Vegan Carrot Cake

Is Carrot Cake Vegan?

Most classic carrot cakes from the bakery are not vegan. They contain many eggs, butter, milk, and cream cheese in their frosting.

However, making your own vegan carrot cake at home is super easy.

Let me share with you how to make it.

How To Make Vegan Carrot Cake

A vegan carrot cake is easy to make, but it requires quite a few ingredients, so first, prepare all of them on the kitchen countertop before starting.

The best way to make this cake is to first measure each ingredient in individual bowls, so you don’t get confused when you start.

Wet Ingredients

• Unsweetened almond milk or any non-dairy milk you love.
• Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
• Vanilla extract
• Light olive oil – or canola oil or melted coconut oil.

Dry Ingredients

• All-purpose flour – or spelt flour.
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Brown sugar – or coconut sugar.
• Sugar – you can use unrefined cane sugar or regular white sugar, or erythritol.
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Ginger
• Salt
• Other ingredients
• Grated carrots – peel, trim fresh carrots and shred in your food processor using the small attachment to ensure thin pieces of carrots in your cake. The thinner, the moister this vegan carrot cake will be.
• Chopped nuts or sultanas raisins.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

A classic carrot cake recipe uses cream cheese frosting. In order to mimic the same flavor in your vegan carrot cake, I recommend using a combination of vegan butter and vegan margarine to make your vegan buttercream.

Of course, you can also use vegan cream cheese from your grocery store to replace the butter. But, if you can’t find some, this combination does the trick!

All you need to make your own vegan cream cheese frosting recipe are:

• Vegan butter
• Vegan margarine
• Lemon juice – to add the tangy flavor you found in real cream cheese.
• Powdered sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Soy milk

Vegan Buttermilk

First, in a large mixing bowl, combine unsweetened almond milk and apple cider vinegar.

Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle milk and create a vegan ‘buttermilk’.

Next, in a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together.

Whisk, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Set the bowl aside while preparing the liquid ingredients.

Combining Vegan Carrot Cake Ingredients

Bring back the large bowl with the almond milk mixture and stir in light olive oil and vanilla extract.

Gradually combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the batter is smooth.

Don’t over-mix the batter to avoid a dense or gummy carrot cake.

Baking

First, grease two 9-inch round cake pans with coconut oil. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper to prevent the cake from sticking to the pan.

Then, divide the carrot cake batter evenly into each pan. Place both pans in the center rack of a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C).

Bake the cakes for 30 minutes to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

The baking time varies a lot based on where you place the cake pan in your oven.

The tricky question when making a two-layer cake is should I bake both layers at the same time?

I recommend you do, but place one cake pan in the center rack and one just under. Then, swap the cake places halfway through baking to make sure they bake evenly.

Otherwise, if you can fit two pans on the center rack, expect the cake placed at the back of the rack to bake slightly faster.

The last option is to bake the layer separately, probably better if your oven is small or a toaster oven that won’t diffuse heat very well.

In this case, keep the second cake layer at room temperature on the kitchen counter while the first is in the oven.

Cool the cakes completely on a cooling rack before frosting. This can take up to 2 hours.

Buttercream Frosting

In a large mixing bowl, add softened vegan butter and vegan margarine. Beat on high speed until fluffy and creamy and whiter in color – about 30 seconds.

Then, stop the beater and add powdered sweetener, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and half soy milk. Beat again until fluffy and evenly combined.

If you love your frosting lighter and thinner, beat in the extra soy milk.

Assembling The Carrot Cake

Place the first cake layer on a plate or cake-turning table.

Then, add half the frosting to the Centre of the cake layer and, using a flat tool like a metal spatula, spread the frosting, turning the table at the same time to evenly spread the frosting all around the cake layer.

Now, add the second carrot cake layer on top. Place the remaining carrot cake frosting on top and repeat the same action until all the cake is frosted on its top and sides.

Decorate the top of your vegan carrot cake with chopped walnuts and chopped pecans.

Refrigerate the cake for 2 hours before slicing to give some time for the flavors to blend.

Allergy Swaps

You can swap a few ingredients in this recipe to make a healthy vegan carrot cake.

To do so, replace:

• White flour with white whole wheat flour or spelt flour – this will add fiber to the cake and decrease the carbs. Note that this recipe doesn’t work with almond flour or coconut flour.
• Sugar – use a sugar-free sweetener like erythritol. This is a great diabetes-friendly sweetener.
• Brown sugar – use sugar-free brown erythritol. This is a great sugar-free vegan option for cakes.
• Vegan cream cheese frosting – use my coconut cream frosting to decrease refined oils.

Storage Instructions

This vegan carrot cake must be stored in an airtight box in the fridge for up to 4 days.

To keep it longer, freeze the vegan carrot cake slices in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Thaw the cake at room temperature 6 hours before or overnight in the fridge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Add Coconut Or Crushed Pineapple?

Yes, sure, you can add 1/2 cup of shredded coconut or crushed pineapple to your vegan carrot cake batter.

To do so, stir in the add-ons at the same time you add the grated carrots.

Note that crushed pineapple adds moisture to the cake. Therefore, it can take a little bit longer to bake.

Can I Use Gluten-Free Flour?

Yes, you can use any 1:1 gluten-free flour substitutes.

Do I Need A Flax Egg?

No, this recipe doesn’t require a flaxegg or any egg replacer.