Cooking Nook Logo
Forks with food on them

Carrot Apple Quinoa Cake

Apple carrot quinoa cake

A quinoa cake? If you have been looking for ways to get super healthy quinoa into your diet more often, have a look at this amazing cake.

It’s a carrot cake with apples, fresh ginger and quinoa. Yes it does have sugar. The recipe calls for 1 cup of packed brown sugar. I think you can easily cut that down to 3/4 of a cup, loosely packed with no noticeable lack of sweetness, but suit your own tastebuds.

Most of us are trying to eat fewer sweets and, if we have children, feed them healthier foods. Here is a recipe that satisfies everyone’s sweet tooth while providing good nutrition. That just has to be an unbeatable combination.

Healthy Cake Recipe?

Some people will argue with me for calling this quinoa cake a healthy cake recipe. Of course, because it’s still a cake, it is higher in sugar. But is is also very high in Iron, Vitamin A and Vitamin B6 and has quite a bit of protein for a cake. So, as cakes go, this is one of the healthier ones you can serve.

Quinoa increases 4 times in size when cooked. So, if you want 2 cups of cooked quinoa, measure out 1/2 cup of dry quinoa to cook. Cook it in 1 cup of water.

The nutritional information above is for the cake without the icing. If you want a healthy cake recipe, I would suggest omitting the icing. You can serve it plain, or sprinkled with a bit of icing sugar as shown in the images above and below.

Quinoa is one of our Power foods. Although it is thought of as a grain, it is really a seed from a vegetable that is in the same family as Swiss chard, beets and spinach. Quinoa is a high quality protein food containing all nine essential amino acids. At up to 20% protein it has far more protein than rice (at 7.5%) or wheat (at about 14%). It is also gluten free.

Quinoa is a perfect food to include in our meals on a regular basis. It’s not high in calories either and is full of healthy nutrients.

Apple Carrot Quinoa Cake

Carrot Apple Quinoa Cake

A quinoa cake? If you have been looking for ways to get super healthy quinoa into your diet more often, have a look at this amazing cake.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 12 Servings
Calories 432 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs, large, beaten with a fork
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2/3 cup oil
  • 1 tablespoon ginger root, finely grated
  • 1 1/2 cups quinoa, cooked
  • 1 cup carrot, grated
  • 1/2 cup apples, peeled & grated (cooking variety)

Icing (optional):

  • 1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 2 teaspoons butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups icing sugar

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
  • In a large bowl, measure the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Stir to combine all the ingredients well. Make a well in center of the mixture.
  • In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and ginger root. Add the quinoa, grated carrot and apple and stir. Add to this to the flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. Spread the batter evenly in 9 inch (22 cm) greased springform pan.
  • Bake in preheated 325ºF (160ºC) oven for 55 minutes or until cooked through. Let cool for 5 minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack to cool completely.

To Make the Icing:

  • In small bowl, beat the cream cheese, milk, butter and vanilla until smooth. Add the icing sugar. Beat until smooth. Add more milk if necessary.
  • Spread evenly over top and side of the completely cooled cake.

Nutrition

Calories: 432kcalCarbohydrates: 61gProtein: 7gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 52mgSodium: 240mgPotassium: 237mgFiber: 2gSugar: 34gVitamin A: 1980IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 72mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Serves 8 to 10

Tips:

Try using part whole wheat flour for this cake recipe. I always sift whole wheat flour before I bake with it, as it can certainly make cakes heavier if you don’t. If the flour is fresh and you sift it once or twice before you use it, it works quite well.

Subscribe to the site here (it’s Free!) and never miss a great recipe.

If you like this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you share it on social media. Thanks.

apple carrot quinoa cake


If you like the health benefits of quinoa in this quinoa cake recipe, have a look at this delicious quinoa salad.

Leave a Comment

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.