Hi baking friends,
This is an old recipe of mine that I recently updated but I’ll leave the original text because it’s fairly cute throw-back to when I originally started my baking journey back in 2019! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!
Week 33 of my baking journey and I have been inspired by week 1 of the Great British Bake Off 2019 to make a cake this week! What better way to welcome the Autumn season with one of most classic “spice” cakes to help warm you up on those cold windy mornings?
On other bakes I hold back on the spices to let the fillings do all the work but on this recipe I went all out! This is one of those timeless classics that is a must for the holiday season and I can assure you this vegan version will pass seamlessly as popular non-vegan classic.
The frosting recipe below is enough to fully cover a 2-layer 8″ inch cake or a 3-layer 6″ inch cake. I opted for the more “naked” look in the attached photos because I love the rustic colours and textures of carrot cake. Feel free to reduce the recipe if you want to achieve the same look.
Onto the recipe:
Vegan Carrot Cake
Delicious vegan carrot cake stuffed with spices, walnuts and an irresistible filling of cream cheese frosting. This is a guaranteed hit with family and friends who love the classic!
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 300g all-purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 tsp spices (I recommend 2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp nutmeg and a pinch of cardamom)
- 280g light brown sugar
- 300g grated carrot
- 50g applesauce
- 3 tbsp flax meal
- 120ml plant milk
- zest of 1 orange
- 170ml neutral oil
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp salt
- 100g chopped walnuts (optional)
- Easy “Cream Cheese” Frosting:
- 125g vegan butter, room temp
- 125g vegetable shortening, room temp
- 450g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Step 1 Pre-heat the oven to 180C (355 F). Line 2 8-inch cake tins (or 3 6-inch tins) with parchment paper.
- Step 2 Grate the carrots and then use a kitchen towel to squeeze out the excess moisture from the grated carrots.
- Step 3 Sift together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt). Stir in the grated carrots, orange zest and walnuts.
- Step 4 Warm up the plant milk in the microwave for 30 seconds. In a small mixing bowl, mix the flax meal with some of the warm plant milk and set aside for 5 minutes. Once it has thickened up, mix it together with the remaining wet ingredients in a larger bowl (remaining milk, light brown sugar, oil, applesauce and apple cider vinegar). Whisk until smooth.
- Step 5 Finally, pour the dry ingredients into the wet mix and whisk together until completely incorporated.
- Step 6 Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes (30-40mins for 6-inch tins). Use a toothpick to see if the cakes are ready (no residue batter should be on the toothpick).
- Step 7 Allow them to cool completely before turning them onto a wire rack.
- Step 8 Frosting: Place the (room temperature) butter and shortening in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix until pale and light.
- Step 9 Add in half of the icing sugar and mix together for 5 minutes until completely smooth. Add in the second half of the icing sugar with the remaining ingredients and then mix on low until completely incorporated.
- Step 10 Use extra icing sugar or liquids to balance out the frosting if it’s too thin or thick, respectively. Mix on medium-high for a couple more minutes to make sure it’s completely smooth.
- Step 11 Spoon the frosting onto a cooled layer of carrot cake and smooth it out with a knife or offset spatula. Stack the next layer on top and repeat.
- Step 12 Decorate with walnuts, carrots and micro greens then serve!
Hi Tom, I don’t find the original recipe with the almond flour, can I take almond and oat flour to get it glutenfree?
Looks so great!
Greetings from Vienna!
Petra
Hi Petra! Sorry I recently updated the recipe to make it a bit more accessible! You can use a gluten free flour blend to replace the plain flour in this recipe! Tom
Looks so moist & beautiful!
I struggle with vegan baking…well, I used to.
Now that I’ve found your site, I’m golden!
Thank you!! I really hope you enjoy the recipes 🙂
Super easy, and beautiful recipe. Flavour was great and in fact was complimented on how it was the best carrot cake the recipients had ever eaten ! I switched the icing up for a vena cream cheese based one but am sure the other icing is just as delicious !
Thank you so much! This feedback makes me so happy! I too will often opt for a frosting with actual (vegan) cream cheese in it but I posted this easy pseudo-cream cheese frosting recipe just to make it a little more accessible for those in places that don’t have vegan cream cheese. I hope you had a fabulous weekend!
Tom
Am I missing something, I see AP flour, where is the almond and spelt flour?
Hi Kimberly! I included those in my old recipe! I wanted to make it more accessible so I’ve changed the ingredients to be a bit more straightforward. 🙂
Hi! This recipe looks good, almond flour in the cake sounds delicious, can’t wait to try this one. Just one question: why do you use spelt flour in the cake? Is it for the flavour or does it have any particular benefits for the texture of the cake? Can you swap it for plain flour?
Hi Lex! It’s there to add a complementary “nutty” taste and, combined with the almond flour, it gives a more delicate crumb! You can definitely substitute it out but I don’t think it’s a 1:1 substitution. Plain flour is less water soluble than spelt flour so you need more liquid in the mix! I would suggest you add an extra 30-50ml of plant milk and it should balance out.