Ya'll have been asking for a carrot cake recipe for a while, and with Easter weekend right around the corner, I had to pull out the big guns! Well that might be an exaggeration, but this carrot cake is easy to make and very tasty.
That fluffy white stuff you see is vegan cream cheese frosting made without a pre-packaged vegan cream cheese. I thought you'd like that! If you want to do carrot cake, but even cooler, try my carrot cake doughnuts with lemon cream glaze.
Here's a video of how to make this beauty! It may turn you on. Maybe a little too much.
If you're looking for more Easter recipe ideas I've listed a bunch at the end of this post from the #virtualEasterparty I'm taking part in with some fabulous fellow bloggers! Be sure to share pics of your carrot cake creations this Easter weekend by tagging #hotforfood and @hotforfood on Instagram and Twitter!
vegan carrot cake
Ingredients
carrot cake
- 1 ⅓ C unsweetened soy milk
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon ground flax (or ground chia)
- 3 tablespoon water
- 1 ½ C spelt flour
- 1 C coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground all-spice
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅓ C coconut oil (solid but soft at room temperature)
- 1 C packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 C grated carrot
- ½ C crushed pineapple (from a can and drained from most of the excess juice)
"cream cheese" frosting
- ½ C coconut oil (solid but soft at room temperature)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 C powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon unsweetened soy milk
Instructions
- Mix together soy milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside for about 10 minutes. It will start to curdle like buttermilk.
- Mix together the flax and water and set aside in the fridge for about 10 minutes to allow it to thicken.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the cake including spelt flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, all-spice, and sea salt.
- In another bowl, beat together the coconut oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until fluffy. Then add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar mixture and the flax "egg" mixture once thickened. Beat together until well combined. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
- Fold in grated carrot and crushed pineapple and mix well. It will be a pretty thick batter, not the kind that pours into your cake pans.
- Lightly oil 2 x 7" cake pans. You can also use a cake pan that is up to 8" wide. You can also do one cake at a time if you only have one pan!
- Divide the batter between 2 cake pans. Press the batter into the cake pan evenly so it reaches all sides. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 15 to 18 minutes.
- Turn out onto cooling racks and allow the cakes to cool completely before icing them.
- You can make the cakes ahead, wrap them in plastic, and leave them at room temperature until you want to assemble the whole cake. Make the icing right before you want to ice and assemble the cake.
- Using a hand mixer, beat the coconut oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract and 1 cup of powdered sugar to start. Once it's mostly combined, add in another cup of powdered sugar and beat together. Add in soy milk and beat until smooth and fluffy. Then ice the cake!
- I've topped the cake with coconut chips from a package. They're lightly sweetened with sugar and have a bit of sea salt as well. You could also just make these or use toasted shredded coconut that you'll find in a bulk store. You could also use toasted nuts or dried fruit! Make it your own.
Notes
What's the #virtualEasterparty?!
It's a fun way to discover more amazing food blogs and tasty recipes. Easter was our excuse to all come together to share the love! For more plant-based recipe inspiration for Easter weekend check out all the awesome posts below from some fab food bloggers!
A Sunshine Mission /// Carrot Cake Oatmeal Bars
Brewing Happiness /// Heathy Ambrosia Salad
Real Food Healthy Body /// Blackberry Chocolate Cups
She Can’t Eat What?! /// Easter Coconut Oat Granola with Rosewater Cream
Nourish Everyday /// Superfood Chocolate Cake with Matcha Frosting
Wholehearted Eats /// Rainbow Rolls with Creamy Miso
Rebel Recipes /// Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal with Lemony Cashew Cream
Chocolate for Basil /// Green Apple Celery Slaw with Candied Pecans
Naturally Hanne /// No Bake Chocolate Mousse Tarts
Scaling Back Blog /// Spring Artichoke Pesto Pasta
Some Bits and Bobs /// Steamed Veggies with Quinoa and Sprouts
Well & Full /// Purple Cauliflower Tabbouleh
Gratitude & Greens /// Vegan Easter Egg Truffles
Nourish Atelier /// Beluga Lentil Caviar 2 Ways
Food by Maria /// Vegan Potato Gratin with a Twist
Vegetaryn /// Vegan Chocolate Covered Easter Eggs
Dower Hollingsworth /// Hot Cross Cupcakes
Pinky's Pantry // Raw Lemon Cheesecake with Candied Lemon Peel
anna
I'm guessing it's ok to substitute the flours with different kinds if coconut flour isnt available?
Mariah
Coconut flour is very different compared to other flours. I wouldn't recommend substituting.
EP
I tried just using all purpose flour and it took double the time to bake through, then the texture was gummy. 🙁 Next time, I will stick to the recipe.
genevieve @ gratitude and greens
I can't wait to try this- especially the cream cheese!
Sheryl @ Healthoop
Thank you for the recipe 🙂 I will cut also the sugar from there. Hopefully the cake still tastes fine. 🙁
Pastaveia
this looks amazing, thanks for sharing!
Saniel
Those look yummy. Have you ever heard of smoked carrot lox? You and John should try it out and shoot a video.
corinne
i strongly suggest making more icing than listed here, i doubled and barely had enough for the top and between layers... maybe i need to work on my icing precision
Selina Scarlet
Tried it out for easter and everyone was really impressed!
Gina
Woah this looks incredible!
Tess
I made this for Easter and all of my omnivore family members were so impressed that vegan food could taste so good. Thanks for the recipe!
Lauren Toyota
YAAAY! awesome 😀 Thank you!
BeneDetta
Can't wait to try that! How can I sub crushed canned pineapple?? Can I use regular pineapple, crushed and rinsed? Or applesauce?? Thanks
Benedetta
-.- you've already thought about that! Just saw! Sorrrrrrrrry 😁😁😁
Heather @ Polyglot Jot
yum This looks amazing!
Elizabeth Ridsdale
This is one absolutely amazing cake! I served it tonight to family and friends who are not vegan, and didn't let on that it was vegan. I was asked twice for the recipe and told it was the best cake they had ever had. Thanks a million Lauren and John!! 🙂
Rachel
Best Vegan cake i've ever had! So moist! Best spelt cake i've ever had! Thanks so much! From London
steve finkle stein
Great blog! Hope you can also visit me at https://www.vegetablessuck.com/ and let us share food adventures, reviews, and recipes.
Yesenia
What can I sub for coconut flour?
Jenna
Do you use refined coconut oil for cooking/baking, or unrefined?
plasterers bristol
Yum, love carrot cake. never made it myself though, Thanks for posting sounds delcious. Simon
Mook
Made it, and it was sooooo good!
I had to leave it in the oven for about 30 mins instead of 15-18 mins, but they still came out so moist and delicious!
Meredith
delicious!!! had to leave it in the oven for much longer though, maybe 30 mins
and i used vegan butter instead of coconut oil
felicia
really want to try but don't want to go to the store! can i substitute AP flour for the spelt? i do have coconut so would keep that part.
L
Just made this cake! I have never made a cake before, so I was pleasantly shocked when the cake turned out to be incredibly delicious! Will definitely be making this again!!!!!!!!!!!(You can tell how happy I am because of the use of exclamation points.)
Shreya
The recipe looks great......but I want to add some vegan cream cheese, so should I add 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese and 1/4 cup of coconut oil? Is there anything else I need to change?
The Satori Chemist
Hi, Lauren! - I'm a noob vegan cooker/baker. I was wondering what the following non-vegan ingredients you were substituting for:
- 1 tbsp ground flax (or ground chia)
- 1 1/2 C spelt flour
If I don't have those items above - what other items could be substituted. Also, can I use equal amounts of coconut milk for the "1-1/3 C unsweetened soy milk"? Love your blog and Youtube channel!
Valerie
Hi there, 1 tbsp of ground flax in 3 tbsp of water is what we call in vegan baking, a vegan egg, you can you use any other substitute for 1 egg. You can also easily substitute the spelt flour for whole wheat flour. If your coconut milk is from a can I wouldn't use that in place of soy milk you can you use the coconut milk from a carton or almond milk, cashew, rice what ever non-dairy milk that sings to your heart but soy and cashew milk are a little bit more creamy than almond milk that is more watery so you may need a little bit less if using almond milk. Hope I was of some help here. Have a great day !
The Satori Chemist
Awesome! Thanks so much for the response! I actually made homemade coconut milk -- so I needed to work out the consistency a bit. But it worked. I actually tried her apple spice cake first. Super delicious! 🙂
Kaitlyn Kinder
This cake is amazing! Made it last weekend and now making it again but in cupcakes!!
Elise van Dam
This is the best cake I ever had in my entire life, I swear to god. And I don't even really like carrots haha
Yesang Food
Looks Incredible WOW Amazing❤❤
Tiffany
UNBELIEVABLE. The amount of frosting was perfect too, I am surprised to see so many people saying it wasn't enough!
Lauren Toyota
yaa I'm so glad you like it!