Moist, rich vegan carrot cake with a wholesome flavor and gorgeous color. Topped with lemon buttercream frosting and crushed walnuts.
Carrot cake is pretty awesome! It gives you the feeling that you’re eating something pretty darn healthy. I mean you’re getting your veggies in!
And when it’s vegan carrot cake, well….. then you can feel pretty saintly about it!
Ok Ok, I’ve said I’m never going to mention guilt and food in the same sentence on this blog, and I’m going to stick to it, but you know, there’s indulgence and then there’s feeling saintly about indulgence, which is not like indulgence at all really.
So go on, have your vegan carrot cake and eat it too, while feeling saintly about your good choices 🙂
And you know one of these days I’ll make a gluten-free version and THEN, well then, you know, you can just about ascend to heaven on a cloud while you eat it!
Jokes aside, this carrot cake is super good, it has a wholesome hearty vibe, while being moist, rich, and delicious.
The Frosting!
Two things: firstly, I frosted it with a slightly altered version of my lemon frosting recipe. In this one I added apple cider vinegar, this was to try and get a slightly more ‘cheesy’ flavor to it.
Well, it didn’t really work, it was really good, but I would not say it was in any way ‘cheesy’. It was still really good though, with a perfect amount of tang, so I went with it!
I have since figured out how to make a fabulous vegan cream cheese frosting using a homemade vegan cream cheese! It is seriously delicious, so if you want to give that a try instead, then go for it. The lemon buttercream frosting recipe from our vegan lemon cake is also a winner if you want to use that instead.
The Walnuts
Second thing: Every single time I’ve made this I’ve intended to put walnuts in to it. And every single time I’ve forgotten. It’s been in the oven already when I’ve remembered the walnuts.
So as you can see, I decorated the top of the cake with crushed walnuts but I just KNOW that walnuts IN the cake itself would be fab too.
If I could only just remember!
Anyway, if you remember to do it, adding some walnuts in as a final step before transferring the batter to the cake tins would be a great addition to this cake.
You will love this cake for its moist, rich, wholesome flavor and gorgeous color.
Topped with lemon buttercream frosting and crushed walnuts, this cake is ideal for any special occasion. Or just for Sunday afternoon tea.
Vegan Carrot Cake Q&A
What about gluten-free? We’ve got you covered! Check out our recipe for vegan gluten free carrot cake! It’s totally divine.
How can I adapt this cake for different cake pan sizes? This cake makes two thick 7-inch cake layers. It also works perfectly for 8-inch cake pans. The layers are slightly thinner, but still perfect, and 8-inch cake pans work great with the recipe exactly as is, no other changes at all.
If you want to make this cake in 6-inch cake pans then I would suggest making 3 layers because the layers would be very thick if you use the recipe exactly as is for 6-inch pans.
If you want to make this cake for 9-inch cake pans then I would suggest increasing the recipe by half.
Can I make cupcakes? Sure! This recipe adapts to 12-18 cupcakes depending on how full you make the cupcake liners. You can also check out our vegan carrot cake cupcakes with orange and walnut and our gluten-free carrot cake cupcakes with cashew cream frosting.
So just to reiterate, you’ll love this cake for so many reasons, but mostly because it’s:
- Rich
- Moist
- Wholesome
- Vibrant
- Topped with lemon buttercream frosting!
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay good for a couple of days, or keep it covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week!
Want more vegan cakes?
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Red Velvet Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake
So what do you think of this gorgeous vegan carrot cake? Let me know in the comments and please rate the recipe too, thanks!
And while you’re here – sign up for our email list! You’ll get a (free) recipe ebook in the deal and you’ll stay updated with all our latest recipes too! Too tempting am I right? 
Vegan Carrot Cake
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10
Description
Moist, rich vegan carrot cake with a wholesome flavor and gorgeous color. Topped with lemon buttercream frosting and crushed walnuts. Ideal for any special occasion.
Ingredients
For the Carrot Cake:
- 2 cups (250g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 2 and 1/3 cups (255g) Grated Carrot
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) Brown Sugar
- 2 Flax Eggs (2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal with 6 Tbsp Water)
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil*
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 cup (100g) Chopped Walnuts (Optional)
For the Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 3 and 3/4 cups (450g) Powdered (Confectioners) Sugar
- 3 Tbsp Vegan Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 3–4 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Grease two 7-inch cake pans (See Notes*) and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a mixing bowl.
- Add the grated carrot and the brown sugar.
- Prepare the flax eggs, by mixing 2 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal with 6 Tbsp Water and allowing to sit for a minute.
- In the meantime, add the oil, vanilla and apple cider vinegar to the mixing bowl.
- Add the flax eggs.
- Mix everything together in the mixing bowl. Have a little patience and let the batter sit for a minute or two so that the carrots can release more water into the batter to enable you to mix it all together.
- *If your batter is still too dry to mix after letting it sit for a couple of minutes (and only if it’s too dry to mix after sitting for a few minutes) then add in a little non-dairy milk, only as much as you need to get the batter to a wet enough consistency so that it can mix properly.
- Lastly add the chopped walnuts if you want to add them.
- Divide the mixture between the two 7-inch cake tins.
- Place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool completely on a cooling rack.
- While the cakes are cooling, prepare your frosting.
- Add the powdered sugar, vegan butter, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and 3 Tbsp of lemon juice to an electric mixer bowl.
- Start mixing on low speed.
- If your frosting is too thick then add in more lemon juice a drop at a time as needed to get your frosting mix to the perfect consistency. If your frosting ends up too thin, add more powdered sugar.
- Add frosting to the top of one of the layers.
- Add the other layer on top and complete the frosting of the top and sides of the cake.
- Sprinkle crushed walnuts on top of the cake and serve.
Notes
*You can switch the extra virgin olive oil for a different oil such as canola oil.
*This cake also works perfectly in 8-inch cake pans. The layers are slightly thinner but still perfect. Baking time and everything are exactly the same.
*Some commenters have noted that they needed to use a little non-dairy milk to get their batter wet enough. This would depend on how wet your carrots are. Usually if you just let your batter sit for a few minutes, the carrots will release more water into the batter allowing you to mix it properly. If you did this and it is still too dry to mix then just use as little non-dairy milk as you need to get the batter wet enough to mix properly.
*Another frosting that is awesome on this cake is our vegan cream cheese frosting or our vegan lemon buttercream frosting.
*Inspired by Gimme Some Oven
- Category: Cake, Dessert, Baking
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice (of 10)
- Calories: 517
- Sugar: 74.6g
- Sodium: 347mg
- Fat: 13.6g
- Saturated Fat: 1.9g
- Carbohydrates: 97.7g
- Fiber: 2.2g
- Protein: 3.2g
Keywords: vegan carrot cake
Hey absolutely love carrot cake and have tried making this recipe a few times from a friends recommendation, however every time I’ve tried the sides always become really crusty when I take the can out of the pan. Any advice? Thanks!
Hi Tom, I’ve found this can happen if I’ve been a bit over-zealous with spraying my pans with non-stick spray. If this doesn’t apply, then it may be a case of the oven running a bit hot and the cake over-baking a bit as a result.
Amazing recipe, as always! Was just wondering if you had any advice on how to improve my frosting because I’ve found that whenever I try to make frosting, it turns out as more of a translucent, hardening glaze than the thick buttercream frosting that I’m looking for and I’m not sure what I could be doing wrong.
★★★★★
Hi Emma, I would try a different brand of vegan butter, this can have a big impact on your results. 🙂
Hi Alison, trying this for the first time and hope this works & I would like to ask if the oven need to be in fan mode heat or the normal mode (up and down) is good to go?
At the normal bake setting, not fan.
This cake is so moist, fluffy and most importantly delicious！I made a few adjustments based on what I had like using self raising flour and no baking powder, a chia egg instead of flax, made only 1/2 the amount of icing because i used just one 9 inch tin. Thanks for sharing this great recipe！
★★★★★
Awesome, thanks for sharing Izzie!
This cake is so yummy! It has a crispy outer layer which I love. I subbed carrot for shredded pumpkin.
Thank you
Tasch from Alice Springs
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks so much Tasch! 🙂
Great recipe, very rich! Alhough I usually don’t like the icing on carrot cake, this icing makes the cake so much better and it’s so easy to make too.
Thank you
★★★★★
This was delish! I subbed coconut butter for vegan butter, but, otherwise, I followed the recipe. I think I should have greased the parchment paper, though. Can the cake and/or the frosting be frozen?
★★★★★
Hi Sheryl, yes they can both be frozen. 🙂
I don’t have any flax, is it possible to create this is applesauce as the egg replacement and if so how much?
Thanks! Your recipes are great! I always make your cupcakes this will be my first time making cake.
Hi Sierra, you can try replacing each flax egg with 3 Tbsp applesauce. All the best! 🙂
Hi,
I’m looking to incorporate pineapple in this recipe. Do you think I could substitute crushed pineapple for the oil?
Thanks
Hi Victoria, yes I think that could work! 🙂
Hi I’m looking at making this. Could I possibly use self raising flour? Xx
Hi Tharan, you probably can, but since that already contains baking powder and salt, I would omit those from the recipe. But don’t omit the baking soda, that will still be needed.
Hi there!
I’ve made this cake 4 times already and it tastes like magic!!! Thank you so much!!!
One question… I battles with the frosting. It keeps on splitting. I always make sure to use room temperature batter… I add all the ingredients according to your recipe. I mix it up slowly. It is so disheartening! Do you have any advice for me?
Thank you so much!
Hi Nataliya! So glad you like the cake but sorry to hear you’re struggling with the frosting. I would try a different brand of vegan butter as the first option.