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
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 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
Really good! I used gluten free flour and it came out great! I left it in the oven for 40min instead of thirty and the texture is amazing. I am kinda disappointed that it tastes so much like nutmeg and sugar and not enough like carrot, which is something I should’ve expected when I saw the amount of nutmeg. BUT, it’s really good nonetheless!! 🙂
(also I currently have a cold so that could be why I’m not really tasting the carrot)
★★★★
I want to make this cake in a 9×13 pan, how much do have to increase ingredients? Ann
I don’t think you need to increase the ingredients, but you will need to shorten the baking time to around 20 minutes. All the best! 🙂
This turned out really nice just according to directions. I did add a touch of almond milk just because I felt it should be thinner and it was great. I made my frosting with vegan sour cream and it was really nice. The texture was nice and it spread easily. I also used 9″ pans which worried me until I read comments that others used 9″ pans as well. Thank you for the recipe.
This recipe is fantastic! I’ve made it many times for my vegan cafĂ© and I’ve had a million compliments on it, and two people have told me it’s the best carrot cake they’ve ever had! Today a woman bought a slice then bought the last two slices to take home with her. Thank you so much for this brilliant recipe! 🙂 I find it tastes even better the day after baking!
★★★★★
That is wonderful to hear! Thanks so much for letting us know and the wonderful review! 🙂
This cake was an absolute winner. I made a double 9” stack for my boyfriend’s birthday and it was the best cake there! It was competing with a Black Star vegan chocolate and popcorn cake… which I thought would be the winner, however this carrot cake was a crowd pleaser and demolished that night! Cannot wait to make again 🙂
★★★★★
That is so fantastic to hear! Thanks so much Hannah! 🙂
I made the cake this morning, the first cake I ever baked myself. I had a couple of snaffus, I also added a bit less sugar, I did not have nutmeg, and I substituted butter for tahini as it was the closest I had. Amazingly it still turned out great, it is sososo good. We luckily couldn’t taste the tahini. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!.
★★★★★
So happy to hear it was a success! Thanks so much for letting us know and the wonderful review. 🙂
Can I substitute 2 flax eggs with applesauce? If so, how much applesauce equals two eggs?
Hi Shams, it would be 6 Tbsp applesauce to replace 2 flax eggs. All the best!
Made this today after buying a divine one for $25 last week at wholefoods – and this was BETTER! Really great crumbly but moist texture. Thanks!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed it Lizzie! Thanks for the wonderful review! 🙂
Thank you for this recipe! I am not a great baker and struggle to follow some of the over-complicated cake recipes I find online with 50 ingredients. This was a breath of fresh air and it turned out incredible! I only had 9″ pans so I swapped out my all-purpose flour for wholemeal self-raising flour which ended up being perfect. I also used the store bought cream cheese version of your cream cheese icing and that was the biggest success too. The cake was moist, walnuts were a fantastic surprise throughout the cake and I am so excited to try another one of your recipes 🙂
★★★★★
So glad it worked out well! Thanks so much for sharing and the awesome review! 🙂
This was absolutely wonderful! I went with your regular cream cheese frosting this time. My husband, whose favorite cake had always been carrot cake, is thrilled!! Thank you!
OMG THANK YOU THANK YOU THANNNNK YOU!!
I work for The Heart Foundation, a lot of my colleagues are vegan and I’ve tried to make a vegan cake for them (that’s yummy) for so lonnnng…… (the amount of tried and failed recipes are countless!). So many vegan cakes say they aren’t dry and taste as good if not better than the original (they lied LOL)
AND THEN…. I found this recipe….. I made 2 cakes last night…. 1 for my very non vegan family that turn up their noses to anything if they think it’s “vegan food or vegetarian food” (like somehow the word vegan or healthier would kill them instantly after putting it in their mouths!!… and 1 cake to take to work.
I fed it to my family last night after dinner and just said “I made a carrot cake for you”…. after they polished it off and went back for seconds, I told them it was a vegan carrot cake … they said “nothing vegan tastes that good” … needless to say they were shocked!! I took the other 1 to work today…. it was a massive hit!! Everyone asked for the recipe so I sent them all the link to here!!
It was so delishhhhhh!!! Thank you…. I’m now going to do all your recipes… 1 by 1!! ????????
★★★★★
Hi Tanya! I am so thrilled you loved this cake! Thank you for this wonderful review! 🙂
This recipe is amazing! I had two issues though , my frosting turned out a bit runny, I’m guessing because I used homemade vegan butter because vegan butter isn’t sold where I am. Can I substitute with margarine instead. Also, my cakes didn’t come out flat topped so assembling was difficult, how can I make the layers even ? Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Kemi, margarine is great! But to make sure it’s not runny, go easy on the liquid ingredients, or add more powdered sugar if it ends up runny. You can always slice the top of the cake layers off if you need them to be flat.
Can you freeze?
Sure!
so delicious ! just made it for my mom’s birthday. She loved it ! It was super moist and rich tasting. I loved the idea for the lemon in the frosting. It didn’t rise as much as I expected…so I would like tips on how to make it rise more. I would add alittle more cinnamon and nutmeg next time…but I like things extra spice-ful… I used honey and maple syrup instead of the brown sugar and cut it down to 2/3 cup and it turned out slightly sweet but not overly so. thank you for this recipe and all the love you put into it!
★★★★
So glad you enjoyed it! I usually get a nice rise out of it, did you use 7-inch cake tins? If you made it in a bigger size then that would explain it being a little flatter. I’m also not sure of the impact switching out the sugar for maple syrup might have had on the rise.
My mom made this for my 17th birthday… Delicious, thank you! ?
★★★★★
Awesome! So happy it was a success! Thanks for the awesome review. xo