EASY VEGAN CARROT CAKE RECIPE WITH FROSTING

Vegan or not, this is hands down the best carrot cake I’ve ever had! This moist and nutty vegan carrot cake, which is packed with warm and fragrant spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and fresh ginger, is a true family favorite. It’s loaded with healthy ingredients such as carrots and pineapple and topped with the best vegan cream cheese frosting and crushed walnuts. I’d consider this a weekend project as it takes some time to put together but trust me, it’s so worth your while! Make this cake for someone’s birthday and they’ll think you got it from a fancy bakery. You can even serve this for special gatherings like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Or make it just because it’s the weekend and you want to treat yourself!

What is Vegan Carrot Cake With Vegan Frosting?

This vegan carrot cake is a spiced cake full of shredded carrots and pineapple, and topped with a fluffy vegan cream cheese frosting. The results are a truly noteworthy layer cake with varying textures and flavors.

While many carrot cake recipes include dairy and eggs, this version includes neither. Instead, the cake comprises vegetable oil and flax eggs while the frosting includes coconut cream and vegan cream cheese. 

If desired, you could make your own vegan cream cheese at home but rest assured that it is becoming easier to find at the grocery store as well. The vegan cream cheese will offer a similar tanginess to traditional cream cheese, and is a wonderful contrast to the sweet, spiced cake.

Ingredients

Carrot Cake

• all-purpose flour
• baking soda
• salt
• ground cinnamon
• ground nutmeg
• ground cardamom
• vegetable oil
• coconut sugar
• light brown sugar
• flax eggs – 4 tablespoons flax meal + 8 tablespoons water
• carrots
• canned crushed pineapple
• fresh ginger
• walnuts
• baby carrot food or carrot pure
• baking powder
• vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

• coconut cream
• vegan cream cheese
• powdered sugar
• guar gum
• vanilla bean

For Garnish

• walnuts
• cayenne pepper

Instructions

This vegan carrot cake involves two components; the cake and the frosting. Here is how you make them and assemble the cake:

Carrot Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush 2 8-inch round cake pans with oil and line bottoms with parchment.

2. In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom. Set it aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the oil with both kinds of sugars, carrot puree, ginger, and vanilla extract until smooth, about 2 minutes.

4. Add the flax eggs and mix well.

5. Incorporate the flour mixture into the liquid ingredients in 2 additions.

6. Gently fold in the carrots, pineapple, and nuts. Take care not to over-mix!

7. Divide the batter between 2 cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

8. Remove the cakes from the oven, place the pans on a wire rack, and let them cool for 10 minutes.

9. Run a knife around the edges of pans and invert the cakes on a cooling rack, then let cool completely. Most of the cream cheese frosting is made with coconut cream and is not very stable at room temperature. You don’t want the top layer to slip off the other bottom layer so make sure they aren’t even the slightest bit warm.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds. In a bowl, mix the vegan cream cheese with the powdered sugar and vanilla with a handheld mixer until creamy. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, whip the coconut cream and gum until stiff, then carefully fold in vegan cream cheese.

3. Chill for at least 30 minutes before spreading. (It will firm up a bit).

For Assembly

1. Place one cake layer on a cake platter and spread it with 1 cup of frosting.

2. Place the second cake on top.

3. Spread the remaining frosting over the top of the second cake and on the sides of both.

4. Sprinkle the top and sides with crushed walnuts and lightly dust with cayenne pepper.

Variations

This vegan carrot cake is a classic representation of what carrot cake traditionally is, but you can feel free to make it all your own if you like. Here are a few ways for how you can do it:

• Replace or Omit the Walnuts: Walnuts are traditional in carrot cake, but if you don’t have any on hand, you could easily replace them with pecans. Alternatively, if those you will be serving the cake to are allergic to nuts, you could omit the walnuts altogether.
• Add Raisins: Raisins pair beautifully with carrots in desserts, so why not add some to the cake batter? Whether you choose to use sultanas or golden raisins, they will add sweetness and texture to this fluffy carrot cake.
• Make it into Cupcakes: I’ve tested this recipe and made regular-sized cupcakes in the past, and it worked pretty well! Instead of separating the batter and making two layers of the cake, just spoon the batter into a muffin tin lined with paper liners so they are a little more than halfway up each muffin cup. The cake takes 50 minutes to bake but cupcakes are going to take way less time. I recommend doing a test cupcake and checking on it after 15 minutes with a toothpick inserted into the center to see if it comes out dry. Most cupcake recipes take around 20 minutes to finish baking. This should make 20 to 24 cupcakes.

How to Store Vegan Carrot Cake

This vegan carrot cake can be stored in a cake caddy or lightly covered on a platter, and stored in the fridge until you are ready to serve it. It should keep well for up to 3 to 4 days.

FAQ

Related

If you are looking for other cake recipes, consider trying these recipes:

• Fresh Fig Cake
• Mango Spice Cake
• Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake