High Protein Carrot Cake Banana Bread
Enjoy this high protein carrot cake banana bread for a snack or dessert! Gluten free, easy to make, high protein, grain free and super filling! Did I mention its carrot cake! Frosting and all!
Carrot cake is hands down my favorite dessert. So clearly I’m always looking for new ways to enjoy my favorite dessert. This super simple carrot cake banana bread is packed with all the right flavors, its dense and filling and the coconut butter frosting makes it almost dreamy!
I crave sweets often. I used to try to ignore those cravings, or only have “a bite or two” of what I was craving. But I realized, I am not a good moderator. Some people are. One of my best friends can have a huge bag of dark chocolate at her desk and gelato in her freezer and every day just has one piece of dark chocolate and will have a spoonful or two of gelato when the craving strikes. Me. HA! I would burn a hold through that bag and it would be mostly gone by the end of the day. Gelato and ice cream are not even purchased. That is just a stomach ache waiting to happen from a late night binge.
So what is a girl to do? Well I had to learn to get creative in the kitchen. I make my own versions of my favorite foods: cookies, cakes, sweet desserts, etc. This way I get to control the ingredients and I also don’t tend to over indulge as much since I don’t feel like these sweet treats aren’t as “off limits”.
I bake with protein powder as the base of so many of my recipes as it tends to make the desserts more filling and something I can enjoy post workout.
Two of my favorite childhood memories: carrot cake at my birthday and banana bread at least once a month. My mom was an amazing baker. I remember she would let my sister and I help her in the kitchen and I loved watching the butter and sugar in the kitchen aid. In face, one of the first gifts my mom got me when I moved out on my own was my very own kitchen aid mixer.
I have to admit, I don’t pull out my kitchen aid much anymore. I’m more of a one bowl and fork kind of girl. Not sure when or why that happened but cleaning up is so much easier now!
How to make this with protein
To make this recipe packed with protein, I used Nuzest Pea Protein in Vanilla. Vegan protein powder acts a lot like flour and is great for baking.
I would not recommend making this recipe with whey protein since whey protein tends to dry out when you bake with it. Any vegan protein powder should work for this recipe but I love Nuzest since it’s so clean and doesn’t have an added sweeteners or artificial flavors.
If you liked this recipe, you should try
- Vegan Protein Banana Bread
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Bread
- Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal
- Simple Chocolate Protein Pudding
High Protein Carrot Cake Banana Bread
Guided Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 mashed bananas
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 4 egg whites
- 3 servings vanilla vegan protein powder - Nuzest
- 2 tbs coconut flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tbs cinnamon
- 2 carrots shredded
- pinch salt
- 1/4 cup coconut flakes
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2-4 tbs. coconut butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the egg whites and applesauce. Combine well.
- Add the vanilla protein powder, coconut flour, cinnamon, ground ginger and stir well to combine.
- Grate the carrots and add directly to the batter along with the coconut flakes and rasins. Stir until completely combined.
- Add a pinch of salt, vanilla extract, baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
- Place a sheet or parchament paper in the bottom of a loaf pan and spray with non-stick (coconut oil spray).
- Add the batter and bake at 350F for 60 minutes.
- Allow to cool completely after removing from the oven.
- Add 2-4 tbs. of melted coconut butter and place in fridge to harden.
What do you mean by three servings (scoops?) of protein powder?
Hey there – since every protein powder brand is different (some say that 1 serving = 1 scoop, where others are 1 serving = 2 scoops), I leave this to say 3 servings. If your protein powder is 1 scoop, than yes 3 scoops. Hope this helps, happy cooking! Sam
Hi, is there any changes if I use grass fed whey protein?
Hey Nina! Great questions – I actually don’t recommend baking with whey protein, it really dries out the baked goods. If you only have whey, I would find a recipe that recommends using it for the best texture. However if you want to try this, I would add 1/3 cup of flour for every serving of protein (so add 1 cup of your favorite flour) to help mimic the absorption power of the vegan protein powder. Hope this helps!
Hello!
I do not have applesauce… is there a way to omit it?
Do you think it’s all fine to omit the cocconut flakes and raisins as well?
Can’t wait to try this! Thanks!!
Yes you can omit the coconut flakes and raisins. You could try some milk in place of the applesauce or more bananas.
I made muffins out of this recipe instead and they’re in the oven right now. I have not yet tasted them but they smell wonderful.
I made 14 medium-sized muffins so the nutritional info will be different. Speaking of that, I assume the information does not I close the coconut butter in the totals. Am I correct?
Hey Christine! If the ingredient is listed, it’s included in the nutritional value! Hope the muffins turned out great!!
Could I use all purpose flour rather than coconut?
Hey there coconut flour absorbs much more liquid than all purpose flour. I haven’t tried this recipe with anything other than coconut flour. I’m not sure how much all purpose flour you would have to use, probably at least double the amount
I absolutely love this recipe, one to make over and over again!Thank you so much for every bite of deliciousness!
can I use almond flour instead of coconut?
Hi Gracie! You can’t sub them out one for one, since coconut flour absorbs so much more liquid than almond flour. You could try doubling or tripling the amount of coconut flour for almond flour. I don’t know the exact ratio you would need though
Carrot cake is my fave! Thanks for joining last weeks Creative K Kids’ Tasty Tuesday – we hope you’ll join us this week!
Yay! I love carrot cake! :D Can’t wait to try this out!
Yummy yummy! Pinned so I can give it a try :)
Carrot cake is a favorite dessert too! It’s interesting to see the different versions such as yours. Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday.
I just pinned your awesome bread,it looks delicious! Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday. Have a great weekend and come back to see us real soon!
Miz Helen
High-protein and such a tasty cake! I think I have finally found my recipes paradise and it’s here, haha! Thanks a lot for this one. I promise to abuse it :P
I don’t use protein powder so Can I sub almond flour for the vanilla protein powder and if so about how much.
Thanks
Hey Hertha, I have not tried omitting the protein powder for almond flour before so I cannot give you measurements to use.