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Best Ever Vegan Carrot Cake

This recipe for the Best Ever Vegan Carrot Cake is impossibly moist, perfectly spiced and coated in sumptuously smooth cream cheese frosting. If ever there was a cake to celebrate the onset of spring, this is IT!
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 16 people
Calories: 486kcal
Author: Sarah McMinn

Ingredients

Carrot Cake

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 ounces vegan cream cheese at room temperature
  • ½ cup (1 stick) vegan butter, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 5 cups powdered sugar sifted

Instructions

To Make the Carrot Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350. Line the bottom of an 8" or 9" cake pan with parchment paper and spray with bottom and sides with oil. Set aside.
  • Using a handheld shredder or your food processor with the shredding attachment, shred the carrots. Set the carrots aside and wipe out the food processor. Add the walnuts and mix until they are broken down into uniform pieces.
  • In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder and soda, spices, and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the applesauce, oil, white and brown sugars, and vanilla extract. Stir in the grated carrots and coconut. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, gently mixing to combine. Once you have an evenly-hydrated batter, fold in the walnuts.
  • Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake and bake for about 1 hour, until a knife inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes before removing it from the cake pan. Let the cake continue to cool on a wire cooling rack.
  • Once the cake is completely cool, remove from pan by flipping upside down and cut the cake it through the middle into two or three layers.

To make the Cream Cheese Frosting

  • In a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together vegan cream cheese, vegan butter, and vanilla extract until well combined, scraping down the sides as necessary. With the mixer on its lowest setting, slowly add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, stopping to scrape down the sides between cups. Once all the powdered sugar is added, turn up the speed to medium and mix until smooth and creamy.

To Assemble the Cake

  • To assemble the cake, carefully cut it in thirds. Once your cake is cut into layers, place about 1 cup of cream cheese frosting on the bottom layer of the carrot cake, smooth evenly with an offset spatula, and top with a second layer. Repeat one more time.
  • Sprinkle the top layer with toasted almonds or coconut and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Notes

Serving & Storing - If you have stored your cake in the refrigerator after assembly, I recommend letting it rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes prior to serving so that the frosting is perfectly soft and spreadable. Assembled Vegan Carrot Cake will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. 
Make in Advance - If you’re trying to get a jump on things, you can make the actual cake part of the vegan carrot cake up to a month in advance. After cooling completely, wrap in plastic cling wrap thoroughly and pop in the freezer. The vegan cream cheese frosting can also be made up to a week in advance and kept in the refrigerator until decorating time. When you’re ready to decorate, allow the cake to defrost for at least an hour and the frosting to come to room temperature before proceeding.
Recipe Tips
  1. Don’t over-mix the batter. By alternating the dries and wets into the batter, we are ensuring the batter does not get over-mixed and gummy.
  2. Generously spray your cake pans. We do not want any of this delicious cake sticking to its edges.
  3. Do not open the oven door while the cakes are baking. This causes the structure to fall leaving you with a dent in the middle of your cakes. You can check for doneness after 45 minutes.
  4. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If the cake starts to get dark around the edges, you can cover it with tin foil to bake the last 10 minutes.
  5. Let the cake cool at least 60 minutes in the cake pans before turning it onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Let the lemon cake cool completely before frosting. Otherwise, the cream cheese frosting will melt off.
  6. If you are worried about your cake decorating skills, I’ve found that creating a “naked cake” where you only frost the top and the middle layers is the easiest way to go. If you want a little extra flair, feel free to artfully arrange some edible flowers into the top frosting layer.
Variations - For a gluten free alternative, simply swap in a gluten free all purpose flour blend. Just note that baking times may change a bit. You want to ensure that a wooden pick comes out clean before you turn off the oven.

Nutrition

Calories: 486kcal | Carbohydrates: 84g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 347mg | Potassium: 210mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 69g | Vitamin A: 4285IU | Vitamin C: 1.7mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 1.3mg