This vegan carrot cake is the best ever! It’s moist and rich and topped with a tangy 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!
Okay okay, 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 even make a gluten-free version (update: it’s here!) 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.
Topped with a tangy lemon buttercream frosting and crushed walnuts, this cake is ideal for any special occasion. Or just for Sunday afternoon tea.
How To Make Vegan Carrot Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together.
- Add light brown sugar and grated carrot to the mixing bowl.
- Prepare your flax eggs by adding 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed meal to a bowl with 6 tablespoons of hot water. Let it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax eggs, oil, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and chopped walnuts to the mixing bowl.
- Mix everything together. If it seems like it won’t come together and the mix is too dry then step away from the bowl for a couple of minutes and then come back to it. The carrot will have released more moisture into the batter allowing it to come together into a thick batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between two cake pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with parchment paper along the bottoms).
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- When the cakes are cool, frost and decorate with crushed walnuts.
The Frosting
Two things: firstly, I frosted it with a lemon frosting and 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!
Secondly, I have since made 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.
Chef’s Tips
Measure your flour correctly. If you have a food scale then measure the flour out on a food scale for total accuracy. If you don’t have a food scale then use the ‘spoon and level’ method to measure your flour. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level it off with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into your cup.
Carrots must be freshly grated. If you buy pre-grated carrots then they will have dried out a lot by the time you use them. You need freshly grated carrots so that they are packed with moisture.
The walnuts. Walnuts are entirely optional but they are really delicious both in the cake itself and sprinkled on top for decoration. Another great option is chopped pecan nuts.
Be patient mixing the batter. When you’re mixing this batter you may start to wonder if I’ve missed out some important ingredients in the form of liquids! You may start thinking it will never come together! Don’t worry, so long as you used freshly grated carrots, it will definitely come together. Just step away from the bowl for a couple of minutes, the carrots will release more moisture into the batter. When you come back and mix again, it will form into a thick batter.
Adapting For Different Cake Pans
- 7-inch. This cake makes two thick 7-inch cake layers.
- 8-inch. 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.
- 6-inch. If you want to make this cake in 6-inch cake pans then I would suggest making it as a 3 layer cake. Baking time will be around 25 minutes.
- 9×9 sheet cake. You can also make it as a 9×9 square sheet cake. Baking time is 35 minutes.
- 9×13 sheet cake. It also works as a 9×13 sheet cake though it is a fairly thin cake so 9×9 is preferred. Baking time for 9×13 is 25 minutes.
Vegan Carrot Cake Q&A
You can make this cake gluten-free by simply switching the regular flour for a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. You can also check out our recipe for vegan gluten free carrot cake. It’s totally divine.
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.
Storing and Freezing
Keep the cake covered at room temperature where it will stay good for 3-4 days, or keep it covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week.
It is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
More Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Red Velvet Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vegan Strawberry Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Carrot Cake
Ingredients
For the Carrot Cake:
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 ½ cups Light Brown Sugar (300g)
- 2 ⅓ cups Grated Carrot (255g)
- 2 Flax Eggs (2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal with 6 Tbsp Water)
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 cup Walnuts (100g) Chopped, Optional
For the Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar (480g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2-3 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
Decoration:
- Walnuts Chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray two 7-inch cake pans or two 8-inch cake pans (see notes*) with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.
- Sift the all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix together.
- Add the light brown sugar and grated carrot to the mixing bowl.
- Prepare your flax eggs by adding 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed meal to a bowl with 6 tablespoons of hot water. Let it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax eggs, oil, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and chopped walnuts to the mixing bowl.
- Mix everything together. If it seems like it won't come together and the mix is too dry then step away from the bowl for a couple of minutes and then come back to it. The carrots will have released more moisture into the batter allowing it to come together into a thick batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- While the cakes are cooling, prepare your frosting.
- Add the powdered sugar, vegan butter, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Start mixing on low speed gradually increasing speed until your frosting is thick and smooth.
- If your frosting is too thick then add in the extra tablespoon of lemon juice, a drop at a time and only as much as needed to get to a spreadable consistency.
- Frost the cake and decorate the top with chopped walnuts.
Video
Notes
- Measure your flour correctly. If you have a food scale then measure the flour out on a food scale for total accuracy. If you don’t have a food scale then use the ‘spoon and level’ method to measure your flour. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level it off with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into your cup.
- Carrots must be freshly grated. If you buy pre-grated carrots then they will have dried out a lot by the time you use them. You need freshly grated carrots so that they are packed with moisture.
- The walnuts. Walnuts are entirely optional but they are really delicious both in the cake itself and sprinkled on top for decoration. Another great option is chopped pecan nuts.
- Be patient mixing the batter. When you’re mixing this batter you may start to wonder if I’ve missed out some important ingredients in the form of liquids! You may start thinking it will never come together! Don’t worry, so long as you used freshly grated carrots, it will definitely come together. Just step away from the bowl for a couple of minutes, the carrots will release more moisture into the batter. When you come back and mix again, it will form into a thick batter.
- Adapting for different size cake pans:
- 7-inch. This cake makes two thick 7-inch cake layers.
- 8-inch. 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.
- 6-inch. If you want to make this cake in 6-inch cake pans then I would suggest making it as a 3 layer cake. Baking time will be around 25 minutes.
- 9×9 sheet cake. You can also make it as a 9×9 square sheet cake. Baking time is 35 minutes.
- 9×13 sheet cake. It also works as a 9×13 sheet cake though it is a fairly thin cake so 9×9 is preferred. Baking time for 9×13 is 25 minutes.
- Gluten-free: You can make this cake gluten-free by simply switching the regular flour for a gluten-free all purpose flour blend.
- Cupcakes: This recipe adapts to 12-18 cupcakes depending on how full you make the cupcake liners.
- Storing: Keep the cake covered at room temperature where it will stay good for 3-4 days, or keep it covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to a week.
- Freezing: It is also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
- This recipe has been updated with new photos but the recipe itself is unchanged.
Tanya Louise Conlan says
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!! ????????
Alison Andrews says
Hi Tanya! I am so thrilled you loved this cake! Thank you for this wonderful review! 🙂
Kemi says
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!
Alison Andrews says
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.
Helen-Rose Yeoman says
Can you freeze?
Alison Andrews says
Sure!
Rebekah Miller says
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!
Alison Andrews says
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.
Zia says
My mom made this for my 17th birthday… Delicious, thank you! ?
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! So happy it was a success! Thanks for the awesome review. xo
Jule says
The cake is still in my oven but by the taste of the batter I think that there is way too much sugar. And I only put 1 cup of sugar but I don’t think I’ll add the frosting
Laura says
I just tried this recipe for mz bday cake, it was my first vegan cake after going vegan for 2 months.
I bought to work and it’s so yummy and moist no one noticed it was vegan! Thank you so much!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome Laura! So pleased to hear that, thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂
suzie blair says
Hi Allison,
Love, love your carrot cake. I am missing pineapple though. Do you think I could put well drained pineapple in your cake batter?
Your recipes are so good. Each one that I have made has been delicious. Thank-you for all of your work
Alison Andrews says
Hi Suzie, so happy to hear you like the recipes! Thank you! Regarding the pinepaple, yes, others have done it, if you search the comments, it’s definitely been done! I think you would need to replace some of the other wet ingredients so you don’t end up with a cake that is too wet. All the best! 🙂
suzie says
Thank-you for getting back to me. I have tried so many of your recipes and they totally rock!!!
Ann says
Just baked this wonderful cake today. Didn’t have enough walnuts so added chopped roasted cashews. Also did not use as much sughar and still tastes delicious. I will use this recipe again. Thankyou Alison for sharing your talent and passion.
Elizabeth says
What adjustments do you recommend if I want to double the recipe and make a larger cake?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Elizabeth, what size cakes are you going for? The only adjustment that may be needed is a longer cooking time, if the layers are thicker, it just depends. I have just been testing a gluten-free version of this cake, that is made for 8 or 9-inch and found that when made in the 8-inch pans (thicker layers) it just needed a longer baking time, but gluten-free cakes are also more variable in baking time so I’m not entirely sure if it will apply here, but that’s what I can think of as possibly having an impact if you double the recipe.
Ana says
After making a few adjustments to suit my taste I made this cake for my extended non-vegan family. It was a hit. My brother has just messaged me and asked if he could buy one off me for a dinner party he’s going to. I also made it this morning for my non-vegan colleagues who all raved about it (they wouldn’t share it with the others in the office). I have shared pics of my cake on Facebook along with a link to this page for those who want to make it themselves. Thanks for the recipe.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Ana! So happy to hear it was a hit! Thanks for the amazing review. And thanks for sharing the link with your friends as well. xo
Elisa says
It was a good recipe but it tasted way too sweet. Pretty sure it’s the frosting. I don’t think it will need as much powdered sugar as suggested. I’ll use twice the amount next time.
ET says
Hi All,
I love this recipe. I add orange zest of two oranges to give it a more spiced taste.
Just a word of warning for those using the measurements in g, the sugar is incorrect and I think it should read 187g sugar.
Thanks!
Elena
Alison Andrews says
Hi Elena, the sugar measurement is correct, I do all my measures manually and don’t use an automated system, so other than the odd (rare, thankfully) typo, they are usually correct. So glad you liked the recipe! 🙂
Pattye says
This recipe has been highly recommended for us to try for Easter, but we need to convert the recipe to cupcakes. Any idea on how long to bake? Thanks.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Pattye, we do have a recipe for carrot cake cupcakes as well. But if you want to convert this recipe exactly as it is, then you can just bake for around 25 minutes. It should convert to 12 cupcakes perfectly.
Georgie says
I made the two batches into 2x tin loafs instead. One for my boyfriend and house mate and one to take into the office. Needless to say, they were both devoured within a blink. Such a gourmet recipe. Thank you for sharing – Will be using this one again!
I used Orange instead of lemon and added some orange zest to the cake mix which turned out pretty nicely. 🙂
Alison Andrews says
Fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Tara Costello says
Hey, thanks for the recipe! It looks great 🙂 Do you think this would work in a loaf tin?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Tara! I think it would work but the baking time would likely be a lot longer (maybe as much as double). If you look at my other loaf cakes like our vegan pound cake, you’ll see that tenting it with foil might also be needed to stop it browning too much with the longer baking time.
Georgie says
I would agree. I tried the tin loaf idea. Baking for an extra 6/7 min with tinfoil on top for the last few mins certainly works out well 🙂