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 buttercream 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’.
The sad thing is I can’t get vegan cream cheese here, so a cream cheese frosting was out, at least until I figure out how to make a cream cheese frosting without cream cheese, and without using tofu, because I haven’t got my head around using tofu in a dessert quite yet.
But lemon buttercream works fabulously as well. Especially if you like your frostings very sweet.
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.
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!
And if you love cakes, then definitely check out some of our other awesome cakes, like:
And if you love chocolate there’s our vegan chocolate cake and for those who are gluten-free there’s our gluten-free chocolate cake. There’s something for everyone I reckon!
So what do you think of this gorgeous vegan carrot cake? Let me know in the comments and please rate the recipe too, thanks!
Oh! I almost forgot!
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? 
Moist Vegan Carrot Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting
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Prep Time: 30 mins - Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
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Yield: 10 -
Category: Cake, Dessert, Baking -
Cuisine: Vegan
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
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 Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 9 oz (250g) Grated Carrot
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) Brown Sugar
- 2 Flax Eggs
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 cup 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 degrees fahrenheit (180 degrees celsius).
- Grease two 7 inch cake tins 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) 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 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
*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. I didn’t need to use any extra liquid, but if you do, then just use as little non-dairy milk as you need to get the batter wet enough to mix properly.
*Inspired by Gimme Some Oven
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
I’m trying this! So, I’m not vegan but I’m a pretty decent cook & Baker! My dad is completely vegan, coming to visit for a week! Best tips, advice! We accidentally starved him last time he came for a couple days, so I’m definitely not doing that again, nor will I watch him eat lettuce salads at restaurants because their vegan options suck! Your carrot cake looks very possible, but how to I know I have it right? I’m used to using eggs, butter, etc! I know vegan substitutes don’t act the same way as leavening ingredients, so what should I look for to know it’s right or wrong? Help! I have one week to experiment! Any suggestions are welcome!
Hi Angie, if you just follow the recipe (weigh the ingredients where a weight is listed is my best tip!) then you should be totally fine! It should taste like a delicious cake, not a ‘vegan’ cake. If it does, then you know you got the recipe exactly right! Best of luck, and hope your dad’s visit goes great! 🙂
One of the best vegan desserts I’ve had.
★★★★★
Yay! So happy to hear that! Thanks Crystal! 🙂
Hi;
Haven’t made the cake yet, but intend to give it a try soon – probably for Thanksgiving (Oct 8 here…). Also, two tips that others might find helpful – try using oat flour instead of whole wheat, for a whole grain that is lighter and moister. Also, for many it is gluten free (some non-gluten people also have trouble with oat flour). Second tip – if you want a super easy and low-cal icing, try the ones made with yam – white Japanese (also called Asian) yam, maple syrup and vanilla, pureed, or orange yam with cocoa powder, maple syrup and vanilla for chocolate…..
★★★★
I just made this cake for my sister’s birthday and it is AMAZING!! I’m lucky enough to be able to buy vegan cream cheese for the icing, which complimented the cake beautifully. Will definitely make this again!
★★★★★
Yay! So pleased to hear that! Thanks for sharing Kelly! 🙂
Great idea..Wonderful cake..Thanks for sharing!
★★★★
So excited to make this for my mama birthday. I don’t have flax. Can I use regular eggs? This had the best reviews i could find. I’m fine without it being vegan. Thanks for the help!
This is the most amazing carrot cake. I have made this a LOT now! I amend it slightly and use 1/2 cup coconut sugar and 1/2 cup brown rice syrup instead of the 1.5 cups of sugar. It comes out perfect and just sweet enough every time. Just made a variation with a teaspoon of ginger and a handful of crystalised ginger…sooooooo YUMMY! Thank you so much for your amazing recipe!
★★★★★
That’s amazing to hear! Thanks for sharing Jayne! 🙂
Love it. It’s so simple to make and it’s really delicious. I put some pecan in the end because I love the flavour of it. Thank you for the recipe…. I will repeat it for sure.
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear that! Thanks so much for posting and the awesome rating! 🙂
Hi Alison! I’m desperate to make this carrot cake but I don’t have any 7″ cake tins, I only have 2 x 6″ + 2 x 8″ round tins that are both 4″ deep. Can you advise me which size tin would be the best one to go with and would it alter the cooking time? Hope you can help xxx
Hi Lisa, I would probably rather go for the 2 6″ tins, the layers will be a bit taller, but I don’t see a problem with that! It could be that it needs a few minutes longer, but it also might not. I would bake for the normal recipe time and then check with the toothpick method and see if it needs a little longer. All the best! 🙂
That’s great advice,! I’m making this cake on Wednesday so I’ll be back with the outcome. Wish me luck!! Thank you Alison xx
Hi! My friend wants me to make this for a birthday party. She wants a 4” cake and cupcakes. What would the baking times be?? Any help would be very appreciated! Thank you =)
We have some carrot cake cupcakes you could take a look at. I’m not sure about adapting this for 4″ or how that would work. Maybe the same recipe but make more layers?
I like to have pineapple in my carrot cake. Should I just add a small can of crushed pineapple to all the ingredients in this recipe or should I omit something?
Hi Lori, I am pretty sure there have been other commenters that have added pineapple, so maybe some of the other comments will have more info. It is a wet ingredient so you could let it replace some of the oil.
Hi Alison.I am Isabelle and I am in France….and sorry for my bad English! I have only one cake tin! Is it a problem? Today, It is Halloween and I would like to make this super cake for may husband and my friends… and also for me… Thanks for your advices. Isabelle
★★★★★
Hi Isabelle, it depends on the size of the cake tin. Is it a 9″ round cake tin? In that case it might be okay to do this in a single layer. If it is a smaller cake tin, it might still work out okay, but you would likely have to cook it longer and it’s a bit more variable.
Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Hello! Thank you very much for this recipe! I have just one problem. How can I replace the sugar with a low glycemic substitute and in what quantity? Thank you very much for your answer.
No idea at all sorry, this isn’t my area of expertise and would be something you would need to experiment with. All the best! 🙂
hi Alison! this looks amazing but I dont’t have any apple cider vinegar – is there something else I could use instead? If not I guess I’ll be going out on a search for ACV hahah xx
You could use white vinegar if you have that? Alternatively some commenters have noted that they used lemon juice instead and it worked fine. The important aspect is that it must be an acid to react with the baking soda so in that respect lemon juice should work fine. All the best! 🙂
Loved the cake, the icing it’s too much sugar for my taste.
★★★★
Hi alison!
This cake looks insane! How do you think I could modify the recipe for two 8 inch pans?
Thank you!
Can I use any other flour than all purpose white in your cakes? Like white wheat , spelt or oat? try to bake just a bit healthier. Thanks!
This was great! I used whole wheat flour and only 1 cup of sugar since I like my desserts less sweet, and I really appreciate the tip about letting the batter rest. My carrots did release water (but I still needed to add some liquid). I also grated an apple and mixed it in – I’d recommend it for anyone! I did not have a 7inch pan so I used one 9×13 pan and baked it for about 25 min. This cake was so perfectly moist, fluffy, and delicious. Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for this recipe Alison – I am vegan going on 9 months now – baking was my thing and I had all but given up on it since going vegan – that is until I found your blog! This carrot cake is soooooo good! I have made it twice in this week alone – yum yum. You vanilla cake recipe- same thing! So so good
★★★★★
Yay! Sooo happy to hear that Carey! Yes, so much baking fun to be had. 🙂