No-Added-Sugar Carrot and Sultana Cake

As Mini Milk's birthday approached, I swithered between whether or not I wanted him to have cake.  I've tried to keep his diet quite healthy, making most of his meals from scratch and limiting processed foods, excess salt and added sugar.  I wasn't totally in love with the idea of going against all that in the form of a birthday cake.  So I decided to head to Pinterest for inspiration, and discovered that actually there are a lot of options for healthy cakes for baby birthdays!

One site in particular really impressed me - Homemade Baby Food -  and I wish I'd found it earlier as it has loads of recipes, not just for cakes but for so much more.  I had wanted to make a banana-based cake as Mini Milk adores them, but I had to go with what I had in the kitchen and our bananas were too yellow.  So I opted for the sugar-free carrot cake (2nd recipe down), but made some tweaks based on what I had to hand.

I was a big hit!  And not just with Mini Milk, who wolfed it down.  I loved it too, and it is the perfect tv-time treat for someone who is watching their calories and trying to eat clean.  Half Pint and the Milkman also enjoyed it, which goes to show that cakes don't have to be loaded with sugar and fat to be good.

In fact, it went down so well that I made it again tonight.  And this time I took photos, with blogging in mind!  So without further ado, allow me to present...

No-Added-Sugar Carrot and Sultana Cake

What you'll need...
250g [2 cups] plain flour
1tsp baking bowder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Optional pinch of salt
300ml [1 1/4 cups] water
225g [1 1/2 cups] sultanas
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp ginger
1 large carrot (grated)
100g [1/2 cup] unsweetened apple sauce

What to do...
Preheat the oven to 190c and grease your baking tin
In a saucepan mix the water, sultanas and spices together. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for five minutes
Mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt if you're using it) in a bowl
Remove the saucepan from the heat, and stir in the carrot and apple sauce

I wish this was scratch-and-sniff, because this smells incredible!

Combine the wet and dry ingredients thoroughly and pour the mixture into your prepared tin

Bake until the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (for me this is about 35mins in a fan oven)
Allow to cool on a wire rack before cutting into chunks and tucking in!

And this recipe isn't set in stone. You could switch up the type of dried fruit you use, maybe even add some nuts or use different spices or add more carrot or even add some orange flavours in there too.

The first time I made this I used a loaf tin as I didn't have a cake tin to hand.  It sliced into ten generous servings, and using My Fitness Pal I calculated it to work out at 200 calories per slice.  I found that even half a slice with a cuppa was a nice wee treat.

Obviously ingredients vary, so if you are seriously watching your calories I suggest you use MFP's recipe builder to total the calories for your own version.

Let me know what you think if you give this one a try!  And if you've got any other healthy baking recipes I'd love to hear from you.