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Fluffy, spongy, and moist Carrot Cake Bars make for the best dessert. Made with fresh carrots, gluten-free flours, coconut sugar, walnuts and raisins. Topped with a sweet, creamy and rich cream cheese frosting. Super easy to make and perfect treat to make for Spring and Easter.
Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
If you are a fan of traditional carrot cake, then you will absolutely love these Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting. Everything you love from the traditional dessert but made much cleaner and with fresh ingredients. These bars are so fluffy, spongy and moist. Made with fresh carrots, gluten-free flours, coconut sugar, walnuts and raisins. Topped with a sweet, creamy and rich cream cheese frosting. We love making these bars for Easter and all is our go-to Spring dessert!
What you need to make Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting:
Ingredients:
- Bleached Almond Flour
- Tapioca Flour
- Coconut Sugar
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Pink Sea Salt
- Cinnamon
- Unsalted Butter
- Unsweetened Applesauce
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Grated Carrots
- Raw Walnuts
- Raisins (Optional)
- Cream Cheese
- Powdered Sugar
- Unsweetened Almond Milk (or milk of choice)
Equipment:
- 9×13 baking pan
- Stand up mixer
How to make Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together almonf flour, tapioca flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Whisk until all ingredients are well combined.
- Next, melt butter in the microwave. Pour melted butter in another large mixing bowl. Add eggs, applesauce, and vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined. Pour wet ingredients into dry ones and whisk again until well combied and batter is formed.
- Fold grated carrots into batter. Add walnuts and raisins if using and fold into batter as well.
- Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan with oil or butter. Pour batter into greased pan. Use a spatula to evenly spread batter throughtout the pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove cake from the oven and place pan on a cooling rack. Allow pan to completely cool down before removing the cake from it. Touch the bottom of the pan, if it’s not hot anymore, flip it on a flat surface like a cutting board. Then place a cooling rack over it and carefully flip again. Allow it to finish cooling off a bit more for another 10-15 minutes.
- At this point, make the cream cheese frosting. lace all ingredietns for the frosting in a stand mixer bowl or a mixing bowl (if using a hand mixer); cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix on medium-high speed until creamy and smooth frosting is reached.
- Use a spatula to evenly spread frosting throughtout cake. Slice cake into 12 even squares. Slice cake down three ways, then four ways horizontally . This will result in 12 squares.
- Place any leftover carrot cake bars in an airtight container. Keep refrigerated for up to 5-7 days.
Tips and Substitutions:
- Use butter instead of coconut oil as a dairy-free substitute.
- Not a fan of coconut sugar? Use maple sugar or brown sugar as a substitute.
- Use either a stand up mixer or hand mixer. Both will work well to mix the frosting.
- Allow pan to cool off before removing cake from pan. The cake will finish baking outside of the oven and start to set as it cools down. If you try to remove it from the pan before this, the cake will fall apart and crumble.
- Allow cake to completely cool off before adding the frosting. If you add the frosting while the cake is still hot, it will melt.
Can Carrot Cake Bars be frozen?
Carrot Cake Bars can be frozen but do so before adding frosting and slicing. Wrap the cake with saran paper and then with parchment paper. Place in a freezer bag or freezer friendly container. Keep frozen for up to 2-3 months. Thaw out in the fridge and reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Frost and slice once ready to serve.
How to store Carrot Cake Bars?
Place any leftover carrot cake bars in an airtight container. Keep refrigerated for up to 5-7 days.
Did you like this Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting recipe? You may also like these other baked good recipes:
- Pumpkin Cake Bars
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread
- Sweet Potato Pecan Muffins
- Sweet Potato Pie with Almond-Pecan Crust
- Pumpkin Scones with Pumpkin Spice Glaze
Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Fluffy, spongy, and moist Carrot Cake Bars make for the best dessert. Made with fresh carrots, gluten-free flours, coconut sugar, walnuts and raisins. Topped with a sweet, creamy and rich cream cheese frosting. Super easy to make and perfect treat to make for Spring and Easter.
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Bars
- 3 cups bleached almond flour
- 1.5 cups tapioca flour
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp pink sea salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups grated carrots
- 1 cup raw chopped walnuts
- 1 cup raisins (optional)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 1.5 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
-
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.
-
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together almonf flour, tapioca flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Whisk until all ingredients are well combined.
-
Next, melt butter in the microwave. Pour melted butter in another large mixing bowl. Add eggs, applesauce, and vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined. Pour wet ingredients into dry ones and whisk again until well combied and batter is formed.
-
Fold grated carrots into batter. Add walnuts and raisins if using and fold into batter as well.
-
Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan with oil or butter. Pour batter into greased pan. Use a spatula to evenly spread batter throughtout the pan.
-
Bake for 45 minutes.
-
Remove cake from the oven and place pan on a cooling rack. Allow pan to completely cool down before removing the cake from it. Touch the bottom of the pan, if it's not hot anymore, flip it on a flat surface like a cutting board. Then place a cooling rack over it and carefully flip again. Allow it to finish cooling off a bit more for another 10-15 minutes.
-
At this point, make the cream cheese frosting. lace all ingredietns for the frosting in a stand mixer bowl or a mixing bowl (if using a hand mixer); cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix on medium-high speed until creamy and smooth frosting is reached.
-
Use a spatula to evenly spread frosting throughtout cake. Slice cake into 12 even squares. Slice cake down three ways, then four ways horizontally . This will result in 12 squares.
-
Place any leftover carrot cake bars in an airtight container. Keep refrigerated for up to 5-7 days.
*Number of total servings in estimated. Actual number of servings may vary depending on your own personal preference in portion sizes.
**Nutritional values shown are general guidelines for 1 serving using the ingredients listed above. These numbers do not reflect and may vary depending on substitutions, additions and/or different brands and/or other ingredients that may be used.
**Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links and sponsored content. All the opinions are my own and I only recommend products I use in my own home with my own family.
