruits & veggies into our diets…only one deviation from your instructions–i massaged 1tbsp of solid coconut oil into the crumble with my fingers until it was a coarse crumbly meal and baked it on top of the fruit instead of mixing it in…
thanks for the inspiration!
Mary Beth Bailey says
This is a fantastic recipe! I made this a couple days ago and it barely survived the family til this morning. I used spelt flour and also had to use crushed pineapple because that’s just what I happened to have in my pantry. I let it cool for a while and when I did cut into it it wasn’t much a crumble. The consistency was more of a very moist cake at first. Of course after being in the fridge it firmed up quite a lot. Anyways it was wonderful and I will definitely make it again! I may try it with freshly diced pineapple next time and maybe more oats because it was veryyy pineapple-y. Thanks for all of your AMAZING recipes!
Arlie says
I LOVE this idea but I hate pineapple. Sooo I made my own version of it with apple. The recipe is on my blog.
Avra-Sha Faohla says
Katie, I am curious, what is the function of the baking soda? I can’t identify any ingredient in the recipe with which it would react.
Tahira says
Hi Katie, thanks for the recipe, I’m trying to gather all the ingredients, can I ask which brand of sorghum flour you use?
becky says
love your recipes always turn out delicious and make me feel good about eating more natural sweets. my one request is for an easy print button!
Unofficial CCK Helper says
Highlight just the recipe, press “control” and “c” on your keyboard, then open a word document and paste 🙂
Luke says
Duuuuude. This is so good! I’m actually eating it right now and i just had to go on here and comment on this recipe ’cause i love it that much. Hahah. Thank you, Katie!
Jena @fuelingafitfam says
Carrot Cake Crumble!? What a great idea! I am always looking for great new desserts. I’ve never heard of a carrot cake crumble and I am very excited to try this! Thanks for a great recipe!
Sandra says
So good! Keep up the great recipes coming!