Home | carrot cake donuts with honey sweetened cream cheese frosting {gluten free}

carrot cake donuts with honey sweetened cream cheese frosting {gluten free}

by Heather

Carrot cake donuts with honey sweetened cream cheese frosting are baked in the oven to healthy donut perfection! The honey sweetened cream cheese frosting is a match made in carrot cake heaven. Gluten free and delicious!

They’ve got a nice ring to them huh?  Last week we were supposed to bring a beta-carotene food to our Bradley Method class, and carrots do count as those… so carrot cake it was!  Plus it just so happened to be my birthday that day too so cake was just necessary.

It’s funny how light the tops are in the first photo, then the more smooth bottoms get a nice color on them.  You can choose whichever side to have as your top, but I usually like the side that was in the pan since they’re more uniform.

After a few swaps from my blackberry lemon cake donuts, I was off and running.  Finely grate some carrot, blend up some coconut and add in tons of cinnamon.  Just a few changes to the recipe that gave these muffins a very distinct carrot cake flavor.

I’ve seen people add crushed pineapple to their carrot cake recipes before, and while I didn’t do that, I did have some left over pineapple juice from a can I opened the day before, so that got thrown in too.

I’ve decided that cream cheese frosting is really the only frosting I like.  And with carrot cake, it’s a must right?  No traditional powdered sugar in here though.  The cream cheese is slightly sweetened with just honey and a touch of vanilla.  Since there’s coconut in the donuts, why not put it on top too?

Shredded coconut definitely reminds me of snow flakes on top.  So pretty!

Hope these donuts brighten up your Monday morning just a bit.

Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Carrot Cake Donuts with Honey Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot cake donuts with honey sweetened cream cheese frosting are baked in the oven to healthy donut perfection! The honey sweetened cream cheese frosting is a match made in carrot cake heaven. Gluten free and delicious!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time18 minutes
Cool Time5 minutes
Total Time38 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: carrot cake, donuts
Author: Heather

Ingredients

  • ½ cup oat flour [ground in a blender from oat groats or steel cut oats]
  • ½ cup brown rice flour
  • 3 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut ground in a blender
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • cup natural cane sugar
  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
  • ½ cup pineapple juice
  • tsp vanilla extract divided
  • ½ cup finely grated carrot slightly packed
  • ¼ cup cream cheese at room temperature
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • Optional: unsweetened coconut to top

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees + grease your donut pan.
  • In a medium sized bowl mix together the oat flour, brown rice flour, ground coconut, sugar, cinnamon, salt + baking powder.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, juice, 1 tsp vanilla extract, oil + applesauce.
  • Stir wet into dry, until combined.  Do not over stir.  It will look slightly lumpy.
  • Fold in the shredded carrot.
  • With a spoon, spatula, or piping bag, transfer the batter to your greased pan leaving a little room at the top.
  • Bake for 16-18 minutes.
  • Test with a toothpick for doneness.  You want a slightly moist toothpick.  Not gooey but not bone dry.  The tops of the donut should be lightly browned and it will spring back when you press it lightly.
  • Let them cool in the pan for 5min then turn out onto a cooling rack.
  • Whisk together the cream cheese, honey and ½ tsp vanilla.  Spread onto the warm donuts.  Top with coconut.
  • Store in the fridge covered once cooled.
Did you make this recipe?Be sure to tag me @fitmamarealfood or tag #fitmamarealfood!

Heather

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22 comments

Amy B @ Second City Randomness April 30, 2012 - 9:02 am

Carrot cake is simply not legit unless there is cream cheese frosting involved.

I still prefer vanilla buttercream, but will never ever turn down cream cheese frosting… 😉

Reply
Fit Mama May 1, 2012 - 1:57 pm

Seriously, I couldn’t imagine it without cream cheese frosting

Reply
Erica April 30, 2012 - 10:05 am

Those are beautiful!! I love the cooling wrack. Your kitty in the diaper cracks me up

Reply
Fit Mama May 1, 2012 - 1:58 pm

I love this cooling rack too! It actually came with my microwave oddly enough.

Reply
Lisa@Healthy Diaries April 30, 2012 - 11:09 am

Carrot cake sounds so good right now! I wish you were going to be in my Bradley classes!

Reply
Fit Mama May 1, 2012 - 1:59 pm

That would be fun if we were in the same class!

Reply
Chloe@EveryCraving April 30, 2012 - 11:11 am

Cream cheese frosting is my favorite! These look amazing. I’m definitely gonna make these with the brown rice flour you gave me. Thanks for the recipe! 🙂

Reply
Fit Mama May 1, 2012 - 2:00 pm

Yes you definitely need to try some donuts (or muffins) with the brown rice flour!

Reply
Jentry Nielsen April 30, 2012 - 2:42 pm

Oh wow these look SO delicious! I will have to be making these next weekend!
Donuts always brighten my day, but yes Stoner in a diaper did as well! haha

Reply
Fit Mama May 1, 2012 - 2:01 pm

It was even more funny watching him walk around in it for a bit 🙂

Reply
Leslie April 30, 2012 - 6:51 pm

Omg! The cat wearing the diaper is hysterical 🙂 he looks just like my black kitty. Those donuts sound delicious.

Reply
Carole May 15, 2013 - 12:57 pm

Heather, just lovely. It would be great if you linked in to Food on Friday: XXXX. The showcases from this Food on Friday have not yet been selected. This link will take you to my home page where you will find a sidebar with links to all the different Food on Fridays. So that I know you have linked and can be sure to pin to the board I have for each one, please do leave a short comment. Cheers

Reply
Carole May 15, 2013 - 12:58 pm

My apologies Heather – I meant to put in Food on Friday: Carrots and Leeks!

Reply
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KC May 25, 2015 - 3:00 pm

Do you happen to know the calorie intake on these? They look amazing!

Reply
Fit Mama June 1, 2015 - 4:56 am

Sorry I do not, but feel free to input the ingredient list into a calorie calculator and report back!

Reply
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