Vegan Carrot Cake, topped with cream cheese frosting! The best flavour using simple ingredients! Perfectly spiced, incredibly moist with pineapple, and yogurt. Great for Easter or any occasion.
I absolutely love this Vegan Carrot Cake and it is so simple to make and one of my favourite cake recipes. with two super moist layers and a the best cream cheese frosting - what's not to like right! 😊 It really is the best vegan carrot cake made with love, wait until you will taste it!!❤️
It's the perfect dessert in my opinion - just the right amount of sweetness and you feel good when eating it. It tastes totally indulgent, but with a sense of healthy. Must be all the carrots! Lol! I made this cake for my daughters birthday in April and everyone loved it!!
How to make Vegan Carrot Cake:
First of all let me say this is a super easy recipe! There is no need for a stand mixer or hand mixer! The cake comes together easily with a whisk.
Start by preheating your oven to 350° then lightly grease 2 - 9 inch round non stick cake pans. I also line my pans with parchment paper rounds and lightly grease them.
In a medium mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients: all purpose flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nuts. Whisk together and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl add the wet ingredients: raw carrots, vegan yogurt, oil, sugars, pineapple, and vanilla. Whisk until combined.
Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until completely combined
Distribute the cake batter evenly into your two prepared baking pans
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool the cakes on a cooling rack in the pans for 20 minutes. Then remove from pans and cool completely on rack
When the cakes are completely cooled, frost with my Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting if using. Garnish with chopped walnuts if you like.
Keep Cake covered and refrigerated until ready to serve. Carrot Cake will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week. Enjoy! For full recipe ingredients and instructions see recipe card below.
What makes this Vegan Carrot Cake the Best?
- Loads of raw carrots so don’t skimp
- Crushed pineapple and yogurt to make it super moist ( no need for apple cider vinegar)
- Chopped walnuts for great texture and a slightly nutty flavour
- Perfect amount of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
- Salt to compliment and balance all the flavours
- And of course my super delicious Vegan Cream cheese Frosting! So Good!
Substitutions and add ins for Vegan Carrot Cake:
- You can substitute unsweetened apple sauce for pineapple
- Sub pecans for walnuts
- Add in ½ a cup of raisins if that’s your thing!
- Bake in a 9x13 cake pan instead of a two layer cake, or make a sheet cake or cupcakes!
- feel free to ice the cake with your favourite vegan buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese icing!
Ok all you bakers let's make some Vegan carrot Cake you'll be glad you did. it’s:
moist
perfectly spiced
easy
the best
perfect for any occasion
loved by everyone
delicious
Enjoy guys! Happy day to you? feel free to leave a comment and a rating below. I would love to hear from you.
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Want more Vegan Cake Recipes? here you go!
- Best Vegan Chocolate cake
- Chocolate Vegan Brownies (Healthy)
- Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes
- Salted Caramel Vegan Chocolate Tart
- Best Vegan Chocolate Banana Bread Ever! (Easy Recipe)
- 1 Bowl Vegan Lemon Loaf with Lemon Drizzle (Starbucks Copycat)
The BEST Vegan Carrot Cake (Easy too!)
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Vegan Carrot Cake, topped with cream cheese frosting! The best flavour using simple ingredients! Perfectly spiced, incredibly moist with pineapple, and yogurt. Great for Easter or any occasion.
Ingredients
WET INGREDIENTS FOR CARROT CAKE:
- 3 cups grated carrots, (don't skimp) I use a boxed grater
- 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- ¾ cup plain unsweetened vegan yogurt, I use Silk Cultured Coconut Plain
- ½ cup oil, I use grapeseed oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup white sugar
DRY INGREDIENTS FOR CARROT CAKE:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder ( make sure it is fresh and not expired)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves, (make sure it's levelled)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
FOR THE FROSTING:
- 1 recipe Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 350° then lightly grease a 2 - 9 inch round non stick cake pans. I also line my pans with parchment paper rounds and lightly grease them.
- In a medium mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients: all purpose flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nuts. Whisk together and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add the wet ingredients: raw carrots, vegan yogurt, oil, sugars, pineapple, and vanilla. Whisk until combined
- Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until completely combined
- Distribute the batter evenly into your two prepared baking pans
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes on a cooling rack in the pans for 20 minutes. Then remove from pans and cool completely on rack
- While cakes are cooling make Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting if using
- When the cakes are completely cooled, frost with icing if using. Garnish with chopped walnuts if you like.
- Keep Cake covered and refrigerated until ready to serve. Carrot Cake will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week. Enjoy!
Notes
- gluten free carrot cake: I have not tested this recipe with gluten free flour blend like Bob's Red Mill but I imagine it would work just fine.
- I have not tested this recipe with white whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, spelt flour or almond flour
- I have not tried subbing almond milk for vegan yogurt.
- I have not tried using melted coconut oil or another oil in place of the grapeseed oil
- I have not tried using coconut sugar or maple sugar in place of regular sugar
- pulse crushed pineapple in food processor a couple of times, if wanting it less chunky
- You can substitute unsweetened apple sauce for pineapple
- Sub pecans for walnuts
- Add in ½ a cup of raisins if that’s your thing!
- Bake in a 9x13 cake pan instead of a two layer cake, or make a sheet cake or carrot cake cupcakes!
- Ice the cake with your favourite vegan buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese frosting!
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Sweets
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American, /Canadian
Keywords: vegan carrot cake, best vegan carrot cake, easy vegan carrot cake, moist, pineapple, easy, easter, yogurt, occasion, walnuts, perfect,
Cindy
I'd like to make it in a 9×13 pan, will the baking time be different?
Katie Hale
I would recommend trying for 30 minutes, then evaluating. It could take up to 45 minutes, but I haven't tried with this particular recipe, so cannot verify.
Cindy
If I want to bake it in a 9×13 pan, how long would I bake it for?
Mae
One of the best carrot cake recipes I've ever made! thank you.
★★★★★
Verna
Thank you so much! thrilled you enjoyed it
Cherise Brown
For the 2nd tine , I have made this cake, this past thanksgiving was the 2nd time.and the last thanksgiving being the first. And it was even better this time . I lowered the amount of sugar which I like that I am in control of unlike cakes you buy from the store. This is my only go to carrot cake recipe and for that I say thank you .
Verna
Well thank you Cherise you just made my day. So happy your loving recipe. Happy day to you!
Cindy
Does this cake rise high? I'm so tired of my cakes being so thin they don't rise up. Thinking of using self rise cake flour.. Thoughts?
Thank you mcg
Verna
the cake rises perfectly enjoy Cindy!
Laurel
I made this cake for my mother in law's birthday and oh wow was it ever a huge hit! Thank you ♥️
★★★★★
Verna
You're so welcome Laurel, thanks so much for your comment! Glad everyone enjoyed it!?
Daria
Just wondering what I could substitute for the oil?
The Cheeky Chickpea
HI Daria, I haven't tried making my cake recipe without oil, but I've heard apple sauce Can been used as a replacement. Hope that helps!
Mark M
I used applesauce and it worked fine instead of oil.....also found a vegan oil free butter recipe.
The Cheeky Chickpea
thats's awesome Mark! Glad it worked for you, thank you for sharing!!?
Nadine
This looks so good! Definitely going to try this recipe out for Easter desert for the family.
★★★★★
The Cheeky Chickpea
Nice! you'll love it Nadine. thank you for your comment!