Simple Vegan Carrot Cake For A Special Occasion

This vegan carrot cake recipe is rich, moist, and perfect for your next special occasion. If you are used to eating traditional cakes or looking for a cake to serve vegans and non-vegans alike, this cake will satisfy! With just a few simple swaps this cake is egg-free, dairy-free, and cuts down on oil and refined sugar.

Rich, moist, sweet, and perfectly spiced!
Bakes in 45 minutes
No expert cake baking/decorating skills needed
And it’s pretty thrifty too!

Cost Comparison For Vegan Carrot Cake

If you are new to baking without eggs and dairy I am happy to tell you that you may even save a few cents with this cake! Even though I have decided to make the cream cheese frosting with store-bought plant based “cream cheese”, I’m able to make this cake for less than it would cost me to make a traditional cake!

First, the two tiers of cake cost me approximately: CAD $5.09. The only direct vegan swap in this cake is a flax egg in place of a real egg. And, a flax egg costs me $0.06 vs. a real egg at $0.50!

Second, the vegan cream cheese frosting costs me between $5.28 and $7.69 depending on what brand of plant based “cream cheese” I buy and how much sugar I add to the frosting. Lucky for me… I actually prefer the lower priced “cream cheese” and the lesser amount of sugar!

In comparison, to make a real cream cheese frosting with dairy butter and cream cheese would cost me roughly $7.20 using the lesser amount of sugar and $7.61 for the sweeter frosting.

That means, my preferred vegan “cream cheese” frosting for $5.28 is thriftier than a real cream cheese frosting!

Of course, ingredient cost will certainly vary depending on where you are located and when you find yourself coming to this blog. It is however, easy to assume a vegan cake will cost more than a traditional cake and when you take a close look at the cost… that’s not always the case!

Ingredients

This vegan carrot cake recipe is able to be egg-free and dairy-free with just a few simple swaps.

First, the dry ingredients are quite straightforward:

1. White all purpose flour
2. Baking powder
3. Baking soda
4. Salt
5. Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Cloves

Although I prefer to bake with less refined flours whenever I can, I decided to make this cake with white flour. My goal with this cake is to make it as similar to a traditional cake as possible. And… a carrot cake should always have a good dash of spice!

Second, the wet ingredients are:

1. One flax egg (made from 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed and 3 tablespoon water)
2. Applesauce
3. Vegetable oil
4. Cane sugar
5. Maple syrup
6. Vanilla Extract
7. And of course… the grated carrot!

If you have never baked with a flax egg before, Cookie + Kate has a great blog post with everything you need to know about using ground flaxseed as an egg substitute! Flaxseed is a great seed to have in your pantry because it packs in a ton of nutrition and can be simply sprinkled on things like yogurt and oatmeal. Plus, add water and it becomes an egg substitute in your baking!

How To Make A Flax Egg

To make a flax egg you only need two ingredients and 5 minutes:

• 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
• 3 tablespoon water
• Mix them together,
• Let stand 5 minutes,
• And your flaxseed will create a gooey texture with binding power similar to an egg!

Additionally, the applesauce in this recipe makes it possible to reduce the amount of vegetable oil used! Plus, using a combination of cane sugar and maple syrup makes it possible to reduce the amount of refined sugars.

How To Bake This Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe

Start by making your flax egg in a large bowl and letting it rest and thicken for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, measure out the dry ingredients.

*Remember to spoon your flour into your measuring cups. If you scoop the flour, it compresses on itself and you end up using more flour than you need. This could result in a heavy and dry cake!

Next, (after 5 minutes) add the remaining wet ingredients to the thickened flax egg.

Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently combine them until no more clumps of flour are visible.

Gently fold in the grated carrots and divide the batter evenly between two greased and floured 8″ round cake pans. *Remember, if you are using different sized or shaped pans just keep an eye on the cakes as they bake. The baking time will differ!

Oh… scroll to the notes section of the recipe card if you want to make this recipe into muffins or cupcakes!

Bake the cakes at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean! Allow the cakes to cool for 10-15 minutes in the pans. Then, turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Tips For Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

I always prefer to make as much as I can from scratch… but for this recipe I decided to use a store-bought cream cheese substitute.

I did try to make my own “cream cheese” and combine it with butter and sugar for the frosting. It tasted great but… the frosting split. Considering this is a cake you will likely make for special occasions and not for your daily sweet cravings, I think going with a store-bought product is more convenient and reliable.

There are a few tips that will help to make sure your vegan cream cheese frosting turns out really nicely:

1. Use block butter, not spreadable butter from a container
2. Best brands seem to be Earth Balance and Miyokos. I find them to be a bit higher in price but they are firmer and hold up better in frosting. I always use Earth Balance and have great results.
3. Allow your vegan butter and cream cheese to come to a cool room temperature before beating them into a frosting. I say “cool room temp” because vegan substitutes are more prone to softening and melting quicker than dairy products. You want them to be softened but not so soft that they are melty and greasy!

How To Make Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

• With your butter slightly softened (it should indent if you press on it but not be so soft that your finger really presses through it), add it to a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. If you don’t have a stand mixer you can use an electric hand mixer.
• Beat the butter on medium speed until it is light and smooth.
• Next, add the vegan cream cheese and beat on medium until it is fully incorporated with the butter.

• Finally, gradually add ½ cup powdered icing sugar at a time. You can stop your mixer to add the sugar, beat on medium speed, and stop your machine to scrape down the sides if needed. When the sugar is fully incorporated, add the next ½ cup.
  • I find 2 – 2 ½ cups of sugar to be sweet enough for me. BUT, less sugar will mean a less firm frosting. You will need time to chill the frosting in the fridge before you spread it on the cake in order for the frosting to firm up. Using 3 – 4 cups of powdered sugar will ensure that your frosting is quite thick. If you are in a crunch for time you will need more sugar to be able to frost your cake right away. Whatever amount of sugar you go with though, I do think the frosting benefits from some time in the fridge to firm up before you frost the cake.

Decorate Your Vegan Carrot Cake

I love choosing a quick and simple route for decorating this cake. BUT, If you are a more experienced cake decorator than I am, feel free to ice the sides of the cake or get more creative with your frosting and decorations!

• I simply lay one cake on my cake stand or plate,
• Then I spread frosting overtop this first layer,
• Next, I place the second cake on top to sandwich in the frosting,
• Then, spread frosting on the top of the cake,
• And finally, sprinkle with toasted crumbled walnuts or shredded coconut.

Make sure to take a look at my blogpost for how to toast walnuts if it’s a step that you usually skip! I always skipped the toasting and figured… how big of a difference does it really make? It turns out… a big one! Taking just 5 minutes to toast the nuts or coconut will give the flavour a HUGE boost. Definitely well worth it!

Let me know in the comments below if you make this simple vegan carrot cake recipe and on what occasion you enjoyed it!

If you have some leftover grated carrot make sure to treat yourself to this delicious Carrot Cake Oatmeal with warm cinnamon apples!

And if you’re interested in using less refined flours and sugars in your baking, here are two super simple and super delicious treats! Simple Summertime Strawberry Crisp Bars and a make-ahead friendly Vegan GF Pumpkin Pie Parfait!

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