This healthy bake has all the classic flavour of an indulgent carrot cake recipe, but makes a healthy treat as the cake is sweetened with apple, banana and sultanas and cut into snack-size squares. Perfect for an afternoon bite with a dollop of yogurt or packing up in a picnic or lunchbox on the go.
Ingredients
100ml sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
300g carrots, peeled and grated
1 apple, grated
1 banana, roughly mashed
1 orange, finely grated zest
100g sultanas
3 eggs
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
fat-free fromage frais or quark, to serve (optional)
extra cinnamon or orange zest, to serve (optional)
Directions
Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.
Put the oil, carrots, apple, banana, orange zest and sultanas in a large bowl, then crack in the eggs. Beat together until fully combined. In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, spices and baking powder together and mix in the salt.
Gently fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until combined, it will be quite a stiff cake batter when all the flour is added. Transfer the mixture to the lined tin and level the top.
Bake for 50-55 mins until the cake is golden and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.
Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Individual squares can be wrapped up for picnics or packed lunches or serve as a pudding with a dollop of fat-free fromage frais or quark and a sprinkling of orange zest or cinnamon on top, if you like.
