Vegan Carrot Cake (Gluten Free!)
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Vegan Carrot Cake is a sweet cake made from grated carrots, coconut, walnuts, and brown sugar. It’s gluten free and vegan, which means no eggs or dairy. This cake is perfect for the vegans or those with food allergies in your life!
Gluten Free Carrot Cake
If you love cake that’s stuffed with things like carrots, walnuts, coconut, and pineapple, then you’ve come to the right place! Vegan Carrot Cake is the best vegan cake on this side of the internet. Not only is it gluten free, it’s also egg and dairy free as well. I love pulling this recipe out when I have friends with food allergies coming over, or even just when I run out of eggs and milk!
Let’s face it, sometimes you just need cake. You just do. And dietary restrictions should not get in the way of that.
Whether you’re vegan, or you have food allergies to eggs and dairy, this vegan carrot cake is a definite home run. I took my regular gluten free carrot cake, and I tweaked the recipe a bit to make it egg free and dairy free, while still keeping the amazingly sweet taste you love about the original.
Replacing eggs in a recipe is really not that bad. In fact, it can be pretty easy if you have the right substitutes. For cake, I personally like to go the banana route. I use about 1 banana per egg, and reduce the sugar to make up for the sweetness added by the fruit. It also adds a great texture to this vegan carrot cake, which we all know can be a glorious thing in gluten free baking!
This frosting is super sweet, so I’ve only added it to the middle and top of the cake, instead of frosting the whole thing. It goes really well with the cake, but in the right portions. If I was going to frost the entire thing, I’d probably back off of the sugar by about a cup, just to be on the safe side.
For the cream cheese, I used my favorite brand of vegan cream cheese. You can use whatever brand you like the best. The important part is that it adds the creamy texture, and gives the sugar something to hold onto. I’ve also heard of people using shortening, but I’ve never tried this personally. If you have, let me know how it went! It’s definitely on my to-try list.
This vegan carrot cake comes out super moist and sweet, and the walnuts add the perfect crunch to the texture.
Not to mention, you get to show off your super-awesome cake decorating skills. And this cake is really easy to be impressive with, trust me! It’s really easy to frost, and all you have to do is sprinkle some toppings on.
And when a cake is this pretty, you’ll never even miss the eggs or dairy.
Vegan Carrot Cake (Gluten Free!)
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3 cups shredded carrots
- 1 cup coconut flakes, unsweetened
- 3 medium bananas, mashed
- 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 3/4 cup almond milk, unsweetened
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
For the Frosting
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 8 oz vegan cream cheese
- 1 tbsp pineapple juice
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
For Decorating
- 1 cup coconut flakes, unsweetened
- 1 cup walnuts
Equipment
- 2 x 8" cake pans
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans.
- In a bowl combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, baking soda).
- Mix in all other ingredients until well combined (carrots, coconut, banana, pineapple, walnuts, almond milk, oil, vanilla, lemon juice).
- Pour evenly into cake pans. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until cakes are golden brown and a fork comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool before frosting.
- Once cooled, place one cake on plate and add half of the frosting in a layer on top. Place other cake on top of that, and add remaining frosting in a layer on top.
- Decorate with walnuts and shredded coconut.
For the Frosting
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, combine all ingredients until smooth.
Notes
Nutrition
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Yes, sometimes you just need cake, carrot cake to be exact! This cake is gorgeous! I love that you used bananas in place of eggs, I do the same in my vegan recipes!
Love that this cake is both vegan AND gluten free! I cannot wait to make this recipe 🙂
This looks yummy! I so want to try this!
What brand of vegan cream cheese do you use?! Thanks!!
Hi Katie! Personally I use Toufayan, but vegan food can vary so try a few and see which one you like best.