This homemade vegan carrot cake recipe is soft, moist, and irresistibly delicious, with thick vegan cream cheese frosting in each bite!
The best vegan carrot cake
If you are looking for a show stopping vegan Easter dessert guaranteed to impress both vegans and omnivores, this is absolutely the recipe you should try.
Dairy free, egg free, and so easy to make, the sweet and flavorful cake comes out perfectly every single time.
Whether you are vegan or not, it may just become your go to carrot cake recipe for years to come!
Also try the popular Healthy Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Plant based carrot cake for special occasions
You will want to make the recipe not just for Easter, but for birthday parties, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas too.
Do not be surprised if this cake starts showing up in your dreams.
The classic taste will remind you of a traditional carrot cake you might find at an upscale restaurant or bakery.
And yet it is secretly healthy at the same time, with no dairy and no eggs required.
The vegan carrot cake recipe is also packed with a full cup of shredded carrot, making it ultra moist and soft, without all the extra fat.
If desired, you can add raisins, pineapple, or crushed walnuts to the batter.
Readers also love these Healthy Blueberry Muffins
How to make vegan carrot cake
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and line an eight inch round or square pan with parchment paper.
If you are doubling the recipe for a double layer carrot cake, prepare two pans instead of one. A doubled recipe will also fit into one 9×13 pan.
To make the carrot cake from scratch, whisk together the first five ingredients, and let the mixture sit for at least 10 minutes, or cover and refrigerate overnight.
Stir all remaining ingredients into the liquid to form a cake batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth down with a spatula or spoon.
Bake on the oven center rack for thirty minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean.
Baking tip: I recommend loosely covering the carrot cake once it is cool and letting it sit overnight on the counter. If you can wait, the recipe tastes sweeter and has a lighter texture the next day.
After a day, refrigerate any leftover cake for three to four days. Or slice and freeze in an airtight container for up to three months. Thaw frozen carrot cake before serving.
Looking for a handheld option? Make Carrot Cake Bars
Ingredients
This simple vegan cake recipe calls for just a few basic ingredients.
You will need shredded carrot, applesauce or pineapple, optional oil, white vinegar or apple cider vinegar, flour, pure vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking soda, sugar, and a pinch of salt.
Carrots – Start with fresh peeled carrots, and discard the stems. Feel free to use white, purple, yellow, or orange carrots, or a combination.
Flour – Spelt flour, oat flour, white all purpose flour, and some brands of gluten free flour yield the best results.
I have not experimented with substituting pastry or whole wheat flour, almond flour, or coconut flour. However, the box below includes a keto option if you prefer a low carb and flourless carrot cake.
Applesauce – This ingredient adds moisture and natural sweetness, allowing you cut back on the oil and sugar without sacrificing taste.
If you are out of applesauce or love the combination of pineapple and carrot cake, swap the applesauce for crushed pineapple. Mashed banana is another great substitution if you wish to try a fun flavor variation.
Sugar – Go with regular white sugar or unrefined coconut sugar. Or for an added sugar free vegan carrot cake, use an equal amount of granulated xylitol or erythritol.
Cinnamon – The vegan dessert is perfectly spiced with one and a half teaspoons of ground cinnamon.
Want to turn it into a carrot spice cake? Add a pinch of nutmeg, cloves, and powdered ginger for a carrot spice cake.
Carrot cake frosting options
Let’s be real. One of the best parts of carrot cake is the frosting!
My favorite way to serve the dairy free carrot cake is with the homemade vegan cream cheese frosting recipe directly under the photo below.
The plant based dessert is also great topped with homemade or store bought vegan vanilla frosting, Coconut Butter, or Coconut Whipped Cream.
To save time, you do have the option to take a shortcut and use packaged frosting instead of the frosting recipe below.
Surprisingly, both Duncan Hines Creamy Home Style Cream Cheese Frosting and Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Cream Cheese Flavored Frosting are accidentally vegan.
I am not saying these packaged icings are healthy frosting options, but if you are in a hurry, they work in a pinch.
Or go a different route entirely and top each slice with Vegan Lemon Curd.
Vegan cream cheese frosting
- 8 ounces plant based cream cheese (such as Tofutti brand or Trader Joe’s vegan) or homemade Vegan Cream Cheese
- 4 ounces plant based butter (such as Melt Organic or Earth Balance)
- 2 cups powdered sugar or sugar free alternative
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional nondairy milk if needed
Beat room temperature cream cheese with the butter in a stand mixer, food processor, with hand beaters, or by hand. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract, whipping until smooth.
Add the milk a teaspoon at a time if you desire a thinner icing.
For reference, this recipe yields about two cups of frosting, and I used half a cup of frosting on each of the layers of the egg free carrot cake in the pictures.
Leftover frosting? Make these Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Vegan carrot cake recipe video
Above, watch the step by step video showing how to make the recipe.
Vegan Carrot Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup shredded carrot (200g)
- 1/2 cup applesauce or crushed pineapple
- 1/4 cup oil or additional applesauce for fat free
- 2 tsp vinegar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups flour (Here's a Keto Carrot Cake)
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup sugar or packed coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup raisins (optional)
- 1 handful shredded coconut, crushed walnuts or pecans (optional)
Instructions
- *The recipe works with all purpose, spelt, oat, or some brands of gluten free flour.Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and line an 8-inch square or round pan with parchment. (If doubling the recipe, use two 8-inch pans or one 9×13.) In a mixing bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients and let sit at least 10 minutes or refrigerate overnight. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Pour into the pan, and smooth down. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. If you can wait, I like to loosely cover once cool and let it sit overnight, because the cake tastes sweeter and has a lighter texture the next day! Leftovers can then be refrigerated 3-4 days or sliced and frozen.The vegan cream cheese frosting recipe I used for this cake is written out above. And if you are a visual person, be sure to check out the video above that shows how to make the vegan carrot cake.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
Vegan Easter Recipes
Vegan Cheesecake or Keto Cheesecake
(Or this almond flour Keto Cake)
The cake looks so moist and delicious! What kind of flour did you use for the cake in the pictures?
That particular trial was all purpose, but the results with spelt flour look pretty much the same!
Jason (media relations)
Hi! Would almond flour work?
We haven’t tried, so we honestly don’t have any idea. Be sure to report back if you experiment!
Jason (media relations)
I made this carrot cake for company today and it was amazing! I used crushed pineapple instead of applesauce and used 1cup of almond flour and 1/2 cup of cassava flour to keep it gluten free.
Turned out perfectly!
Thanks so much for the fantastic recipe.😊
Hi and thank you so much for the recipe.
I made this cake today, baked it for 50 min instead of 30 because it looks raw inside.
It s delicious but i was wondering if after 50min in the oven should be that moist inside.
I can add pictures but i don’t know how.
Nevertheless is really tasty.(i used crushed pineapple and gf plain white flour)
I am just curious why mine is almost raw inside after 50 min.
Many, many thanks for the recipe.
Hi, thanks for trying it! What brand of GF flour did you use? We’ve only tried the recipe with Bobs. Is your oven calibrated? And are you at high elevation or in a humid climate? So glad the flavor is good!
Yum my favourite cake. Thank you so much for this lovely recipe : )
You look so stunning in your photo especially the cake (just joking)the dress is so pretty too. How do you keep getting better and better as each year go by? I’m jealous : ) I don’t like getting old : ) Don’t worry I really am an old girl : ) I read somewhere that grannies are antique little girls now isn’t that cute/
Stay safe sweet Katie. Love from Australia. Angela X
That is so incredibly sweet of you to say. Thank you ❤❤
That is adorable Angela. “Grannies are antique little girls.”
Omg, carrot cake is one of my favorites!!!!
This really looks and sounds incredible! Carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts and I’m always on the lookout for healthier versions! Thanks so much for sharing.
I made it!! It’s really good. Maybe it could’ve cooked for an extra 5 minutes? It’s extremely creamy (almost raw) in the middle, but I like it like that. I’m not complaining; just sharing.
I’m so mad I didn’t put any nuts in it. I totally forgot, but wow is this cake delicious. I’ll make it again, and include walnuts.
It doesn’t need any frosting; it’s perfect as is. Honestly, it’s a great cake.
I used Robin Hood GF flour and it’s great. I also used cinnamon applesauce (because that’s all I had) and I used oil instead of extra applesauce.
MAKE IT! You’ll LOVE it!
AGREE~ delicious and does not need icing!
Would an Almond Flour/Tapioca or Arrowroot flour mixture in place of the other flours work as a substitute for a grain free alternative?
We haven’t tried, so unfortunately we honestly don’t have any idea. Be sure to report back if you experiment!
Jason (media relations)
I made 6 large cupcakes…or 6 mini cakes…whatever you prefer! They were so moist and delicious! And the recipe is so easy.
I only had a little bit of flour, so I used spelt, brown rice and reg flours….it worked! Even my boyfriend loved them! (I think the frosting was awesome too!)
This cake was absolutely fantastic! I am gluten free and for the flour portion I did 3/4 C. Gluten free flour and 1/2 c. teff flour and it was perfect. For the 1/4 c. oil I did 2 T. oil and 2. T. water. My whole family enjoyed it and I will make it again very soon. Thank you!
Teff flour sounds like such an interesting idea!
Love the way this cake tastes. We used coconut flour but it made the batter and cake dry and it came out more like a still very delicious coconut-carrot crumble rather than a cake. So if you are going to use coconut flour just keep mind that it has a higher moisture absorbancy rate than regular flour. We are going to experiment with this recipe some more and hopefully find the right liquids to coconut flour ratio.
I’d love to make this recipe but I don’t have applesauce or pineapple! Any other substitutes?
Do you have yogurt or mashed banana?
Can you tell me how much yogurt to substitute for applesauce?
Just use the same amount. The applesauce is for moisture, and since yogurt has a similar texture it will work just as well 🙂
Instead of apple sauce, could I use grated apple? Thank you!
Sorry we have never tried it so can’t say how/if that would work. You can make your own applesauce from apples though (google for a recipe, and use one that is completely smooth to get results like you would get with storebought applesauce).
If I’m not worried about it being vegan, can I add an egg as a sub for something currently in the recipe?
Sorry we have not tried so honestly do not know. Be sure to report back if you experiment.
Jason (media relations)
Run, do not walk & make this cake, you won’t regret it. I still cannot get over how incredibly rich & moist this cake was without oil! I had a tired old zucchini in the fridge so I subbed that for carrot without a hitch. I highly recommend using the pineapple and subbing out oil for applesauce, you will not know the difference. I added a 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts, also…used pumpkin spice, cinnamon with a pinch of Garam Masala, pure heaven…I loved that this is not a huge dessert since there’s only 2 of us. Oh, and it does not need frosting, it is so sweet as is, perfect with a cup of tea or coffee…
Notes:
With the pineapple and applesauce the dessert is really sweet, I will omit sugar next round and see how it goes. Also going to bake it in a loaf pan, it begs to made into muffins as well… : )
Amazing. I subbed melted butter for the oil and used real sugar because those were the ingredients I had on hand. The cake is dense, moist, flavorful, and simply perfect. Not cloyingly sweet- just the right balance of everything! It’s nice to have a trusted recipe to go back to. Thanks so much for this one!
This is the best vegan carrot cake recipe I have ever tried, or even the best carrot cake recipe period. It was soft, moist, and just the perfect sweetness. Thank you so much for your creative recipes. We haven’t tried a bad one yet! 🙂 🙂
I made this recipe yesterday afternoon. I used crushed pineapple, because most carrot cakes that I’ve REALLY liked had pineapple in them. The batter is really dry when you put in the pan to bake. I was surprised by that. I tasted it before I put in the oven, which was a good thing…I had forgotten the sugar! Someone in an earlier comment said they were going to try it without sugar, and I don’t think you’ll like it very much. I did go back and add the sugar. ? I also had to bake for about 45 minutes, rather than 30. I used the vegan cream cheese frosting recipe, which came out a little more liquid than I would like, so will adjust that next time I make the recipe. I will say that it turned out really well! I love a good carrot cake and this will be my “go to” from here on. Thanks for making it available to us all! ????. Happy Easter!
Lol so glad you noticed and were able to add the sugar in before baking it! I forgot sugar once in a cookie recipe and it was a disaster ?
So the batter with just the first 5 ingredients sits up to overnight, and then you finish the rest of the ingredients and bake it, and then it sits overnight again before frosting? This is a multi-day process?
It says the batter should sit ten minutes. If you want to refrigerate it overnight you can, but it’s not required.
So if we leave it to have it the next day, does it have to be refrigerated or left out on the counter? Thank you in advance!
For one day, it’s usually fine to leave out (loosely covered). After that, fridge for freshness.
Great consistency, however it needed a flavor boost. I added 1/2 tsp ground cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger along with the cinnamon. The second go at making these and they are perfect! I also used coconut sugar. Yum!