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Who doesn’t want to eat cake for breakfast? Soft and moist with a tender crumb and a thick layer of frosting, these Carrot Cake Baked Oats are perfect for anyone who loves a sweet breakfast. They really do taste like dessert, but with an added boost of protein and fiber and with less than 200 calories per slice.
This recipe is so easy to throw together that the longest step is grating 2 carrots, which you can do with a box grater or a food processor. Then, you just mix the dry and wet ingredients separately and mix them together. While the oats are baking, you can make the super simple 3 ingredient cream cheese frosting.
When it comes to carrot cake, I love mine without any added fruits or nuts for crunch. If you want to add a little something extra, raisins, walnut or pecans would all be great here. Just mix them in at the same time as you add the carrots.
Carrot Cake Baked Oats with Vanilla Cream Cheese Protein Frosting
Equipment
- 1 whisk
- 1 9×9 inch square baking dish, or any 8"-9" baking dish
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Baked Oats
- 1 ¼ cups quick oats
- ½ cup oat flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- â…” cup vanilla protein powder (I use Canadian Protein but any kind works)
- 2 tbsp ground flax seed (see Note 1)
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cardamom (this adds amazing flavor but you can skip if it you don't have it)
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened applesauce
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp maple syrup, optional
- 2 cups carrots, shredded (about 2 large carrots)
Vanilla Cream Cheese Protein Frosting
- 1 cup low fat cream cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
Instructions
For the Carrot Cake Baked Oats
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and set aside a parchment paper lined 9-inch square baking dish
- In a medium bowl, whisk together oats, oat flour, baking soda, salt, vanilla protein powder, ground flax, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom until combined
- In a separate bowl, whisk together applesauce, egg, vanilla and maple syrup until smooth
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined, then add the carrots and mix again
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth out
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
- Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into 9 slices
For the Vanilla Cream Cheese Protein Frosting
- In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, vanilla protein powder and vanilla extract until smooth and fully combined (make sure the protein powder is fully mixed in)
- To serve, top a slice of baked oats with a generous scoop of frosting (or spread frosting over the oats before slicing; see Note 2)
Notes
Nutrition
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