Desserts · Cakes & loaves

Protein carrot cake

Name: Protein carrot cake
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 4 cups mature carrots, finely grated; 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour; 2 scoops, vanilla whey protein; 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt; 4 egg; 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce; 3 tbsp canola oil; scant 1/2 cup brown sugar; 4 tsp ground cinnamon; 2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/2 block cream cheese, softened; 2/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt, strained; 2/3 cup powdered sugar

Carrot cake rebuilt on Greek yogurt and whey instead of three quarters of a cup of oil, with a yogurt-cream-cheese frosting. The spice and the carrots survive intact.

Time: 60 min (25 prep + 35 cook)
Servings: 12
Per serving: 254 kcal
Protein: 12 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

Cake

4 cups mature carrots, finely grated400 g
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour180 g
2 scoops, vanilla whey protein60 g
1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt250 g
4 egg200 g
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce120 g
3 tbsp canola oil40 g
scant 1/2 cup brown sugar90 g
4 tsp ground cinnamon8 g
2 tsp baking powder8 g
1/2 tsp salt3 g

Frosting

1/2 block cream cheese, softened110 g
2/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt, strained150 g
2/3 cup powdered sugar70 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Whisk the wet cake ingredients, then fold in the dry and finally the grated carrot.
Bake in two lined 20 cm (8-inch) pans at 175°C for 30–35 minutes. Protein cakes set faster — start testing at 28.
Cool completely. Beat the frosting smooth; strain the yogurt in a sieve for 30 minutes first or the frosting slides.
Fill and cover. Keep it in the fridge — a yogurt frosting is not a buttercream and doesn't sit out.

Alternative

Carrot cakethe oil-and-buttercream original0

Why this score

easy to overeat

Dense calories with little protein, volume or fiber to fill you up.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

18% of kcal

54% water

12 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 3045 kcal goes into the pot, 1689 g of ingredients comes out as ~1400 g of food → 217 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 217
Protein: (18%); 10 g
Fat: (31%); 8 g
Carbohydrates: (51%); 28 g
of which sugar: 14 g
Fiber: 3 g
Sodium: 229 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

More desserts

Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.