Carrot Cake Sheet Pan Pancakes with Maple Cream Cheese Topping
I have to be honest…my least favourite cooking task in the kitchen is grating carrots.
I don’t know why – it’s a pretty fast and easy task, but it’s always the first I try to out-source to whoever is in the kitchen with me.
But since recipe testing is part of what I do during the day, there was no one around to out source the grating of the whole bag of Costco carrots that I went through to test this recipe where carrots are kind of a major ingredient.
It was totally worth it though because these Sheet Pan Carrot Cake Pancakes are insanely delicious, and they might have helped me get over my grating-carrots-aversion (win, win).
I don’t know about you, but making something like carrot cake falls into the ‘extra’ category for me – I usually don’t have time to do it. But breakfast on the other hand is an essential. So I thought, why not combine the two for a delicious weekend breakfast for springtime or Easter!
I love sheet pan pancakes because they are so much faster than regular pancakes – once you make the batter they only take 10 minutes to cook in the oven – instead of the 30-40 minutes it often takes to make a batch on the stove four at a time.
Overall, you can have these prepped, cooked, and on the table in less than 20 minutes – that’s the kind of recipe I need in the morning (or anytime of day, if I’m being honest).
I first played around with sheet pan pancakes a few years ago when I was writing The Food Doula Cookbook (and the Sheet Pan Pumpkin Pancakes made it in!).
I was always finding pancake recipes and doubling (or tripling) the recipe, trying to do the math in my head every time, because I don’t know about you, but a recipe that makes only 6 pancakes it just not enough pancakes.
Sheet pan pancakes, since they fill up your whole baking sheet, are automatically a large batch – meaning you don’t need to double up the recipe on your own to feed your family (or have leftovers!)
These Carrot Cake Sheet Pan Pancakes have all of the classic flavours of carrot cake – warm spices, vanilla, mild sweetness, and a moist, cake-like consistency.
Not to mention, they’re gluten-free, made entirely of oats and other good-for-you natural ingredients like carrots, eggs, coconut oil, apple sauce, and your choice of milk.
Plus, these are easily customizable – you can sub in:
· Your go-to flour (all purpose, gluten-free blend, etc) for the oat flour
· Honey for the maple syrup (but I recommend it if you have it for the maple flavour!)
· Butter for the coconut oil (although, a mild coconut flavour is classic and perfect in carrot cake!)
· Add-ins galore like chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, shredded coconut or raisins – whatever you like best!
For me, the most important part is the cream cheese topping to really bring the carrot cake flavour home!
This cream cheese topping is super simple and takes 1 minute to toss together (simply a mix of cream cheese, coconut oil, maple syrup and a bit of vanilla).
Ever since my girls were babies, I’ve mixed melted coconut oil with maple syrup as our pancake topping to get in more fats and lower the sugar a bit. This same base works wonderfully with the carrot cake flavour!
Of course, the Carrot Cake Sheet Pan Pancakes are delicious even without the maple cream cheese topping if you don’t have the ingredients on hand or don’t have the energy for ‘extras’ – I get it! My kids devour the pancakes as is.
But, if you want to go all in, you won’t be disappointed!
If you do have leftovers, these Carrot Cake Sheet Pan Pancakes are super easy to freeze. Simply let them cool, slice them into squares, and freeze in a freezer bag (either silicone or plastic).
To reheat, my favourite thing to is pop them in the toaster and slather with butter or coconut oil, but eating them plain, straight from the freezer has been known to happen too.
Carrot Cake Sheet Pan Pancakes (recipe for Maple Cream Cheese Topping follows!)
(makes 6-8 servings)
10 minutes prepping
10 minutes cooking
Dry Ingredients
2.5 cups oat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground clove
Wet Ingredients
1.5 cups milk of choice (I used oat milk)
1 cup apple sauce
3 eggs, whisked
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla
Mix-ins
1 cup grated carrot
Optional Mix-ins: raisins, chopped walnuts or pecans, shredded coconut
How to make it:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F and line your standard-size baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl
3. Mix wet ingredients together in a second bowl (or blender), then pour over dry ingredients and stir to combine
4. Stir in the grated carrot, then pour onto prepared baking sheet, smoothing out the batter to evenly coat the surface with a spatula
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until centre is cooked
Maple Cream Cheese Topping
What you need:
½ cup cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla
How to make it.
1. Simply combine ingredients in a bowl with a spoon and enjoy!
I can’t wait to hear what you think – make sure to send me a pic of your pancakes on Instagram!