Good Morning & Happy Wednesday!
I stayed up until midnight and woke up at 5 am just to finish this blog post. I’m way too excited about this carrot cake, and I wanted it available to the world asap. Plus, our Easter Sunday always involves carrot cake! I can confidently say “this is the best carrot cake I’ve ever had in my entire life.” I brought it over to my parent’s house last night, and they were blown away. Carrot cake is my dad’s favorite dessert, and even he said it was “out of this world.” This cake is fluffy, full of spice, dense, and the frosting just melts in your mouth. This may come off as conceited, but I pretty much nailed it.
I have wanted to create a carrot cake recipe on my blog for a while now and wanted it to be vegan-friendly and gluten-free. When my parent’s tried it, they didn’t believe me that it was lighter, made without sugar, vegan, or gluten-free! I had to physically pull out the photos on my camera to show them the ingredients that went into the cake. I think making recipes vegan, gluten-free, and sugar-free is fun because it’s more of a challenge to make them taste just as good as your traditional recipes. When I had dinner at Plant in Asheville, I left inspired to start creating more vegan recipes for the blog. The challenge is so much fun.
Everyone makes their carrot cake differently. I am a spice girl! I love when you get the proper amount of ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I grew up adding raisins and walnuts to my carrot cake, but some people opt to leave the raisins out or choose pecans instead of walnuts. You can totally customize this recipe!
After spending the morning making this carrot cake, the possibility of all the other flavored cakes I plan to make in the future started going off in my brain. If a cake made without sugar, dairy, gluten, eggs, could taste this good, why not come up with more? I have a feeling this summer is going to be super cakey! I think a strawberry lemon cake is in my near future. My mom and I were coming up with fun flavor-combos last night! Feel free to suggest a flavor.
I should have warned you at the beginning of this post, but I couldn’t stop taking photos of the cake, so there is a ton! I have been playing around with my new camera, and the learning process is a lot of fun. I’m still experimenting with lighting and different settings. I hope you’ll be able to notice improvement as the months go on!
I’m a very visual person. When I need to learn how to do something, I love watching tutorial videos, or step by step photos. It takes a lot of time to include the images of the whole process, but I notice a lot of food blogs don’t do this. I’d love your honest opinion on this! Do you like seeing the whole process with step by step photos? Or would you rather I just posted a photo of the final product and kept it simple with a recipe? Let me know! I want the recipe to be very user-friendly, so feedback is welcomed.
Whenever I’m baking, I like to set out all the ingredients, so I don’t forget anything! I’ll usually create the recipe on a piece of paper before I start, and then I’ll scribble any changes I make during the process. This helps me deliver the recipe with the exact amounts to the blog. You should see the piece of paper once I finish cooking! It’s usually covered in scribbles, flour, and sometimes missing chunks when Leo gets ahold of it.
So…let’s talk swaps! First off, this is the only way I’ve made the cake, so I can’t promise it’ll be as good if you use regular flour, different sweetener, eggs, or any other swaps you make! But, YOU CAN make them! I’ll include some swap ideas with the recipe card to make it easier. 
The Best Vegan Carrot Cake (Gluten Free & Sugar Free)
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Gluten Free Baking Flour
- 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
- 2 Tsps. Baking Soda
- 1 1/2 Tbsps Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 Tbsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1/2 Tbsp Ground Ginger
- 1/2 Tbsp Ground Cloves
- 1/2 Tsp Salt Salt
- 1/2 Cup Swerve (or your choice of sweetener)
- 3 Tbsp Egg Substitution (I use NeatEgg) or (sub for two eggs + 1 egg white)
- 3 Tbsp Melted Coconut Oil
- 1 Tbsp Vanilla
- 1/2 Cup Applesauce
- 1 Cup Cashew Milk (or your choice of milk)
- 1/2 Cup Walnuts (or your choice of nuts)
- 1 1/2 Cup Chopped Grated Carrots (bought the grated bag)
- 3/4 Cup Raisins (optional)
For The Frosting
- 1/2 Cup Heavy Coconut Cream (I photographed the wrong can)or condensed coconut milk or use Earth Balance vegan butter sticks.
- 2 Cups Swerve Powdered Sugar (or vegan powdered sugar)
- 1/2 Tsp Vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, sea salt, and swerve.
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the vanilla, cashew milk, and applesauce. (and eggs if you're using real ones)**do not add the coconut oil in yet.
- Mix the egg substitute into the bowl with the wet ingredients. It may be better to use a blender, or electric mixer if you're having an issue with clumping.
- Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and combine. Now, add in the coconut oil.
- Chop the grated carrots. Fold the carrots, walnuts, and raisins into the batter.
- Grease the cake pans (i used an 8 inch) with cooking spray (I used avocado oil spray.) Evenly distribute the cake batter into two pans.
- Bake for about 17 minutes. The baking process depends on the size of your pan, so keep and eye on it and use the toothpick method to determine if it's done. *aint nobody got time for an overcooked carrot cake.
- Let the cakes cool completely. I transferred mine to a cooling rack.
- While the cakes are cooling, prepare the frosting! In an electric mixer, combine coconut cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla. ---OR vegan butter, condensed coconut milk, or vegan cream cheese as a substitution in place of the coconut milk. You could even add them to the frosting with the condensed coconut milk. Have fun with it!
- Once the cakes are cool, top one of the layers with frosting. Stack the second cake layer on top and frost. Finish the sides last. **You could also make these like pumpkin bars! Use a square cake pan and frost.
- Store in the fridge because everything tastes better cold! **optional**
Notes
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees!
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, sea salt, and swerve. 
In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the vanilla, cashew milk, and applesauce. If you’re using real eggs, this is where you’ll add them in! **don’t mix in the coconut oil yet** 
Add in the egg substitute! Here is what I use (NEATEGG) 
If you have any issues with clumping, use a blender or electric mixer! 
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well. 
Now, mix in the coconut oil. And you can totally try the batter since there are no eggs! 
Mix the raisins, carrots, and walnuts in! (or whatever fillers you choose)
Grease the cake pans (I used an 8-inch cake pan) with cooking spray (I used avocado oil spray.)
Evenly distribute the cake batter into two pans. Place them in the oven and cook for about 17 minutes. It’ll depend on the size of pan you used, or how evenly your oven cooks. Keep an eye on it and use the toothpick method to determine when it’s done. You do not want to overcook it!
Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack and let them cool completely.
I can’t wait to try making this recipe into bars! 
In an electric mixer, combine the frosting ingredients! You can also add in vegan cream cheese and vegan Earth Balance butter! You may need to add more powdered sugar to get a perfect consistency. If you do not want to use Swerve, just use regular powdered sugar. Swerve powdered sugar
The frosting was so good! I couldn’t stop eating it.
If you do not want to make the frosting, have time, or Swerve available, you can use Miss Jones Frosting. It’s vegan and gluten-free.
Frost the top of the first layer. Make sure your cake is 100% chilled, or it’ll melt!
Add the second later on top!
Frost the top of the second layer. 
Frost the edges and add walnuts to the trim. This is the trick to making the bottom look cleaner. I placed the cake in the fridge to cool for an hour before slicing. This is totally optional, but I love a chilled cake! 
This cake makes 12 pretty large slices!
I sprinkled cinnamon on top of the cake as decorations.
The most perfect cake in the entire world. I can’t wait to have more for dessert tonight! It’s worth every bite. These cute little plates are from the Magnolia collection! 🙂 The glass cake stand is only $15.99 from Target! 
While I was cooking the cake, I started wondering who came up with the idea of adding carrots to a cake. It sounds awful if you’ve never tried it. Same thing with zucchini bread! It turns out, no one really knows where carrot cake actually came from. It’s believed that today’s traditional carrot cake recipe most likely descended from Medieval carrot puddings from the people in Europe. Carrot was used as a sugar substitute because they were more affordable than sugar. 
And just like every other dessert, it’s served best with a side of espresso!
Speaking of espresso! Don’t forget to enter the Nespresso machine giveaway on my Instagram! Winner will be announced tomorrow!!!
Perfection in every bite.
Pin this to save for later!^^^
This cake is much lighter than your average carrot cake!
Nutrition: 212 Calories, 8g Fat, 28g Carbs, 5g Fiber, 9g Sugar, 5g Protein
Questions for you!
- Who is the carrot cake fan in your life? (mine is my dad)
- Do you vote YES or NO for step by step photos?
- What fun cake combo should I do next?
This looks so good! Do you think it would hold up without the nuts in it? I’m allergic but still wanna try and make this!
Yup! 100%! 🙂
Thank you for sharing this recipe, Taralynn! 🙂 I’ve never really liked carrot cake before (I’m more of a coffee or chocolate person) so I’ll definitely give this a try! ❤️❤️
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Ohhhh maybe I’ll do a coffee cake next1 😉
OMG YES PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guess it’s officially getting added to the list! 😀
Wow!! That looks delicious and I’m definitely going to make it this Easter! Thanks for a fabulous recipe and kickass photos!!
Thanks, Alyssa!!!!!
snap some photos and let me know how it goes! Would you be having this on Easter Sunday or Easter Monday?
My Papa loves carrot cake! His birthday was Monday and I’ll be traveling to East Tennessee for Easter/his birthday this weekend. I was going to make him a banana pudding (another of his favorites), but maybe I’ll try this instead! 🙂
I LOVE step by step photos! I always do that for my blog too. I’m very visual and detail oriented, so I love anything that’s step by step.
I would love to see you try a blueberry lemon cake! There is an Italian restaurant here in Nashville, Tennessee that makes an authentic Italian blueberry lemon cake and I’ve been trying to perfect it. I’ve made a few that were pretty darn good, but nothing that touches theirs. Maybe yours would come close or I could combine your recipe with mine to crack the code on theirs! 🙂
Hi, Danielle!
Let me know if you make it! 😀 It’s sooooooo goood! 😀 But banana pudding is amazing too 😀
Thanks for the input! 😀 & i’ll have to check out your blog!
ohhhhh yumy! I have lemon blueberry muffins coming up too! 😀
xo xo
I will definitely let you know!
Now I feel like I need to up my blog game! 😉
Oh, that makes me so happy! I can’t wait for that!! 🙂
I can’t wait! 😀
Hey Tara, do you foresee yourself this year doing any vegan challenges?
I have no idea! 🙂
Hi Taraylnn, I just started reading your blog and love it! I am so excited to try this recipe! I am new to the vegan world and it’s much harder to find recipes so thank you for sharing! I vote yes for the step by step pictures, it’s much easier to follow along. I’m excited about a strawberry lemon cake, a lemon lime cake would be great too!
Hi, Allison!
So happy you’ve started reading!:) Makes me smile!
The vegan recipes are so much fun:) I love that they are for my vegan-friendly readers too!
ohhhh lemon lime for summer could be fun!
It looks amazing. I’m definitely a no-raisin girl 🙂 And how about hummingbird cake!
I have no idea what a hummingbird cake is lol. I’ll have to look it up! (it’s probably something I’ve had but never knew the name of it!) My dad is a no-raisin person too lol so he “obstacled” around them! But he didn’t notice until I told him haha
You’ll like it. It’s a southern thing. Ripe bananas, crushed pineapple, pecans, spices, & a cream cheese icing. It’s like carrot cakes summer cousin 🙂
It sounds amazing!
I love when bloggers document each step with images. It allows me to know if I am doing it right and the consistencies match.
I see keep it up! Plus, being a hobbyist photographer, this will give you more practice to keep improving on.
That is good to know! 😀
I love this format! I say to continue doing it!
I think a great flavor combination would be peach, lemon, and ginger. I know it tastes great in some macarons I made. Like a peach cake with a lemon and ginger buttercream frosting or something.
Thanks, Holly!
MMMM that would be awesome! Totally healthy too:D
I am still intimidated by macarons!
Not a problem!
I am still learning with macarons, and they are still intimidating to me. I have random batches that simply go south, and I cannot figure out why, but I will be trying the Italian method soon as it is said to be more consistent (once I get over my fear of making sugar syrup). One day I hope to achieve master like status with them.
Yay!! I love carrot cake! I was wanting to make a carrot cake for this weekend when all of my family is getting together, so this is perfect!
I love all the extra pictures & step by step instructions. But, I would keep your recipe section for the bottom, after the step by step picture instructions. That is the way most blogs do it that I see have step by step pictures, and it makes it easier to read. When you have it in the middle it feel like I’m reading the same thing twice.
You should make a vegan rich chocolate cake with fluffy milk chocolate frosting! I have been craving that FOREVER!!
Oh, yay! You’ll have so much fun with your family, and I know your family will love this!
So good t know!!! I usually just add it to the top so people don’t have to waste their time looking through all the photos lol. Also printing is another option too! I’ll keep that in mind though 😀
ohhhhh thats a great idea for cake!
I am the carrot cake fan in my house! Literally no one else in my family likes it for some reason so I rarely ever get to eat it. =[ Maybe I could halve the recipe and make a personal carrot cake ha. I love the step by step photos, I’m a visual learner as well and I like being able to compare how mine is looking to make sure I’m doing it right. I think a German chocolate cake would be fun, and the strawberry lemon cake sounds like a good idea too!
OMG maybe they haven’t had the right kind. It’s so good! lol but just freeze it and save it all for yourself. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.
Good to know! I love the visual too. I know it’s a ton of photos in one blog but I’m glad it’s helpful!
OHHHH GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE! 🙂 Maybe I should do cake week!! lol
1.Who is the carrot cake fan in your life?
My mom and my dad both LOVE carrot cake
2.Do you vote YES or NO for step by step photos?
Yes! I love step-by-step photos and videos like Buzzfeed/Tasty does. They make it look easy enough anyone can cook!
3.What fun cake combo should I do next?
I love berry and lemon combos. Blueberry lemon may be my favorite. Also almond poppy seed (there’s a local bakery that sells that flavor of bread and it is so good!)
Mine too! 😀 I remember always having carrot cake on my birthdays! Now it makes sense lol
Taking note! 🙂 I think it makes it easier too!
Blueberry lemon muffins will be on my blog soon! Almond poppy? yum! I LOVE anything almond flavored!
YES, you totally nailed this! It looks SO good. Ben and I both love carrot cake and this is perfect for Easter! Actually, let’s be honest, it’s perfect for all the time haha. I’m such a baked goods fanatic so making healthier swaps is a must with as often as I want to eat them!
I vote yes on step by step photos! I love seeing the process and all the ingredients.
I would love a strawberry lemonade type cake! Or a blueberry lemon. Two of my favorite combos!
Can’t wait to make this!
Hi, Susie!
You guys would love this recipe! 😀 And I have to agree its perfect for Easter…AND EVERY OTHER DAY!
I have some blueberry lemon muffins coming soon, so look out for those. I totally agree with a strawberry lemon cake!
Have a great week!
What about crushed or diced pineapple added in? Would that work or would it be too wet?
It may be more moist, but I don’t know because I’ve never done it! Maybe instead of applesauce, add in pineapple? I can’t say for sure! That’s a tricky one!
Where did you find unsweetened condensed coconut milk? I can’t find the unsweetened anywhere! Do you think coconut cream would work in it’s place?
I love the step-by-step idea!
I 2nd the hummingbird cake and coffee cake ideas. I’ve never had hummingbird cake, but I just googled it and it looks delicious.
I got it at Whole Foods! & yes yes yes! It would.
Lol I googled it after that comment as well and heck yes it sounds good! 😀
You have outdone yourself!
I can’t tell the difference between your photography. Keep up the good work!
Thank you, Sara!
This looks so good, we’re definitely going to try it!! We’ve been vegan for a year and a half now and it’s always fun trying new recipes! (Admittedly, I was initially pretty reluctant because I liked shrimp and eggs quite a bit, but I’ve come around :P) I haven’t made carrot cake yet since, but I’ve made carrot + zucchini bread, which was pretty good.
My mom actually made my brother carrot cake for his birthday for years, thinking it was his favorite cake. We found out a couple of years ago that he just didn’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t. 😛
I love the step-by-step photos; it’s always helpful to see what what I’m doing is supposed to look like. Have you ever had what’s called ‘pig pickin’ cake? It’s a vanilla cake with mandarin oranges blended into the batter and topped with a pineapple icing/cream. It’s amazing, but I had only had it once before going vegan, so I veganized it last summer and I’d totally recommend it!!
Hi, Krista!
I love Zucchini bread as well! 🙂 & this carrot cake is amazing, especially if you’re vegan!
OMG that is actually the sweetest story and your brother is funny for keeping that secret!
Pig Pickin cake? I’m going to have to google this one. It does sound AMAZING!!! I bet it would be easy to make it vegan.
Please open up a bakery
Would be a dream <3
Can I make this with real flour?
yup!
My mom is for sure the carrot cake fan! It’s her favorite 🙂
I LOVE the step by step photos! Really I love all your photos, they keep getting more and more colorful and they are so fun to look at!
Lemon Poppyseed and Almond Poppyseed are some of my favorite flavors — I’m excited to try your balls 😉
You should totally make this for her then
Thanks so much for that! Love the input 😀
I’ve never heard of almond poppy but I need to try it! 😀
Photographs on point!
Thank you so much, Kent!
I ran to the store last night and bought all the ingredients to make this cake. I kicked myself in the butt because I forgot raisins! I ended up using cranberries instead. The cake was unbelievable! I used sweetened condensed coconut milk with Daiya cream cheese for the frosting and it was fluffy as the real stuff. My husband was very impressed with this recipe and asked when I was going to make more of your recipes!
Thanks for your blog love bug
This comment just made me smile! How did the cranberries end up tasting in the cake? I bet it was actually pretty good!
Thanks for sharing your frosting rendition! 🙂 xo
XO XO so glad your husband loved it!
Have a great weekend!
This looks so amazing! I am having to transition into a dairy-free lifestyle, so this is perfect!
That is so great to hear!
🙂 I hope you enjoy!
I am going to leave another comment because I would love to ask you something!
You may have this in another post and if you do could you please direct me? I was wondering how and what you use and do with your photos, because I love the colors. Please let me know!!
Hi 🙂 So I’m actually working on a giant post with all my photo details on which apps I use and camera equipment! 🙂 It’ll be out in May!
Do you use Canon?
Yup!
My grandma wanted me to tell you that she loved your cake.
AWWWWW! tell your grandma I said thank you
I LOVED THIS RECIPE! I used regular flour and the Miss Jones frosting.
Lol thank you!
BEST.
CARROT.
CAKE.
I.
HAVE.
EVER.
HAD.
lol thank you!!!!!!
I have never left a comment on a blog but just wanted to say ILYSM for making a 200 cal, healthy piece of cake! All the heart eyes! <3
wooo! I hope you enjoy!
I first ate a carrot cake like this a month ago and couldnt stop thinking about it since then. It looks so good Im trying it today!! Thank you!!!! Here in Brasil we also have a tradicional carrot cake (specially at easter time), but it is very different from this. Carrot in cakes are awsome!!
Yes they are!! 🙂
I’m really excited to try this on Sunday for Easter! I have all the ingredients ready. I wasn’t sure what GF Flour to get, so I got potato flour…do you think that will taste ok? Maybe I’ll use part potato and part coconut flour? I also got mixed up and bought the condensed unsweetened coconut milk instead of heavy cream. Hopefully it’ll still be delicious, can’t wait to try it out! Thank you for sharing this 🙂
This is AMAZING. Made it tonight, but instead of the frosting I poked holes in the cake and poured coconut sweetened condensed milk into the cake and spread cocoWhip on top. Couldnt believe how good it was!
Um that is genius!!!
I love the step-by-step photos so I know what each step looks like. (Sometimes it’s hard to picture with just worded instructions when you’re trying new things!) This cake looks delicious! I am not a huge fan of carrot cake usually but this would probably do the trick for me!
I would love to see anything with blueberries baked in! A blueberry pie or blueberry almond vanilla crumble cake type recipe would be amazing!
Love the photos, can’t wait to read all about what you’ve been using! 🙂
Thanks, Angela!
Carrot cake is one of those foods that you either LOVE or it’s just ehhhh.
I have a blueberry muffin coming up next with lemon! I love baked blueberries!
xo
OMG I can’t wait to make this! I LOVE carrot cake! Also, I vote for the step by step pics. I am a visual person too and I like to see what I’m doing.
Thanks, Tara!!!!
Yes step by step process.
Awesome!:D
This was so yummy!
So happy to hear that!
This was great.
Taralynn!! So my birthday was last week and my sister wanted to make me a birthday cake – I am obsessed with carrot cake and knew I wanted something healthy so I texted her your recipe and she made it for me.
This was hands down the BEST carrot cake, ever!! Plus, it doesn’t make you feel overly full and weighed down with sugar. I have been enjoying a slice pretty much every day since my birthday last Thursday. 🙂
I will probably be requesting this cake for all my birthday’s to come! 🙂
OMG!!! This just put a big smile on my face!!! and happy belated birthday 😃!!! I need to make this this week!! it’s our favorite too!!