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vegan carrot cake_hot for food

vegan carrot cake

Here's a simple carrot cake recipe made vegan that is moist, and slightly sweet! Cream cheese icing is a necessity, so I whipped up a scrumptious vegan version you'll fall in love with. 

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword buttercream frosting, carrot cake, vegan cake
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 3 minutes
Servings 8
Author Lauren Toyota

Ingredients

carrot cake

  • 1 1/3 C unsweetened soy milk
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp ground flax (or ground chia)
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 1 1/2 C spelt flour
  • 1 C coconut flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground all-spice
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/3 C coconut oil (solid but soft at room temperature)
  • 1 C packed brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 C grated carrot
  • 1/2 C crushed pineapple (from a can and drained from most of the excess juice)

"cream cheese" frosting

  • 1/2 C coconut oil (solid but soft at room temperature)
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 C powdered sugar
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp unsweetened soy milk

Instructions

  1. Mix together soy milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside for about 10 minutes. It will start to curdle like buttermilk.
  2. Mix together the flax and water and set aside in the fridge for about 10 minutes to allow it to thicken.

  3. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the cake including spelt flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, all-spice, and sea salt.

  4. In another bowl, beat together the coconut oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until fluffy. Then add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar mixture and the flax "egg" mixture once thickened. Beat together until well combined. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

  5. Fold in grated carrot and crushed pineapple and mix well. It will be a pretty thick batter, not the kind that pours into your cake pans.
  6. Lightly oil 2 x 7" cake pans. You can also use a cake pan that is up to 8" wide. You can also do one cake at a time if you only have one pan!

  7. Divide the batter between 2 cake pans. Press the batter into the cake pan evenly so it reaches all sides. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 15 to 18 minutes.

  8. Turn out onto cooling racks and allow the cakes to cool completely before icing them.

  9. You can make the cakes ahead, wrap them in plastic, and leave them at room temperature until you want to assemble the whole cake. Make the icing right before you want to ice and assemble the cake.

  10. Using a hand mixer, beat the coconut oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract and 1 cup of powdered sugar to start. Once it's mostly combined, add in another cup of powdered sugar and beat together. Add in soy milk and beat until smooth and fluffy. Then ice the cake!

  11. I've topped the cake with coconut chips from a package. They're lightly sweetened with sugar and have a bit of sea salt as well. You could also just make these or use toasted shredded coconut that you'll find in a bulk store. You could also use toasted nuts or dried fruit! Make it your own.

Recipe Notes

This is enough icing to do a middle and top layer on the cake, not the sides! I wanted to keep my cake rustic looking by exposing the sides of it.

If you are allergic or don't like pineapple, just replace with the same amount of apple sauce!