Healthy Carrot Cake Bars (Gluten Free, Paleo, Vegan)

These healthy carrot cake bars are made with freshly shredded carrots, ripe bananas and coconut flour. They're completely egg free and only sweetened with bananas - no sugar added. This carrot cake recipe is paleo, gluten free and vegan friendly.

I've been making these carrot cake bars for Easter brunch the past few years and everyone loves them! They're my go-to recipe when I need a cake that tastes great, but is healthy enough to enjoy for breakfast or brunch.

What makes this carrot cake healthy is that it's only sweetened with bananas, contains freshly shredded veggies (carrots) and is completely gluten free and dairy free.

Ingredients

The full recipe for the paleo carrot cake bars can be found in the recipe card below, but here's an overview of what you'll need:

• flax eggs - instead of eggs, this recipe uses ground flax and water to make flax "eggs". Chia eggs (ground chia seeds and water) would be the best replacement.
• ripe bananas - these bars don't contain any added sugar and are sweetened with bananas instead.
• shredded carrot - you can use a cheese grater to shred the carrots.
• coconut oil - this helps with the texture of the bars. The best substitute would be butter or palm shortening.
• vanilla extract - for flavor in both the bars and the frosting
• coconut flour - to keep these bars nut free and grain free I chose to make them with coconut flour. There isn't a substitute for this ingredient.
• tapioca flour - needed for texture purposes in both the bars and the frosting. The best swap is arrowroot starch/flour.
• baking powder - I like to make my own paleo baking powder, but any type will work.
• spices - I added cinnamon and nutmeg, but feel free to leave them out or add additional spices like ginger and clove.
• salt - to enhance all the flavors
• palm shortening - the frosting is made with palm shortening. Butter is the best substitute. You could also leave out the frosting and just top these bars with cream cheese or yogurt.
• maple syrup - to sweeten the frosting

How to Make Carrot Cake Bars

These batter for these vegan carrot cake bars is made in one bowl and baked in an 8" x 8" glass pan. Here's what you need to do:

1. First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8" square glass pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Next, make the flax eggs by mixing together ground flax and water.  Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes to thicken.
3. Peel the bananas and mash them in a large mixing bowl. Add in the shredded carrot, melted coconut oil, flax eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
4. Next, add in the coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix with a spatula until well combined.
5. Scoop the batter into the lined baking pan and smooth it out in an even layer.

6. Place the pan in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
7. After baking, remove the bars from the oven and cool them to room temperature in the baking pan.
8. Once fully cooled, frost the bars.

Frosting for Healthy Carrot Cake

These paleo carrot cake bars are frosted with a low sugar buttercream.  It's made of four simple ingredients: palm shortening, maple syrup, vanilla and tapioca flour.

The frosting is mildly sweet, but can be made sweeter by swapping the tapioca flour for powdered sugar.

To make the frosting, whisk together all frosting ingredients in a small bowl. If necessary, melt the shortening for 5-10 seconds in the microwave. This makes the frosting creamier and easier to work with.

Storage

Since these carrot cake bars are moist, you will want to store them in the fridge.  They stay well up to a week.  The frosting solidifies at cold temperatures.  However, you can let these them rest at room temperature before serving and the frosting will soften.

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