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Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe. Vegan Carrot Cake Quick bread loaf with Cashew Cream Frosting. Moist, spiced with Cinnamon and Cardamom, full of carrots. Low oil. Soyfree Palmoil-free. Pin this Recipe Jump to Recipe
This week is amazingly busy. I was planning up the posts last week and realized that both Holi and Easter are this week. Carrots and Mangoes were my choice to appear on the blog this week. So lets get started with this super moist Carrot Cake.
This carrot cake is loaded with shredded carrots and pureed carrots. All that carrot with the spices like cinnamon and cardamom (because Cardamom!), some ginger, and a creamy cream cheese style cashew vanilla frosting make this an irresistible loaf. The loaf is a carrot cake quick bread with mild sweetness. Add spices of choice, some nuts and dried fruit, bake, then frost with an easy cashew cream vanilla frosting. This is an incredibly moist carrot cake. It tastes even better after chilling as the spices infuse the loaf. The frosting is cashews plus little sweetener, lemon and vanilla! I use my mini food processor to shred the carrots. That reduces elbow grease and time needed. Bake this loaf and tag me on Instagram. For a Gluten and Grain free version, try this. What are your plans for Easter?
Other Easter Recipes from the blog
- Carrot Cake Pancakes
- Carrot Cake Ice Cream with candied walnuts and roasted carrots
- Carrot Veggie Pilaf with shredded carrots.
- GF Carrot Cake – Gluten-free.
- Or use the 1.5 to 2 cups of dry ingredients from my gf pumpkin loaf to make this loaf gluten-free. Add 1/2 cup oats and 1 tbsp chia seeds as well to help hold the bread.
Mix the dry ingredients. Soak the shredded carrots in maple. Mix in the pureed carrots + apples. Mix in the dry to make a thick stiff batter. Drop into parchment lined pan and even it out.
Bake until toothpick from the center comes out almost clean.
Cool completely. Slice and serve or frost, slice and serve. Frosting Inspired by Wallflower Girl’s Cashew coconut flour frosting.
Video!
Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Wet:
- 2 cups loosely packed grated or shredded carrots
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2/3 cup sugar, i use a mix of regular and brown sugar. Add 2 tbsp more for sweeter
- 1/4 cup oil
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp flax seed meal
- 1/2 of a small apple or 1/4 cup chopped apple or use 1/4 cup apple sauce
- 1/3-1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger, optional
- 1/2 cup water or non dairy milk, or use orange juice
Dry:
- 2 cups flour, I use 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup unbleached white
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp or more cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/3 cup currants or raisins
Cashew Vanilla Frosting:
- 1/2 cup cashews soaked for 1 hour or overnight
- 3-4 tbsp water
- 1/8-1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp or more lemon juice
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 tsp coconut flour
Instructions
- Prepare your pan for baking by lining with parchment or greasing and dusting with flour. Preheat the oven to 365 degrees F / 180ºc.
- Grate or shred the carrots and transfer to a bowl. Add the maple, sugar, oil, lemon, vanilla and mix well. Let sit for 2 mins.
- Meanwhile Blend the flax, apples, chopped carrots, ginger with water until pureed. Add to the carrot bowl and mix well.
- In another bowl, whisk the dry ingredients until well combined. Transfer to the wet and mix until there are no dry flour streaks. Fold in the nuts and currants. The mixture should be a stiff-ish batter. If the batter is too wet/moist (depends on the carrots), add 1 to 2 tbsp more flour and mix in.
- Drop the thick batter into prepared loaf pan. Even it out on the top.
- Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until the toothpick from the center comes out almost clean. Cool for 15 mins and remove from the pan. Cool for atleast another 10 minutes before slicing.
- Frosting: Blend the soaked cashews with water, salt, lemon, sugar and vanilla. Blend until smooth. (I use a nutri bullet small blender).Taste and adjust lemon, sweet and salt and blend. Add a 1/4 tsp white vinegar for stronger sour flavor. Add some cinnamon for a cinnamony frosting. If the mixture is runny, add 1 tsp coconut flour and blend it. Add more coconut flour if needed to get the desired consistency. Spread the frosting over the cake.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Richa,
For the cardamom, should I be using the green ones or the black ones? This will be a first for me to use this spice.
Thank you,
Noel
powdered cardamom is generally green cardamom. If you have cardamom pods, then use green, peel, discard peel, crush the seeds and use.
Thank you – very useful information! Just that I have never used this spice before and when I went to look for it, there were only pods.
Hi Richa,
I made this carrot cake today. It was awesome and tasted yummy. My cake was baked in 45 min. I want to know, how to store the cake? Can I keep in fridge or leave on counter top? Thank you.
If it isnt frosted, then you can keep it on the countertop for the day. If it is frosted, you want to refrigerate it for upto 4 days. Let it come to room temp before serving
I would love to make this carrot cake recipe, but I need to see its nutrition guide as I have dietary restrictions.
You can copy the recipe ingredients into an online nutrition calculator like myfitnesspal or caloriecounter etc
Ok ok… I am currently away from my own kitchen for three months and I have literally a hundred recipes by you already bookmarked and waiting to be tested. I don’t know where to begin! Can’t wait to make it.
Hi Richa,
What is the difference between using only baking powder or y baking powder& baking soda? Can I use only baking powder?
Thanks
Since there is no egg in vegan baking, i prefer to use both baking powder and baking soda for rising and structure.
Just wanted to say thank you for posting this recipe! It turned out moist and yummy and had that feel-good sensation afterwards so I really enjoyed my first time baking a vegan cake – successfully!
I did exchange some ingredients according to my cupboard contents, like ground chia seed for ground flaxseed, sweet potato instead of apple and some homemade candied orange peel instead of the walnuts (nut allergy, I’m afraid). Also loved the fresh ginger addition, which usually only goes in my gingerbread…
Will definitely bake again for friends and family!
This is really yummy, I followed the steps using half the portion, and it turn out well, even though bake using rice cooker.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hi Richa!
First of all, congratulations on this blog, I think it’s a wonderful resource, especially for a vegan (90%, still in the transition phase, but almost there). I’ve also just ordered your book and am very excited to try out recipes from it.
I made the carrot cake yesterday and I think it is a great recipe. I should have left it 5-10 more minutes in the oven, but that’s my bad. However, the fact that it was a bit too moist in the middle did not prevent me from eating almost half of it today. I did however have a problem with the frosting. Although yesterday it tasted great and I covered the cake with it, today it kind of oxidised and tastes a bit off. Do you have any idea why that happened? Mine was a bit on the solid side, not as runny as yours seems to be.
Thanks for creating this beautiful space!
Oana
Yes, bake longer. the baking time would depend on the moisture in your loaf and your oven. Many variables, so always check with a toothpick in the center.
I am not sure what happened. What did the cashew cream taste like? maybe it was the lemon juice? Packaged lemon juice can start to taste different. I have kept cashew cream refrigerated for days on or off the cake and it stays fine.
Thanks for replying. It was freshly squeezed lemon juice, so that wasn’t it. But you actually answered my question without realising it: I did not put the cake in the fridge. I usually find that these types of loaves keep well at room temperature (covered) for 2-3 days, but I don’t usually use frosting so I didn’t realise that I should keep this one in the fridge. I will do that next time.
ah yes, the cream probably went bad. You can wipe it off and use the loaf if you like.
Oh yeah. definitely, I did that. Couldn’t have left it go to waste, it was delicious.
Cake looks great. Do you think this recipe would work if you baked it in a round cake pan instead of a loaf pan? Thanks
Yes, it should work in a round pan. Bake until a toothpick from the center comes out clean.
This frosting looks amazing! Is it good to keep out of the fridge? Or does it get too runny? `
it depends on the thickness of the cream and the ambient temp. If you use less water, the cream is quite thick and With a cooler kitchen, it generally holds well.