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.
great recipe! I make this often and sometimes replace the sugar with coconut palm sugar. This recipe makes for a healthy, weekday dessert as well (I often omit icing). Thank you!! I highly recommend this recipe.
That’s great Cecilia! Thanks so much for your lovely review!
I was asked for a completely vegan Carrot cake. My research sent me to your site. I compared this one and another. Yours seemed workable. I normally do a traditional carrot cake. This recipe works. Of course, I had to tweak as I just can’t help it! I substituted the ‘flax egg’ with full fat, vegan yoghurt- 125g. I added freshly grated nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves & ground cardamom along with the cinnamon. I used veg oil, as that’s what I had. I beat the light brown sugar, oil, orange extract & yoghurt together first, then added 360g freshly grated carrots, weighed after grating, 100g roasted & chopped pecans, 100g sultanas that I had soaked in rum & orange juice. Then added the dry ingredients. didn’t over mix. Worked perfectly for 2 heart shaped 7 1/2 inch tins. The batter tasted like carrot cake so hopefully the finished cake will be ok too!😆 Thank you for the recipe 🥰🥰
That sounds lovely Deb! Thanks for sharing your version and thanks for your great review!
First try cake – tested with Nurse colleagues-
“tasted like cake that could be sold in a bakery”
no one could tell the difference to cake made with eggs & dairy & this one.
Second version given to the ‘requestee’ says, “it’s wonderful don’t have words”
Recipe saved!
Now going to try the victoria sponge.
I’ll have to look at all your other recipes-
Thanks again. It was a pleasure to use a recipe that actually was very true to the instructions!
That’s amazing Deb! So happy to hear you and your colleagues enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for your great review!
I made this as a birthday cake for my mum. She said it was to good to sell in a shop. It was delicious. Thank you!
Happy to hear you and your mum enjoyed the recipe Leighann! Thanks so much for your great review!
is really the best! I am surprised and I used the crushed carrots after my carrot jus. I add some almond milk to make them more hydrated! I’ve got a fantastic carrot cake, fluffy and generous!
Thank you very much
That’s amazing Tatiana! Thanks so much for sharing and for your lovely review!
This recipe came out GREAT! I made some changes: I used a 1/2 cup of applesauce instead of flax eggs, I used two cups of carrots rather than 2 1/3, I used 1 cup of WWPF and one cup of AP Flour, and reduced the sugar by 1/4 and this was moist and delicious I will certainly make it again!
Thanks so much for your great review Angela!
I am in process of making the cake using a 20cm pan and I have to say its a nightmare, I used the exact amount of ingredients and there is simply not enough batter to cover the pan evenly (the batter is also pretty sticky) – when I attempt to cover one hole, the batter shifts and tears elsewhere. I dont know where I went wrong, I followed instructions to the T. I think Ill just have to bake everything together and only have one layer – I assume this will increase baking time.
Any advice? 🙂
So sorry to hear that Lucy. When we tested the recipe, it wasn’t that consistency at all. It sounds like you could have maybe left the batter to stand a bit longer for the carrots to release more water and not be sticky.
I’ve made this delicious carrot cake three times and it has never failed to impress. I am not a very good baker, but this cake always rises beautifully, and is light and moist. The third time of baking it was yesterday, Sunday the 7th of January 2024, my dear mum’s 92 birthday celebration. I added a little orange zest and made a little orange icing for the top, just for a change. I also made your ” loving it vegan” meringues piped into small heart-shaped baskets. I put whipped oat cream in the center and put chopped up fruit on the top. everyone was surprised and impressed by my efforts. My cousin wanted the recipes so I gave her your web site name. Thank you so much for these delicious recipes, I wish I could add a photograph. It’s so nice to have a cake recipe that I know will produce a cake that is not only absolutely delicious, but looks as good as the illustration on the recipe page. Yeay!♥️
Thank you so much for sharing and for your great review Sarah! Happy b-day to your mum! 🙂
So very delicious and easy to follow!! Everyone LOVES this cake!!!
Awesome! Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Emily!
Made this cake today for my husband birthday cake. We loved it. Will be baking this again soon. Thank you
Good choice for a Birthday cake Michelle! 🙂 Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for your great review!
I have made this carrot cake several times before always with great success. It’s so delicious. I was just wondering if I’ll be able to bake it in a 9 inch round baking tin? If so, do you have an idea on the baking time?
Thanks for your great comment Chereene! Baking time for 2 x 9 inch cake tins would be around 20 – 25 minutes, as the layers would be thinner. Check at the 20 minute mark with a toothpick inserted into the center. If the cakes are not ready then you should bake for another 5 minutes.
This is the absolutely best recipe but it would be good to say that if baking in 8 inch cake pans you should increase recipe by 1.5 in order to have same thickness as with 7 inch. It’s true though that it doesn’t matter if they are thinner.
I’ve made this several times. It’s delicious!
Thanks so much for your review Tiffany!
Absolutely the easiest, most delicious and moist Vegan carrot cake I have ever made. Everyone that had a slice (even my hubby who is NOT a vegan) commented how delicious it was. If I could give higher than 5 Stars I would!
Thank you for this recipe.
That’s amazing Marie! Thank you so much for sharing and for your lovely review!
I made this over the weekend and it was so good! I used about 100g of applesauce instead of flax egg, coconut oil instead of canola or vegetable oil, and fresh lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar. I also used a bag of shredded carrots from Whole Foods and wet them after reading that shredded carrots shouldn’t be used because they can dry out the cake. I added 1/2 cup sweetened coconut. The cake came out great, and moist! It was very sweet, so next time I might try less brown sugar. The cake was fluffier and less dense the next day, left out unrefrigerated. I made frosting with Kite Hill vegan cream cheese, Miyoko’s vegan butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract.
Thank you so much for sharing! Glad it turned out great!
I made this as a birthday cake for my son who is allergic to dairy, eggs and nuts. I used a product called ‘no eggs’ instead of the egg replacer used here, using double strength. Instead of the walnuts I added raisins. I also made an orange butter cream and icing to decorate. It was absolutely delicious and even my husband (who hates carrot cake normally) loved it and said we must have it again. So delicious and so moist. It is one of the best cakes I have made for my son and we have tried all sorts over the last 27 years. Very pleased to have found this recipe. One very happy family!!!!
That’s awesome Pam! Thanks so much for sharing and for your wonderful review!
Thank you for this recipe! I have tried many many carrot cakes recipes for years, but were never totally successful. Now, with your one I made the best vegan carrot cake! Thank you endlessly! I made it even twice within a week! ♥️
So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe!