A quick and easy recipe for the BEST [No-Bake] Healthy Carrot Cake Bars! Packed with fresh sweet carrots, heavenly scented with cosy spices and naturally sweetened with dates and maple syrup, these frosted carrot cake bars are the ultimate guilt-free dessert! This recipe is simple-to-make, healthy, vegan and sure to impress your entire family!
Oh I’m so excited to share these [no-bake] healthy carrot cake bars with you! If there’s a cake I’d love to eat over and over again, it’s carrot cake! I absolutely adore it! And who can blame me? Carrot cake is sweet, wonderfully moist, perfectly spiced, heavenly scented, packed with sweet earthy carrot and in my opinion, the most cosy cake of them all. Love love love it! Especially with a thick layer of delicious frosting! Yum!
But I have to be honest, traditional carrot cake can leave me feeling kinda…heavy. You get it, huh? So, in a delicious attempt to have my ‘cake’ and eat it too – these lighter no-bake healthy carrot cake bars came about! And I’m so thrilled they did!
These carrot cake bars are delicious and have all of the flavours of traditional carrot cake, including the cosy spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, natural sweetness from pure maple syrup, dates and carrots and lots of other simple pantry staples packed with nutrients. You’ll never believe these bars are vegan, egg-free, refined-sugar free and a raw dessert – they taste just like the real thing!
These no-bake carrot cake bars are made even MORE delicious thanks to a generous layer of luscious cashew nut frosting spiked with lemon, vanilla and a little maple syrup. The frosting is super smooth, totally luscious and marries perfectly with the textured, orange hued carrot cake bars.
You’re going to love this lighter dessert. Each bite is soft and chewy, delicious, full of flavour, perfectly spiced and totally mouth watering. Yum. Yum. Yum.
Let’s go over how to make these no-bake carrot cake bars:
This a super easy dessert recipe. Simply place all of the carrot cake bar ingredients into a food processor and blitz until combined, approx. 1-2 minutes. Then, smooth the mixture into a tin and pop into the freezer to ‘set’. Super simple.
Whilst the bars are chilling, make the luscious cashew nut frosting by placing all of the ingredients into a blender and blitzing until smooth and creamy. Pour frosting over the bars and set again for an hour or so.
See! Told you this is a super simple dessert recipe!
Healthy carrot cake bar ingredients:
Carrots: This recipe uses 3 carrots that lend colour, sweetness and texture to the bars. I like to see flecks of carrot throughout the bars so don’t over-process the mixture.
Spices: No carrot cake is complete without the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. They lend their unmistakable fragrance and cosy flavour to the bars. Amazing.
Walnuts: A classic addition to any carrot cake, walnuts provide the texture and crunch we all love! Want to make the bars ‘nut-free’? Simply replace the walnuts and almond meal with oats or coconut as per the recipe.
Vanilla Bean: Simply a must, totally essential.
Oats: Provides texture and ‘holds’ everything together, texture and flavour wise.
Orange Zest: A slight hint of citrus zing that works perfectly with the carrots and spices.
Maple Syrup: Sweetens and scents the bars.
Medjool Dates: Little sticky jewels of deliciousness that lend the bars natural sweetness.
How to store healthy carrot cake bars:
Store bars in an air-tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Bars are also freezer friendly and can be stored in an air tight container in the freezer for up to 3 months! FYI, straight from the freezer – these bars are all kinds of fantastic! Seriously, yum.
There you have it lovely, if you’re in the mood for something lighter and more nutritious too, I suggest these beautiful bars that taste just like a slice of carrot cake! You get all of the indulgence and flavour without any of the guilt!
MORE HEALTHY DESSERT RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE:
yoghurt and blueberry pannacotta
I know you’re going to love these no-bake healthy carrot cake bars, please let me know if you make it by leaving a comment and rating the recipe below. I’d love to hear from you and it helps encourage others to make the recipe too! Kayla xo.
★ DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE GIVE IT A STAR RATING BELOW!
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No Bake Healthy Carrot Cake Bars
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 20 bars 1x
Description
A quick and easy recipe for the BEST No-Bake Healthy Carrot Cake Bars! Packed with fresh sweet carrots, heavenly scented with cozy spices and naturally sweetened with dates and maple syrup, these frosted carrot cake bars are the ultimate guilt-free dessert! This recipe is simple-to-make, healthy, vegan and sure to impress your entire family!
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Bars:
- 3 carrots, grated [approx. 2.5 cups of grated carrot]
- 1 cup (95 grams) rolled oats
- 1 cup (125 grams) walnuts (or nut free version: replace walnuts with 1 cup oats)
- 1 cup (100 grams) almond meal (or nut free version: replace almond meal with 1 cup coconut)
- 1 cup (60 grams) desiccated coconut
- 6 medjool dates, pit removed
- 1/3 cup (80 mls) coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup (60 mls) maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste [or extract]
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger, ground
- zest of 1 orange
- pinch of salt
Frosting:
- 1 1/4 cup raw cashews (soaked in recently boiled water for 30 minutes and drained)
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) coconut cream
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or extract)
Instructions
To make the carrot cake bars:
- Line a 20 cm x 20 cm square tin with baking paper. Set aside.
- Place the carrots, oats, walnuts, almond meal, coconut, dates, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, orange zest and salt into the large bowl of a food processor.
- Blitz for 2-3 minutes (scraping down the sides of the bowl when necessary) or until smooth and combined.
- Press mixture into prepared tin and pop into the freezer whilst you make the frosting.
To make the frosting:
- Place the soaked cashews, coconut cream, lemon juice, maple syrup and vanilla bean paste into the bowl of a high-powered blender or processor.
- Blend on high speed for 4-5 minutes (scraping down the sides as necesarry) or until the frosting is smooth and luscious.
- Pour frosting over carrot cake bars.
- Place into the freezer for 1-3 hours, or until ‘set’.
- Cut into 20 bars. Enjoy x
Notes
Store healthy carrot cake bars in an air tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Healthy carrot cake bars are freezer friendly. Store in an air tight container for up to 3 months.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: Set in fridge
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Hi, would you have a nut free frosting for the carrot cake bars? Thanks! Looking forward to trying this recipe out later
Hi Sarah! Melted white chocolate drizzled over the bars is delicious OR you can make a cream cheese frosting (I’ll be sharing one next week that goes on top of our no bake banana bars, recipe coming soon). Stay tuned. Kayla x
Delicious! I cant have oats as they are not GF so subbed for flaked quinoa. Couldn’t tell they were missing in the mix, they taste amazing even hubby loves them ❣️
Delicious but did cut smaller ,made into 32 bars,hubby sweet tooth approved and he loves carrot cake
What is decicated coconut? Didn’t look it up. So you measure coconut oil and the melt it?
Hi. Can I leave out the coconut or substitute for something else and would Vegan butter or margarine work as a substitute for the coconut oil?