Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookie Cake

From: http://amyshealthybaking.com/

Complete with cream cheese frosting, this oversized oatmeal cookie tastes just like carrot cake! It’s soft, chewy, warm, cozy, and everything a cookie should be. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days—if they last that long!

Yields: 12 slices (1 cake)

The cookie

• 1 c (98g) instant oats (measured correctly;  spoon into the measuring cup. Once it is full, level it off with a knife.)
• ¾ c (90g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured correctly)
• 1 ½ tsp (5g) baking powder
• 1 ½ tsp (3g) ground cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp (1g) salt

It’s important to measure both the oats and flour correctly, using the spoon-and-level method. If scooped from the container using the measuring cup, you’ll end up with 1.5 times as much, which will dry out your cookies and make them crumbly.

To make your own instant oats, pulse 1 cup of old-fashioned oats in a food processor 5-8 times.

Melted margarine may be substituted for the coconut oil or butter. Regardless of which is used, be sure that the egg is at room temperature before whisking it in. A cold egg added straight from the fridge would rapidly cool the fat source, resulting in small blobs of semi-solid coconut oil, butter, or margarine.

• 2 tbsp (28g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp (5mL) vanilla extract
• ½ c (120mL) maple syrup. Honey or agave may be substituted in place of the maple syrup.

•  ¾ c (68g) grated carrots (about 2 smallish medium, peeled first)

Preheat the oven to 325°F, and lightly coat a 9”-round spring form or regular cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla.
Stir in the maple syrup until thoroughly incorporated. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the carrots.

Spread the cookie dough evenly across the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake at 325°F for 17-20 minutes. Cool completely to room temperature in the cake pan.

While the cookie bakes, prepare the frosting.

Frosting

• ½ c (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 4 oz fat-free cream cheese (half of one block)
• 1 serving (7g) fat-free, sugar-free instant cheesecake pudding mix
• 2 tbsp (3g) granulated sucralose (or other sweetener, to taste)

In a large bowl, beat the yogurt, cream cheese, pudding mix, and sucralose with an electric mixer on low speed for 2 minutes, or until thick. Chill for at least 2 hours before piping on top of the cooled cookie cake. (If chilling longer, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap or foil.)

* For the gluten-free flour, I used as follows: ½ c (60g) millet flour, 2 tablespoons (17g) brown rice flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca flour, and ½ tsp (1g) xanthan gum.

There will be leftover frosting. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.