Vegan Carrot Cake

I make this vegan carrot cake recipe for Jack's birthday each year. Moist, cinnamon-spiced, and slathered in frosting, it's perfect for celebrations.

Vegan Carrot Cake

This vegan carrot cake recipe is a riff on my mom’s traditional recipe. That cake is Jack’s all-time favorite dessert, so she makes it whenever she comes to visit. Then, I make it again for Jack’s birthday. This year, instead of making her recipe as written, I adapted it to make a vegan carrot cake instead!

My mom’s recipe calls for applesauce, which makes her cake super moist and light. Using applesauce, you can actually veganize carrot cake relatively easily. Along with the shredded carrots, it adds enough moisture to eliminate the need for flax eggs or other unconventional ingredients. As a result, the cake batter comes together with pantry ingredients like all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, sugar, and melted coconut oil.

The results are fantastic. The cake is moist, tender, and filled with warm, spiced flavor from cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract. Enjoy it on its own, or take it to the next level by slathering it in rich, creamy vegan frosting. Even Jack – a total carrot cake traditionalist – fell for this vegan carrot cake recipe. I think you’ll love it too!

Vegan cream cheese frosting ingredients Vegan cream cheese frosting

Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe Tips

  • Grate your carrots finely. Finely grated carrots meld seamlessly into the cake, while larger pieces create a chunkier, less uniform texture. For tender, cohesive cake slices, grate the carrots on the small holes of a box grater or on the smallest setting of the grating attachment on your food processor.
  • Don’t overmix! This rule applies to baked goods across the board. Mix your batter until just combined – and not any longer – or your cake will be dense.
  • Let the cake cool completely before you frost it. The hardest part! Make sure your cake is at room temperature before you slather on the frosting. Otherwise, the frosting will melt.

Vegan carrot cake recipe

Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe Variations

  • Let’s talk frosting. The frosting recipe below is a cream cheese-like blend of macadamia nuts, cashews, lemon juice, coconut oil, and almond milk. Instead of using powdered sugar, I sweeten it naturally with maple syrup. I love this frosting, but you do need a high-speed blender to get it really smooth and creamy. If you don’t have one, or if you prefer a more traditional vegan cream cheese frosting, find one here.
  • Or skip the frosting! This vegan carrot cake is delicious plain. We also love it with a dollop of coconut whipped cream.
  • Add a mix-in. If you like your cake with raisins, chopped walnuts, or pecans, gently fold 1/2 cup into the cake batter when you add the carrots.
  • Or sprinkle something on top. Sprinkle the frosted cake with chopped toasted pecans or walnuts for crunch, or use shredded coconut for extra warm, buttery flavor. Yum!

Vegan carrot cake slices

More Favorite Vegan Desserts

If you love this vegan carrot cake recipe, try one of these vegan treats next:

Then, check out this post for 30+ vegan dessert recipes!


4.8 from 173 reviews

Vegan Carrot Cake

 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
The BEST vegan carrot cake recipe! Applesauce makes it super moist, and cinnamon and nutmeg give it a delicious spiced flavor.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Serves: 12
Ingredients
Cake:
  • 2¼ cups flour (half spelt or wheat, half all-purpose)
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder (*see note below)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 teaspoons cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup applesauce
  • 1 cup almond milk or oat milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 cup cane sugar
  • ½ cup melted coconut or canola oil
  • 2 cups grated carrots
Frosting** (see note)
  • ½ cup raw macadamia nuts (soaked, drained and rinsed)
  • ½ cup raw cashews (soaked, drained and rinsed)
  • ¼ cup almond milk
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13 baking pan.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the applesauce, almond milk, vanilla, sugar and oil.
  4. Mix the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients.
  5. Fold in the carrots and stir until just combined.
  6. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cake cool completely before frosting.
  7. Make the frosting: combine all frosting ingredients into a high speed blender. Blend until very smooth for 1 to 2 minutes or more, scraping down the sides occasionally. You can add an extra tablespoon of almond milk if necessary to get your blade moving.
  8. Chill for at least 30 minutes before spreading. (It will firm up a bit).
  9. Store frosted cake in the fridge.
Notes
*Make sure your baking powder is fresh in order for the cake to rise (since there aren't eggs in the recipe). If your baking powder has been in the back of your pantry for too long it may be less effective.

**Soak your cashew and macadamia nuts for at least 3 to 4 hours, preferably overnight, then drain and rinse before using. I recommend using a very high speed blender (vitamix, blendtec, or similar). For a more traditional frosting, use the frosting in this recipe using vegan butter and vegan cream cheese (such as Kite Hill).

655 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it):  

  1. Tiffany
    01.03.2021

    I made this with your vegan cream cheese frosting recipe and it is the best carrot cake I’ve ever had! Thank you so much. No one believes it’s vegan! So fluffy.

  2. Madeline Armstrong
    12.29.2020

    I made this last night and it turned out super delicious. I used only spelt flour for all of the flour, and I halved the amount of sugar. I also threw in some walnuts and raisins. I think this turned out exactly as I wanted- moist, not too sweet, and a really pleasing texture.

    I also baked this in a slightly longer pan, so it came out thinner, but I didn’t mind it at all! More frosting to cake ratio. 🙂

  3. R.J.C.
    12.24.2020

    Just made this cake and it came out perfect! Added chopped walnuts and raisins with the carrots. Put a little orange liqueuer in the batter. Baked for 45 min. Made the cream cheese frosting and used only 1 cup powdered sugar for the frosting. Rave reviews! Thank you for your recipes, it will become a go-to for me!

  4. Kim
    12.13.2020

    Wow, this is so good. Best carrot cake I’ve ever had. Thank you for this amazing recipe!

  5. SJ
    12.11.2020

    The BEST carrot cake I’ve ever had or made! I used half whole wheat and half AP flour, and I replaced half the cane sugar with granulated monk fruit sweetener. Also, due to several nut allergies, I made a simple vegan buttercream frosting (even though yours looks amazing). I don’t think I will ever try another carrot cake recipe again since I’ve found our favorite. 🙂

  6. Elena
    11.10.2020

    Hi Jeanine!

    Great recipe, I was wondering if I can make this cake with almond, coconut or oat flour instead? Thank you!

  7. Montana
    10.09.2020

    Hey there….. I want to make this cake as it looks delicious, but I was wondering if I could substitute the maple syrup for honey? IDK if it will work because they don’t rly have similar textures. Reply! Thank you.

  8. Montana
    10.09.2020

    Hey there….. I want to make this cake as it looks delicious, but I was wondering if I could substitute the maple syrup for honey? IDK if it will work because they don’t rly have similar textures. Reply!

  9. Cortney Marcinczyk
    09.23.2020

    This recipe is amazing!! I made it for my partners birthday party and there was not a crumb left!!

    I’m thinking of turning these into cupcakes. Do you have a suggestion for cook time?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.24.2020

      I’m so glad you loved it! I’d just reduce the cooking time (16-18 minutes) for cupcakes.

  10. David
    09.20.2020

    Amazing, delicious and fluffy.

    Substituted for:
    Soya milk,
    Walnuts & cashew,
    Vegetable oil

    Used:
    1/2 sugar required
    100% all purpose flour.

    Can’t wait to make it again!

  11. David
    09.20.2020

    Amazing.

    Substituted:
    oil to vegetable,
    milk to soya,
    macadamia to walnuts,
    used half sugar

    Turned out fluffy and delicious.

  12. Suzanne
    09.10.2020

    Birthday tea cakes for our son & girlfriend who are vegan. I added 1 cup golden raisins, 1/2 coconut , I used oat milk, and a sunflower-coconut oil. What a hit, fabulous, recipe! For the icing I used rum instead of vanilla, really delicious!!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.12.2020

      I’m so glad you enjoyed them!

  13. Lou
    08.21.2020

    I’ll start positive, I loved the taste. It’s delicious. But, I was a bit disappointed when it came out very moist. I read the comments before I started baking this, and I decided to add half a cup of flour. I also put 1/4 cup of oil instead of 1/2, and yet it still came out way too moist and not even cooked after 50 minutes in the oven.

  14. hannah
    08.17.2020

    This is sooo amazing. I didn’t expect the cream cheese to taste so legit!!! A hit with the whole family.

    I used all cashews, soaked them overnight (total about 15 hours or something), and made it on a normal blender. It came out smooth.
    Added a handful of sunflower and pumpkin seeds each to my cake to give it a bit more bite (I might add a bit more than a handful/top it up with another handful of walnuts next time)
    I also mixed white and brown sugar.
    Made my own apple sauce with this recipe using two small royal gala apples (made 3/4 cup) https://www.chocolatemoosey.com/2013/10/24/homemade-applesauce/

    Love that you don’t need cake tins, icing sugar or store-bought vegan cream cheese either. Thanks again, I’m writing this one into my recipe book!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.30.2020

      Hi Hannah, I’m so glad you loved it!

  15. Pam Pham
    08.15.2020

    This is the bomb! I added pecans & made into large muffins. Used paper liners & cooked at 360 for 35 mins. Cool in pan 10 mins & transfer to cooling rack. You will love these with or without frosting. The ones I frosted, I put a whole pecan on top for presentation. Looked great too! Thank you!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.30.2020

      I’m so glad you loved it!

  16. cindy
    08.05.2020

    Can i use maple syrup instead of sugar and how much would I need?

  17. Jay
    07.01.2020

    Ok, so I never bother to post comments on cooking blogs but I am right now logging in to tell you that this cake is absolutely phenomenal. I made it for friends who are hard to convince to try anything vegan… but are now convinced this is the best carrot cake that exists. Thank you!!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.12.2020

      Yay!!! I’m so glad the cake was a hit. Thanks for coming back to let me know!

  18. Liz Barclay
    06.29.2020

    Please tell me if I can make this in two layers!

    Thank you!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.12.2020

      Hi Liz, I haven’t tried, but I think others in the comments above have…

  19. BEST CARROT CAKE RECIPE EVER!!!!! If you’re looking for a carrot cake recipe, this is your sign to go with this one. Stop wasting your time on Google and thank me later. 🙂

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.12.2020

      Ha ha, thank you for the kind review! I’m so glad you loved it!

  20. Divya
    06.14.2020

    This cake is so delish made it in a Bundt pan and it was so pretty I am making this all the time and it just disappears thank you for this amazing recipe

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.12.2020

      I’m so glad you’ve loved it so much!

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.