This BEST moist carrot cake recipe is simple, delicious, and can be also turned into cupcakes and muffins. Feel free to watch the recipe video to see how easy you can make it at home!
The BEST Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe
Easter is just around the corner! So, I think a simple vegan carrot cake made with carrots and almonds and topped with a layer of creamy vegan ‘cream cheese’ frosting, chopped pistachios, and sweet marzipan carrots as decoration is just perfect! This cake is easy and quick to make, healthy, moist, and incredibly delicious!
CARROT CAKE – MOIST, HEALTHY AND FLAVORFUL
I don’t know about you, but whenever I think of typical Easter treats, then next to Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies, I immediately come across a carrot cake. For a long time, I wanted to share this recipe with you because I‘ve already baked it very often. But when is it better to do it than for Easter? In addition, I think that carrots give the cake not only a great flavor but also certain moisture that lasts for days. Therefore, the cake even tastes better on the second day than on the first day, because it becomes more intense in flavor and gets even juicier. Properly stored in the fridge, it lasts for about 3 to 4 days and still tastes great.
QUICK AND EASY TO MAKE
Incidentally, I think that this vegan carrot cake is really super quick and easy to make. All you have to do is grating the carrots and stir them together with the other few ingredients. Then it goes into the oven, which does the rest. Afterward, you can garnish or decorate the cake as desired. Of course, if you don’t feel like that, you can just eat the cake without any toppings at all! Although, I honestly think that you should at least spread the creamy frosting on top because it tastes so good! Optionally, you can decorate the cake with a simple lemon icing glaze or a marzipan fondant. Just be creative!
CARROT CAKE OR MUFFINS ?! VEGAN OR WITH EGGS ?!
I have baked this cake already in the vegan version, as well as in a loaf pan, on a baking sheet, and also as cupcakes and muffins. Everything is possible. Probably, you have to adjust the baking time then. Muffins, for example, only need about 25 minutes and then they‘re ready. It’s best to do a chopstick test in between. When only a little bit of the dough sticks to the stick, the cake (or muffins) is done.
DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY – NOT ONLY ON EASTER
In my opinion, this vegan carrot cake recipe is not only the perfect dessert for the upcoming Easter holidays but also for all year round. I mean, what could be better than a delicious cake which even contains vegetables or vitamins? So I think this cake is a great vegetable hiding place and I’m sure, in this way you can even turn every vegetable hater into a vegetable lover! If you like sweet and healthy recipes, you could also check out the recipe for my best vegan banana bread.
Quick, easy, delicious, AND even healthy! I think it couldn’t be better. Are you convinced? Well, then grab the ingredients, and let’s get started making this super moist and fluffy vegan carrot cake!
This Best Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe is:
- Vegan
- Egg-free
- Dairy-free (lactose-free)
- Soft and fluffy
- Moist
- Flavorful
- Perfectly sweet
- Healthy
- Incredibly delicious!
- The perfect afternoon dessert or even for breakfast or brunch!
If you try this easy vegan carrot cake recipe, please leave me a comment and a rating because I would love to read your feedback! And if you take a photo of your delicious cake and share it on Instagram, please tag me @biancazapatka and use the hashtag #biancazapatka to make sure I don’t miss your post! Happy baking! 🙂
The BEST Vegan Carrot Cake
Author:You do not have a fitting cake pan at hand right now? Try my Cake Pan Conversion Calculator!
Ingredients
For the batter:
- 250 g carrots finely grated
- 125 g (vegan) butter at room temperature (or coconut oil)
- 100 g sugar or maple syrup
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch ground vanilla or 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 (flax) eggs
- 125 g all-purpose or spelt flour or gluten-free flour (*see recipe notes)
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 100 g ground almonds
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp baking soda
For the cream:
- 200 g (vegan) cream cheese f. ex. 'Tofutti'
- 80 g powdered sugar
- a squeeze of lemon juice
- a pinch of ground vanilla optional
For the decoration:
- marzipan carrots
- pistachios chopped
Instructions
*Note: Be sure to watch the recipe video in the blog post above. Also, I recommend using metric measurements.
- Preheat the oven to 356°F (180°C) top and bottom heat. Grease an 8-inch (20cm) round baking pan with a little butter or oil.
- For the batter, peel the carrots and finely grate them.
- Beat the soft butter with sugar, salt and vanilla until creamy in a mixing bowl. Then stir in the grated carrots and (flax) eggs (see recipe notes for instructions).
- Now sift in the flour, cinnamon, and baking powder. Also add the almonds, vinegar, and baking soda and stir everything briefly until just combined.
- Fill the batter into the prepared baking pan, smooth it out a little and bake on a medium rack for 35-40 minutes. (Please don‘t forget to test with a skewer!)
- Once done baking, remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then remove the cake from the baking pan and allow to cool completely.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, mix all the ingredients for the cream cheese cream with a handheld mixer until creamy. Spread the cream with a spatula or spoon onto the cake.
- Finally, decorate with marzipan carrots and chopped pistachios as desired.
- Store the cake in the fridge until serving. (The carrot cake stays fresh and moist for about 3 to 4 days.) Enjoy!
Notes
- To make 2 flax eggs mix 2 tbsp ground flax seeds with 6 tbsp hot water. Then set aside for 5-10 minutes to thicken.
- Flour: Instead of all-purpose or spelt flour, you can also use a gluten-free flour blend 1:1. A mixture of light flour and whole wheat flour works well too! I wouldn’t use whole wheat flour alone, otherwise, the cake might be too dense.
- Frosting: You could also top the cake with whipped coconut cream instead of the cream cheese frosting.
- The nutritional information is calculated for 1 piece of 12 without frosting and toppings.
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Der Karottenkuchen ist unglaublich saftig und sehr sehr lecker. Werde ich garantiert öfter machen. Das Rezept habe ich direkt weitergeben dürfen!
Super! Das freut mich riesig! 🙂
Loved it.
Only changed the topping a little, to make it taste more like Swedish carrot cake where the topping is more sour.
So I used only half of the sugar and a bit more lemon juice.
Also doubled the whole recipe and used a 28cm form, since we had guests. Worked wonderfully.
That’s awesome! 🙂 Glad it turned out wonderfully!
Im Rezept ist zu wenig Mehl angegeben. Ich habe den Kuchen nach Rezept gebacken, nicht zuviel gerührt und er ist flach, nass und klebrig geblieben. Mit der doppelten Menge an Mehl hat es erst funktioniert.
Made it twice already and it was perfect in texture, and tasTE ,Thank you for the delicious recipe
Do you think I could use zucchini instead of carrot?
Great! I’m glad you love this recipe! 🙂
I haven’t tried it yet with zucchini. But if you want to experiment, let me know how it turned out! Just consider that zucchini is more watery than carrots so be sure to squeeze it well and add 2 or 3 tbsp more flour.
Have a great weekend! ♡
Thank you Bianca !
Love all the recipes of yours I’ve tried – made the carrot cake 3 times already and cant get enough!
Glad you loved my recipes and this cake! 🙂
Thanks for your great feedback!
I’ve made this carrot cake many times now and every time it come it perfect! It’s become a favourite of vegan friends and always a crowd pleaser with everyone.
I top mine with vegan Vanilla buttercream chopped pistachios and food grade rose petals.🌿 thank you for your lovely recipes🌹
Thank you so much for your feedback, Emma. I am glad that you and your friends enjoy this cake so much. 🙂