Carrot Cake for Breakfast

My absolute favourite cake, what I have for my birthday every year, in breakfast form – carrot cake baked oats! Very similar to carrot cake in flavour and even texture, these gluten-free blended oats are soft, light, and filled with warm cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

Sweetening with maple syrup boosts the autumnal flavours even more, for a quick, tasty breakfast that’s a joy to eat. I would say baked oats are more of a weekend breakfast because they need about 20 minutes in the oven, which is more time than most of us have in the mornings, and they’re a fun recipe to make when you can have a slower start to the day.

Try topping with yogurt and extra cinnamon for a nod to carrot cake, or make a kind-of cream cheese frosting (see tips below) if you want to go all out.

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Ingredients You’ll Need and Why

None of my other baked oat recipes need added milk or yogurt, because banana or pumpkin add so much moisture. In this case you do need some because carrots contain less water. These are my notes from recipe testing. You can find the full recipe card with complete measurements and instructions below.

• Carrots: just one medium carrot – I’ve included the weight in the recipe card – shredded with a box grater. Grate more finely if you prefer it to melt into the batter more and have less carrot texture.
• Oats: rolled oats are best, but quick-cook work perfectly well. Steel cut oats aren’t appropriate for this recipe. Use certified gluten-free oats if needed.
• Milk: a splash of milk or yogurt adds necessary moisture to the baked oats. Omitting it will make them dense and dry.
• Egg: one egg provides structure and lift. It also makes the oats more filling. I haven’t tested and egg-free version (yet).
• Oil: a small amount of oil makes the oats softer. Omitting makes for a dry, rubbery result. Substitute another oil or butter in the same quantity if preferred.
• Spices: for a real carrot cake flavour, use all of the spices outlined. Cardamom is a great addition.
• Maple syrup: to sweeten and also for the extra flavour boost. Substitute honey if preferred. Be sure to use real maple syrup, not a maple-flavoured substitute.
• Vanilla: a small amount of vanilla extract adds sweetness and improves the taste.
• Add-ins: try adding two tablespoons of raisins or chopped walnuts, mixed in along with the carrot.

How to Make Carrot Cake Baked Oats

The carrots are treated like a mix-in, stirred into the batter after blending. The texture is less pleasant if the carrots are blended with the other ingredients. Mixing shredded carrots into the batter makes it more like carrot cake.

Step 1: add all of the ingredients but the carrots to a blender or blending container. My preference is to use an immersion blender for baked oats, instead of a full-sized standing blender, which doesn’t work quite as well with these small quantities. A bullet blender is just as good.

Step 2: blend until very smooth, then stir in the carrots and add-ins, if using. The oats should be broken down and the consistency should be similar to whole grain muffin batter.

Related: Banana Carrot Muffins

Step 3: pour into the greased ramekins. I always place the ramekins for baked oats on a baking sheet because they’re hard to remove from the oven after baking. It’s much easier to lift a baking sheet out of the hot oven rather than the small individual dishes.

Step 4: bake for about 20 minutes. Baked oats generally will rise significantly while baking, then fall slightly when removed from the oven. Cool for a few minutes before serving. These are best fresh.

Expert Tips for the Best Baked Oats

• Use a baking sheet: the small ramekins are hard to handle with oven mitts when hot, and it’s easier and more practical to place them on a baking sheet before baking so that they can be easily removed from the oven.
• Increase the amounts: this makes two servings, but can easily be increased to serve more people. If you hover (desktop) or tap (mobile) on the pink number beside ‘servings’ in the recipe card, you can slide the scale there to automatically adjust amounts. This only works for the gram measurements so keep that in mind! The baking time will stay the same and you’ll just need more ramekins.
• Bake in a toaster oven: many home ovens are so huge that it feels like a complete waste of electricity to heat up such a large space for two little ramekins. If you have a toaster oven, you can certainly use that instead and save some power.
• Top with ‘frosting’: instead of yogurt, try topping the oats with cream cheese (vegan or dairy) mixed with vanilla yogurt to make a speedy faux-frosting.
• No need to peel: you won’t even notice if the peel is left on the carrots or not, because they’re shredded anyway. Give them a good scrub and save yourself some time.

More Baked Oats Recipes

• Baked Oats (the basic version)
• Chocolate Baked Oats
• Banana Bread Baked Oats
• Pumpkin Baked Oats