Sweet layers of spiced and walnut studded vegan carrot cake are slathered with rich dairy-free cream cheese frosting to make this decadent treat. The best part: this sweet dessert is made in one bowl and doesn't even require an electric mixer!
Unpopular opinion: winter is awesome. I love the colder months! But they're almost over, and spring is on the way. It's right around the corner, in fact! I'm dealing with it in the way I deal with most of my non-favorite things: making food to commemorate the occasion.
Time for my favorite spring treat: vegan carrot cake!
This carrot cake is probably the best I've ever had, vegan or not! My secret ingredient for making it extra amazing is pineapple. Pineapple adds moisture, sweetness and flavor to carrot cake. You won't know it's in there when you eat the cake — you'll just be amazed at how wonderful this cake is.
Let's talk about how it's made!
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Ingredients You'll Need
For the Cake
- Canola oil. Feel free to substitute another type of baking oil, such as vegetable oil, corn oil, or melted coconut oil.
- Crushed pineapple. If you can't find pineapple in crushed form, briefly blitz some pineapple chunks in a blender or food processor. I've made this recipe using both fresh and canned pineapple — both work!
- Non-dairy milk. Use any variety that's unflavored and unsweetened. Soy milk, almond milk, and cashew milk will all work!
- Ground flaxseed.
- Vanilla extract.
- All-purpose flour. Whole wheat pastry flour works as well. I haven't tested the recipe with anything else, so experiment at your own risk.
- Granulated sugar. Use organic to keep the recipe vegan.
- Brown sugar. Use organic here as well.
- Baking soda.
- Spices. We're using cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
- Salt.
- Carrots.
- Chopped walnuts. Leave these out if they're not your thing.
For the Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
- Vegan cream cheese. I used Kite Hill brand.
- Vegan butter. I used Wegman's brand.
- Vanilla extract.
- Salt.
- Powdered sugar. Again, be sure to use organic.
How It's Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make vegan carrot cake. Scroll past it if you just want the recipe!
Make the Cake
- Shred your carrots finely before getting started. This way they'll be ready to go when you need them!
- Grab a small bowl or large liquid measuring cup, and stir together your oil, pineapple, milk, flax and vanilla. The mixture will need to sit for 10 minutes.
- While your liquid ingredients sit, stir your dry ingredients together in a large bowl: flour, sugars, baking soda, spices and salt.
- Use a spoon to make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, then pour in the wet ingredients.
- Stir everything together just until blended. The batter will be very thick. Don't overmix it!
- Fold in your carrots and walnuts.
- Divide the batter among lightly oiled and parchment lined baking pans.
- Pop your cakes in the oven and bake them until done! Insert a toothpick in the center of each one to test for doneness — it will come out clean when they're done baking.
Make the Frosting
- Start by placing the vegan cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
- Beat the ingredients together until creamy.
- Start adding powdered sugar, about a cup at a time, beating each addition in before adding more.
- It should take about 4 or 5 cups of powdered sugar to get your frosting to the right consistency.
Tip: Every brand of vegan cream cheese and vegan butter is different, so the amount of powdered sugar you need can vary. If after adding 4 or 5 cups your frosting still seems runny, place it in the fridge for a bit. It should firm up sufficiently by the time your cake has cooled!
Frost and Layer the Cake
Make sure your cake is completely cool before frosting it.
- Invert one of your layers on a plate, then remove the pan and peel off the parchment paper.
- Spread the top with frosting.
- Carefully invert the second layer over the first, then peel off the parchment paper.
- Spread the top with a layer of frosting. You can leave the sides of your cake naked, or slather them with frosting as well if you like (you should have plenty!).
I like to garnish my vegan carrot cake with some chopped walnuts.
Tip: Because it's egg-free, vegan carrot cake is a bit more delicate than traditional carrot cake. You can see from the photos that I was able to cut a nice slice without anything breaking, and I had to move the entire cake around a bunch of times to take the pics. So it will hold up, but be little extra careful when handling and cutting it.
Leftovers & Storage
Seal up any leftover vegan carrot cake in an airtight container or bag, and it will keep at room temperature for about a day, in the fridge for about 3 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
I haven't tried making a gluten-free version, so I'm not sure! If you'd like to take a crack at it, try using an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend in place of wheat flour.
Yes! This cake would also work well with my vegan buttercream frosting.
Yup! This recipe doesn't call for them, just because there's already so much going on. If you're a big fan though, feel free to include them or use them in place of the nuts.
I'm sure you can, but the texture might not be great. If you really want to give it a try, use whole wheat pastry flour which will give you a more tender crumb than regular whole wheat flour (which can yield a gritty cake!).
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
The Best Vegan Carrot Cake
Sweet layers of spiced and walnut studded vegan carrot cake are slathered with rich dairy-free cream cheese frosting to make this decadent treat. The best part: this sweet dessert is made in one bowl and doesn't even require an electric mixer!
Ingredients
For the Vegan Carrot Cake
- ¾ cup canola oil (or another oil that's suitable for baking)
- ¾ cup crushed pineapple*
- ½ cup unflavored non-dairy milk
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (or sub whole wheat pastry)
- ¾ cup organic granulated sugar
- ¾ cup organic granulated brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ cups finely shredded carrots (about 5 medium carrots or ½ pound)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, plus more for topping (optional)
For the Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces vegan cream cheese
- ½ cup vegan butter (1 stick), softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups organic powdered sugar, plus up to 1 additional cup
Instructions
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Begin by making the cake. Preheat the oven to 350°. Oil and line the bottoms of 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with parchment paper.
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In a small bowl, stir together the oil, milk, pineapple, flaxseed and vanilla. Allow the mixture to sit for at least 10 minutes.
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Meanwhile, stir the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
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Add the wet mixture to the dry, and stir just until blended, being careful not to overmix. Fold in the carrots and walnuts.
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Distribute the batter among the two prepared pans, smoothing out the tops with a spatula.
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Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
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Transfer the cake pans to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
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While the cake layers cool, make the vegan cream cheese frosting. Place the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and salt into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer at high-speed until smooth.
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Begin beating in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Beat in 4 to 5 cups total, until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. If the frosting is still a bit runny after adding 5 cups, place it in the fridge until it firms up a bit (this shouldn't take longer than it takes for your cakes to cool).
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When the cake layers are cool, carefully remove them from the pans and peel off the parchment paper.
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Invert one of the layers on a plate, and slather the top with half of the cream cheese frosting. Top with the other layer, also inverted, and slather the top with the remaining frosting.
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Optionally, frost the sides of the cake and garnish the top with chopped walnuts.
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Slice and serve.
Recipe Notes
*To substitute diced pineapple (canned or fresh), place it in the blender or a food processor and pulse a few times, until very finely chopped.
This recipe was updated in March of 2021. The original version included a cashew-based cream cheese. If you'd like to make this version, simply blend 2 cups (soaked) raw cashews, ⅓ cup maple syrup, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and ½ teaspoon salt in a food processor until smooth and creamy.
I'm wondering if you think this cake would work in a cake pan that is 1/2 egg or 1/2 football shaped. The pan makes 4 of these cakes. I would surely grease or spray the pan. Thoughts? thinking of putting them among some green colored coconut as grass and maybe decorating them like Easter Eggs.
Hi Dawn! I think so! The only thing that will probably be different is the bake time. If you're splitting the batter among 4 pans instead of 2 it will probably be shorter, but I'm not sure how much. I'd keep a close eye on it and start checking at about 25 minutes of so, and every 5 after that. That sounds like really cute idea. :)
Wow! Can't wait to try. It looks amazing
Thanks Karlie! I hope you enjoy it!
Carrot cake is spring food and yours looks truly amazing, what impresses me the most is that cashew cream cheese frosting, can´t wait to try this
The frosting is to die for! I hope you enjoy it!
Can I use a springform pan or a bundt pan? I don’t have two 9-in cake pans... I want to try this recipe... my husband loves carrot cake..
I think just about any cake pan would work, but the cook time will probably change. I'm guessing it would be longer if you use one pan instead of 2 layer pans, but I'm not sure how long. I'd keep an eye on it, checking every 5 minutes or so after the initial 45. Enjoy!
Alissa! This was SOOO good!! I had been planning to make this cake for a while. I found some pans for the cake at the thrift store, and then bought all I didn't have at the grocery store. It did not disappoint, I am so happy with it! Thanks a carrot bunch!
Yay!! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Hi! I think I may have made this before and figured out substitutions, but I can’t remember! I’m allergic to flax so can I use other left replacer do you think? And I’m also allergic to walnuts. Would you use cashews? Or add more oats? I can’t do almonds or pecans either. Could do pistachios?
Hanks for any tips!
Ground chia seeds might work in place of flax. Can you have them? And just about any kind of nuts will work in place of walnuts. I think pistachios would be excellent!
Can pineapple be replaced wth something else
Another fruit puree might work - maybe applesauce? Unfortunately I can't say for sure as I haven't tried myself.
HI! This cake looks amazing!
I was wondering if it can be made oil free? Maybe substitute applesauce for the oil? What do you think?
Thank you!
I think that would work, but I haven't tried so I can't be 100% sure! I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try!
I just made this today for my husbands birthday. I substituted the oil for applesauce using equal parts. I was very cautious not to over mix so I did add in an extra tablespoon or applesauce and a splash of milk. It mixed well and turned out great! I baked it in a glass 9x13 pan, set the timer for 45 minutes and that was perfect.
Yay! Glad to hear it worked with applesauce and glad you enjoyed it!
Hi. May I ask the name of the blender you use? Thanks a lot. Will definitely try to make this carrot cake.
I use a Cuisinart 11 cup food processor for this (and I love it)! Enjoy!!
Hi! I already made this cake and I was floored with the taste. I love pineapple in carrot cakes so when I saw your recipe, I immediately made it. I am just wondering if I can make this gluten free, like use an all-purpose gluten free flour. Thanks!
I'm so glad you like it! I haven't tried making this gluten-free, but I've had luck with Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur's all purpose GF blends in similar recipes.
I don't like to eat so much sugar.
If I cut back the sugar by 50%, will this change the texture oof the cake ?
I think you could probably get away with it! I actually just made some carrot muffins by adapting this recipe - they have about half the sugar and turned out well!
Wow this carrot cake was amazing! Carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts and this was honestly the best carrot cake I’ve ever had (and I’ve had my fair share). It was very moist and flavorful. My family and I couldn’t even tell that it was vegan! I toasted the walnuts and added a heaping half cup of raisins but followed the cake recipe otherwise. I love cream cheese frosting so I topped it with a vegan version composed of 1/2 cup room temp earth balance buttery stick, 8 oz tofutti cream cheese, a splash of pure vanilla extract, and about 2 cups sifted powdered sugar beaten until smooth. I would definitely make this cake recipe again and am looking forward to enjoying another slice in a few minutes ha. Thank you for the recipe. :)
That's wonderful! I'm so glad it was a hit with you and your family! Thanks Elizabeth!
Hi Alissa! Do you think I can bake the whole batter in one cake pan and then slice it in half once it's cooked and cooled?
Thank you!
I think that should work! The bake time might be a bit different though, so keep an eye on it and check it often after about 30 minutes.
Would adding Bob Mill’s egg replacer help stick it together? Would you recommend one or two “egg(s)”?
It might, but I really can't say without having tried it myself. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try!
This cake looks amazing! Want to make it for my grand kids in the form of muffins
This cake is delicious! I used a store bought vegan cream cheese frosting and pecans since we were out of walnuts but followed everything else. Came out wonderful!
This cake is SO GOOD! I drained some of the liquid out of my carrots and pineapple but then added some of the pineapple juice back in. The texture is really amazing and the spice level is balanced beautifully. Kite Hill was the brand of cream cheese I used. It's already pretty soft but the frosting turned out well. I'm going to attempt a gluten free version for my friend because it's such a good recipe.
I made this three weeks ago for my sister's birthday cake and it was a smashing hit! Everyone loved it many even said "really, this is vegan?" HAH. Can't wait to make it again. Would like to consider making the recipe in cupcake form. Bet they'd be delicious, too!
Is 1/2 cup of milk enough liquid for over 2 cups of flour? Just checking... is the canned pineapple supposed to be drained before adding? Also, what is the final texture supposed to be like since it is a very thick batter? I always worry if the batter is too thick you can't properly distribute or mix all ingredients together and then you end up with a dry dense tough cake. Thanks for sharing your recipe.