Gluten-Free Vegan Carrot Cake

The Best Gluten-Free Vegan Carrot Cake recipe you'll ever make! Moist, perfectly spiced, not-too-sweet, and with just the right amount of texture, this super easy carrot cake is made in one bowl! A classic allergy-free dessert recipe that's nut-free and tied all together with a homemade delicious and tangy dairy-free cream cheese frosting!

Look no further, the best, the greatest, the most perfect gluten-free vegan carrot cake recipe you've ever laid your eyes on! Moist, fluffy, with just the right amount of texture from the carrots, coconut, and raisins, subtly sweet, and all tied together with a luscious, tangy, dairy-free cream cheese frosting! This slice of cake is heaven on a plate! When cake is full of veggies it's 100% approved to enjoy more than one slice! And if you're on the same wavelength as me, carrot cake ranks #1 in cake flavor superiority!

What Is Carrot Cake and What Does It Taste Like?

If you've never had carrot cake, you are in for a surprising treat! It's a cake full of shredded carrots as the main star. Then people tend to customize it with other common add-ins such as shredded coconut, pineapple, raisins, and walnuts or pecans. The batter is also reminiscent of a spice cake with warming flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice. Brown sugar is used as the sweetener for this deeply flavored cake but's it shouldn't be overly sweet. To balance all the flavors, a tangy, thick cream cheese frosting is used to finish the cake. Overall it's a rich and luscious flavor of spices, molasses-y sweetness, earthy carrot, nuttiness, and tangy fruitiness!

Is Carrot Cake Healthier Than Regular Cake?

While carrot cake does contain some "healthy" ingredients, like carrots and coconut, it's still a dessert cake. Depending on who made the cake and what ingredients were used in it, it could be rather decadent. The cream cheese frosting is usually what really throws it off the health curve. But, here on Strength and Sunshine, we always find ways to make recipes slightly healthier and always gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-free! This from-scratch recipe is 100%:

• Gluten-Free
• Vegan
• Allergy-free (Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Peanut-Free, Wheat-Free, Sesame-Free, Corn-Free)
• Low in Sugar
• Kid-Friendly
• Simple & Classic
• Customizable Add-Ins & Cake Shape
• Make-Ahead & Freezer-Friendly
• A Dessert Perfect For Spring, Easter, or ANY Holiday

Ingredients For Vegan Carrot Cake

• Gluten-Free Flour + Baking Powder + Baking Soda: Your favorite gluten-free all-purpose or baking blend with the addition of extra baking powder for fluffiness and some baking soda that will react with the acids in the applesauce and pineapple for leavening.
• Brown Sugar Sweetener: Dark or light brown sugar will work. I like the rich molasses taste of dark brown sugar. It provides depth and softness to the crumb. You can use a brown sugar sweetener like swerve to make the cake sugar-free, minus the natural fruit sugars!
• Grated Carrots: Freshly grated carrots are KEY to a perfect carrot cake! You want the natural sweetness, fresh flavor, and bright orange color from seasonal carrots.
• Shredded Coconut: Unsweetened shredded coconut is the perfect addition to get that subtle coconut flavor and added texture to your cake. If you're allergic or don't like coconut, you can leave this out.
• Applesauce: Unsweetened applesauce adds just the right amount of moisture and fruitiness to your carrot cake, while also allowing you to use less oil in the recipe.
• Neutral Oil: Carrot cake is an oil-based cake. Do not use butter! It will throw off the flavors. A neutral oil like safflower, canola, grapeseed, or a refined liquid coconut oil will work.
• Flax Egg: For extra binding in your eggless cake, a simple flax egg, made from milled flaxseed, is used.
• Crusted Pineapple: A little bit of crushed or finely diced pineapple brings so much tangy, citrus-like, bright flavor to the cake. A little pineapple really is key to perfect carrot cake!
• Raisins: A few pops of sweet raisins are a classic addition to your cake! If you truly don't like them, feel free to leave them out, but they add a perfect sweet chew!
• Warming Spices + Vanilla Extract: For the spices, the three must-haves for flavor are ground cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Allspice is also a common spice to include. Then just a splash of pure vanilla extract and you'll have a perfectly spiced cake batter!

A Perfect Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Frosting

You can't have carrot cake without cream cheese frosting. This recipe will be using my famous vegan cream cheese frosting recipe found here. It's just a mixture of vegan cream cheese, vegan butter, powdered sugar sweetener, a splash of lemon juice, and vanilla extract! If you don't have a vegan cream cheese on hand, you can settle for a simple vanilla vegan buttercream frosting as well.

How To Make Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

1. Whisk together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
2. Add and mix together the applesauce, flax egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and oil.
3. Finally, add in the grated carrots, coconut, pineapple, and raisins
4. Gently mix the batter to fold in the larger add-ins (don't over mix), it will be thick!

5. Line two 6-inch round cake pans with two strips of parchment paper for easy cake removal.
6. Pour the batter evenly into the two cake pans.
7. Bake the cake layers until just golden brown.
8. Remove the baked cake layers, remove them from the pans, and let them cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Cake Size Variations

This recipe makes a 6-inch round two-layer cake. A 6-inch round cake pan holds 4 cups of batter. Remember, a cake pan is only filled halfway. This recipe divides the batter in half between two 6-inch round pans (2 cups of batter each). You can make this a three-layer cake, just note that the cake layers will be thinner. You can use the 4 cups of cake batter in an 8-inch or 9-inch round pan. An 8-inch square pan will also work. You can make this cake in a 7x11-inch baking dish as well or an 8x4-inch loaf pan!

The batter can also be used to make 12-18 cupcakes, depending on size. You may also prefer to follow this gluten-free vegan carrot cake cupcake recipe instead! For all size variations, baking time will vary, so watch your cake closely in the oven!

How To Frost The Layer Cake

This post will show you step-by-step details on how to easily frost this simple layer cake! No fancy tools like offset spatulas or turntables are needed. This is quick and easy, with a simple silicone spatula to spread the homemade frosting on the layers, allowing them to stick and stack. Cover the outside and the top, before finally decorating with your choice of garnishes like more shredded coconut and carrot!

How To Properly Store Your Vegan Carrot Cake

Since your carrot cake is frosted with a cream cheese frosting (even though it's dairy-free), you should store your cake in the fridge in a cake carrier or large container, for about 7 days. Leftover cake can be enjoyed cold from the fridge or bright to room temperature first if you prefer.

How To Make Carrot Cake Ahead Of Time

You can make your cake layers ahead of time, which is ideal anyway since you need the cake to be cool before frosting! Bake the cake layers and allow them to cool on a wire rack before covering them tightly overnight. You can even make the frosting ahead of time and store it in the fridge. Make the full cake within 1-2 days or prep. Bring the frosting to room temperature before frosting the cake layers.

How To Freeze Carrot Cake

You can freeze the baked and cooled unfrosted cake layers, tightly wrapped, for up to 4-6 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge. You can freeze a finished frosted cake, by freezing it until solid on a flat tray first. Then transfer the frozen cake into a large storage container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost the cake overnight in the fridge before bringing it to room temperature.

More Delicious Vegan Carrot Cake Recipes:

• Carrot Cake Cupcakes
• Mini Carrot Cake Bundts
• Carrot Cake Sugar Cookies
• Carrot Cake Doughnuts
• Carrot Cake Pancakes
• Carrot Cake Waffles

Print

When it comes to cake, I'm either team Funfetti or team carrot. Either way, you can't go wrong, but with carrot cake, you're just swapping the sprinkles of Funfetti with carrots!

So tell me:

+ Do you like adding in the classic pineapple, coconut, and raisins to your carrot cake?

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