This carrot bar cake recipe is a popular Halloween and Thanksgiving dessert that takes no time to make. It is a mixture of oats, carrots, and applesauce with lots of spices. You can use it as a cracker or serve it in bars with chocolate chips.
The original recipe called for butterscotch chips, but I couldn’t find any in the store, so I just used chocolate. The Carrot bar cake recipe is a great way to get kids to eat their veggies.
The fun, spiced taste of the bars will have your guests asking for seconds. This recipe is so easy to make that you might make it more often than just on holidays.
Contents
How To Prepare Carrot Bar Cake Recipe?
Preparation Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Serving Size: 16
Ingredients For Carrot Bar Cake Recipe:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup raisins (optional)
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup milk (or soy milk)
- 1 pound carrots, diced (optional)
- 1 cup applesauce (or other unsweetened apple sauce)
Directions To Prepare Carrot Bar Cake Recipe:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350f degrees. Line an 8×10″ pan with parchment paper.
Step 2: Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl.
Step 3: Add salt to eggs. Mix well.
Step 4: Add butter, applesauce, and raisins (optional) to the egg mixture. Stir well until combined.
Step 5: Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (do not overmix).
Step 6: Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.
Step 7: Allow cooling for about 10-15 minutes before cutting into bars (it gets harder to cut when it’s still warm).
Step 8: Let cool completely before cutting into bars.
Notes: You could use low-fat milk and applesauce instead of full fat. You can also make your applesauce by cooking apples in a pot of water until soft, then pureeing until smooth.
Add the yellow peel from some apples and mix through the puree to add extra flavor. This is not necessary but makes it taste better.
Nutrition Facts Of Carrot Bar Cake Recipe
| Nutrition | Amount |
|---|---|
| Calories | 302 |
| Fat | 8g |
| Carbohydrates | 54g |
| Fiber | 3g |
| Protein | 4g |
| Sodium | 156mg |
| Cholesterol | 35mg |
Amazing 7 Health Benefits Of Ofcarrot Bar Cake Recipe
1. Boosts Immunity:
Carrots contain high levels of carotenes, an antioxidant that keeps our body’s immune system strong and healthy. This will help you fight off colds, and the flu to feel more energetic and relieve stress.
2. Healthy Heart:
Carrots contain good amounts of beta-carotene, which helps prevent heart disease by increasing the good cholesterol levels in our bodies. Adding raisins to this bar recipe adds fiber, lowering LDL (bad cholesterol) and raising HDL (good cholesterol).
By adding this to your diet, you can prevent the risk of heart attack and stroke.
3. Boosts Eyesight:
Thanks to beta carotene, carrots can improve our eyesight and make us more alert. This is good for us because we rely on our vision in everyday life.
It also helps prevent macular degeneration, the main cause of blindness among older people.
4. Strong Bones:
Carrots are one of the few vegetables that can supply us with calcium. When you eat carrots, your body absorbs a form of calcium that is easy to absorb and strengthens our bones while keeping our teeth strong. As we age, taking in additional calcium from our diet is important.
5. Helps Prevent Stroke:
Stroke is very common and can happen for many reasons. High cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure are the main causes of stroke.
All of these are preventable with the carrot bar cake recipe. The beta-carotene in carrots has been proven to lower the risk of heart attack and stroke.
6. Boosts Eyesight:
Thanks to beta carotene, carrots can improve our eyesight and make us more alert. This is good for us because we rely on our vision in everyday life. It also helps prevent macular degeneration, the main cause of blindness among older people.
7. Promotes Healthy Skin:
Our skin needs to be kept hydrated and plump with healthy oils as we age. This can be done by eating a diet that has plenty of vegetables, especially carrots. Carrots are high in vitamin A which helps maintain healthy skin and keeps hair strong.
Carrots also contain beta-carotene, which helps prevent cancer due to their antioxidant abilities.
Is Gluten Free Of Carrot Bar Cake Recipe?
Sometimes I have to wonder if the people who don’t like eating carrots have even tasted carrot cake. I love this carrot bar cake recipe, but I just wanted to let you know that not all carrot cakes are gluten free.
There are a couple of ingredients in them that you will have to avoid, like wheat flour and yeast. The recipe is still absolutely delicious, and you will not miss these ingredients.
Is Carrot Cake Bars With Good For Baby Food?
This carrot bar cake recipe is perfect if you are feeding a baby and want to add a bit of a twist. It’s easy to make a yet delicious treat that adds variety to the foods your child eats.
You can always experiment by substituting the applesauce for mashed bananas and the raisins for other finely chopped dried fruits.
What Is The Taste Of Home Carrot Cake Bars?
This carrot bar cake recipe from Taste of Home is slightly different. It is a bit wetter and spicy, so this recipe is not for you if you prefer something more on the dry side.
I liked this carrot bar cake recipe because it was easy to make based on the ingredients I had in my pantry. I did not feel like running to the store for anything. The original recipe calls for white sugar.
How To Make With More Delicious?
This carrot bar recipe is very easy to adapt with what you have on hand. If you do not like raisins or have some leftover diced apples, then add them in. You can also try other dried fruits like cranberries and apricots.
I also love nuts in my carrot bars, so I often add walnuts or pecans to the batter. Just remember they will make it less crunchy!
How To Freeze Carrot Bar Cake Recipe?
1. Make sure the batter is fully cooled before freezing it.
2. Seal the batter tightly in a freezer bag.
3. Get as much air as possible, then place it in the freezer for up to 3-4 months. Defrost before using this recipe, or defrost overnight in warm water and drain well before using again.
4. To bake from frozen, increase cooking time by about 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees F or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Conclusion
If you love carrot cake and are looking for an easy recipe that can be made up in under an hour, then this carrot bar cake recipe is just perfect. You will get much bang for your buck because it makes quite a large batch.
You can freeze the leftovers or give them out to friends! They are a great way to get kids to eat their vegetables since the texture of these bars is similar to that of a crunchy cookie.
