Carrot Cake Bars (GF/V)

These Carrot Cake Bars are gluten-free, vegan and perfect even for people without food allergies! A lovely, healthier and quick to prepare baked treat. Enjoy them plain, with maple syrup or maple icing. If you have time to make maple cream, it would also make fabulous and delicious icing!

Carrot Cake Bars (GF/V)

This treat is seriously very simple to prepare! All you need is a few key ingredients, a mixing bowl, a 9×9-in baking dish, an oven, and you’re pretty much all set. Watch this video to help you make the recipe.

A great one-bowl recipe that is free of all top allergens. If you’re not allergic to nuts, you can use nut milk, nut flour or add nuts in the mixture if you wish as an alternative.

Ingredients for This Recipe

To make the Carrot Cake Bars, you will need the following ingredients: 

• 1 mashed banana
• golden flaxseed meal
• coconut palm sugar
• plant milk 
• GF quick oats
• light buckwheat flour 
• potato starch
• GF baking powder
• sea salt
• pure vanilla bean powder
• finely grated carrots
• unsweetened shredded coconut 
• organic dried raisins

You can use only maple syrup or combine maple syrup with some organic powdered sugar for the icing. To level up your icing game, you can even add some vegan cream cheese to your mixture. See the recipe below for measurements.  

The maple cream recipe would be really great to drizzle over top of these carrot cake bars.

Baking Tools

A mixing bowl, unbleached parchment paper, a 9×9-in baking dish and a soft spatula are some of the necessary tools you will need to make this recipe. Of course, measuring cups and spoons or a kitchen scale will come in very handy. A wire rack is nice to have when cooling a baked treat.

How to Make Carrot Cake Bars (GF/V)

To make these bars, you will have to combine, and mix, all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Then transfer the mixture to a parchment-lined baking dish, bake and cool a little before cutting and decorating each bar.

TIP: remove the parchment paper while cooling. It will prevent the bottom of your bars from getting soggy.

The step-by-step instructions are below in the recipe card. 

What to Expect

A nutritious and semi-sweet baked treat that is moist, packed with flavour and great for anyone that enjoys a baked good with banana, carrots, coconut and raisins.

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Previous Recipe

I’m so proud of all the amazing bakers that have already tried this tasty yeasted Buckwheat Hemp Bread recipe! You can read about their experience in the Facebook Baking Group.

More GF Vegan Baked Treats

• Canadian Sourdough Beavertails (GF/V)
• Easy GF Vegan Lemon Madeleines
• Apple Crisp Bread (GF/V)
• Easy Grain-Free Banana Bread (GF/V)

Carrot Cake Bars (GF/V)

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• Author: Chantal | Fresh is Real
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 25-28 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 16 bars 1x
• Category: Treats
• Method: Oven-Baked
• Cuisine: Plant-Based, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Nut-Free, Allergen-Friendly
• Diet: Gluten Free

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Description

This quick-to-make baked treat is perfect for any occasion. Enjoy the Carrot Cake Bars plain, with maple syrup or maple icing.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 ripe banana, mashed (110g)
• 1/4 cup golden flaxseed meal (28g)
• 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar* (30g)
• 3/4 cup plant milk (200g)
• 1 cup GF quick oats** (86g)
• 1/2 cup light buckwheat flour (70g)
• 1/4 cup potato starch*** (40g)
• 2 teaspoons GF baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla bean powder****
• 1/2 cup finely grated carrots (50-60g)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (16g)
• 1/4 cup organic dried raisins***** (70g)

Maple Icing Ideas:

1. Maple syrup (3 tbsps) mixed with organic powdered sugar (up to 1 cup)
2. Vegan cream cheese (1 heaping tbsp), maple syrup (3 tbsps) and powdered sugar (up to 1 cup)
3. Make a batch of the delicious Maple Cream!

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Instructions

Before you begin, watch the step-by-step video to help you make this recipe.

Step 1
Preheat your oven to 350° F and line a 9×9-in baking dish with unbleached parchment paper.

Step 2
Mash the banana in a large mixing bowl. Then add the flaxseed meal, palm sugar, plant milk and give it a quick mix.

Step 3
To the same bowl, add the GF quick oats, light buckwheat flour, potato starch, GF baking powder, sea salt, vanilla bean powder and mix until the dry ingredients are combined. Fold in the shredded carrots, shredded coconut and raisins. 

Step 4
Transfer the mixture to your baking dish, smooth it out evenly and bake for 25-28 minutes or until the cake center is set.

Step 5
Cool in the dish for 10 minutes. Then pull out the cake with the help of the parchment paper. Remove the parchment paper, or else the underside will get soggy and finish cooling on a wire rack. Once cooled, you can leave the cake whole or cut it into 16 squares. Enjoy them as is or with a drizzle of maple syrup or maple icing.

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Notes

Plant-Milk Options: Plain unsweetened homemade hemp milk, nut milk (if not allergic), soy, rice, oat
GF Baking Powder: I use Purest.ca GF baking powder. Ingredients: tapioca starch, cream of tartar, baking soda.
Vegan Cream Cheese: I’ve never tried or tested nut-free vegan cream cheese, so I can’t recommend any brands at this time. 
Spices: If you love cinnamon, nutmeg or even powdered ginger, go ahead and add a little. I suggest 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon for the cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon for nutmeg and 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon for the ginger.

*Sub with cane sugar or maple sugar.
**Sub with almond meal/flour if you’re not allergic to nuts.
***Sub with tapioca or arrowroot starch.
****Sub with 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
*****Sub with small diced apples, chopped up Medjool dates or apricots, golden raisins.
I did not test all these substitutions. They are suggestions based on my experience. If you try something else and it worked well, please let us know in the recipe post comments.