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Vegan carrot cake recipe, 3 variations

Tuesday August 11, 2020 - by

I have to admit, I am not really a baking girl. Cooking is more my thing. So far I published two baking recipes on our food blog; Dutch cookies and ginger cookies. I hope this vegan carrot cake recipe is not my last, because I certainly want to bake some more deliciousness. Whenever I start baking I always realize that it’s so much fun. In addition, cake, cookies and pies can be healthy and even serve as breakfast or snack as long as you use nutritious ingredients. From what I often see the ingredients list of many baking recipes are unhealthy with loads of sugar and white flour. This really scares me off and the first thing that comes my mind is that I want to transform the cake into a (more) healthy version.

Recipe vegan carrot cake

Scrolling through Instagram I got the idea to bake a carrot cake. I saw a recipe and while I was reading the ingredients I knew I had to experiment with it. Because I didn’t want to add some or use others instead. That’s why I ended up with three cake recipes, because the first and second I was not completely satisfied with. At first I only wanted to publish the third version, but when someone notes baking fails are the most tasty after showing my crumbly cake I thought, why the hell not! Besides, tastes differ. Maybe you like a juicy or rather a dry cake, right?! That’s the reason I publish all recipes for vegan carrot cake. After all, baking is experimenting. Remco and I loved all the versions, but for me the third version is the most ‘perfect’ as far as it can be perfect at all.

Ingredients carrot cake 1

  • Wholemeal flour, 300 grams
  • Baking powder, 10 grams
  • Baking soda, 4 grams
  • Mix for spiced cookies, 3 teaspoons
    • 1,5 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 0,5 teaspoon nutmeg
    • 0,3 teaspoon clove powder
    • 0,3 teaspoon ginger powder
    • 0,3 teaspoon cardemom
    • 0,3 teaspoon white pepper
  • Palm sugar, 80 grams
  • Salt, 1 teaspoon
  • Walnuts, chopped, 70 grams
  • Grated carrot, 150 grams
  • Almond milk, 180 ml
  • Olive oil, 80 ml
Cracked cake
Cracked cake
Crumbly vegan carrot cake recipe 1, difficult to make slices
Crumbly vegan carrot cake recipe 1, difficult to make slices

Vegan carrot cake recipe 1; crumbly and dry

  1. Firstly, preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease a rectangular cake tin with plant-based butter and line with non-stick parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients wholemeal flour, baking powder, baking soda, spice mix, palm sugar and salt. Use a whisk to mix well.
  3. Then stir in the almond milk and olive oil until batter is mixed.
  4. Finally, mix in the walnuts and carrot. Use a spatula or spoon. It’s quite a solid mixture.
  5. Spoon the mixture into the tin, smooth the top and press gently. Bake for 45 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven. After 40 minutes you can test with a wooden skewer whether your carrot cake is ready. Insert the skewer into the centre of the cake, take it out and check whether the skewer comes out dry and clean. If so, your vegan carrot cake recipe is ready.
  6. Remove the cake with parment paper from the tin and let it cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting in slices.
Crumbly cake with wholemeal flour
We liked the crumbly cake with wholemeal flour

Ingredients carrot cake 2

The second version of my vegan carrot cake recipe contains vegan egg substitute by using flax eggs. You can easily make this by whisking together broken flax seeds and water. By adding flax eggs I wanted to achieve more binding in the cake. I also replaced the palm sugar with dates and I didn’t use baking soda.

  • Wholemeal flour, 300 grams
  • Baking powder, 10 grams
  • Mix for spiced cookies, 3 teaspoons
    • 1,5 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 0,5 teaspoon nutmeg
    • 0,3 teaspoon clove powder
    • 0,3 teaspoon ginger powder
    • 0,3 teaspoon cardemom
    • 0,3 teaspoon white pepper
  • Salt, 1 teaspoon
  • Dates, finely chopped, 100 grams
  • Walnuts, chopped, 70 grams
  • Grated carrot, 150 grams
  • Almond milk, 180 ml
  • Olive oil, 80 ml
  • Broken flaxseed or ground flaxseed, 2 tablespoons
  • Lukewarm water, 5 tablespoons
Vegan carrot cake recipe 2, juicy and sticky
Vegan carrot cake recipe 2, juicy and sticky

Vegan carrot cake recipe 2; juicy and sticky

  1. First, prepare the flax eggs. Whisk together the linseed with 5 tablespoons of lukewarm water. Let it rest for at least 10 minutes to thicken.
  2. Secondly, heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease a rectangular cake tin with plant-based butter and line with non-stick parchment paper.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients wholemeal flour, baking powder, spice mix and salt. Use a whisk to mix well.
  4. By using your hands, mix the chopped dates into the mixture.
  5. Stir in the almond milk, flaxseed mixture and olive oil until batter is mixed.
  6. Finally, mix in the walnuts and grated carrot using a spatula or spoon. It’s quite a heavy mixture.
  7. Spoon the mixture into the tin, smooth the top and press gently. Bake for 45 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven. After 40 minutes you can test with a wooden skewer whether your carrot cake is ready. Insert the skewer into the centre of the cake, take it out and check whether the skewer comes out dry and clean. If so, your vegan carrot cake recipe is ready.
  8. Remove the carrot cake with parment paper from the tin and let it cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting in slices. I know it’s difficult to wait, but otherwise it falls apart.
Cake recipe 2, more binding than recipe 1
Cake recipe 2, more binding than recipe 1

Ingredients carrot cake 3

Since the second version was quite wet and missed some sweetness, I added less almond milk and replaced the dates with palm sugar. Although less sugar than in the first recipe, but still sweet enough for us. I also added the baking soda again for a better rise. And I must say, this carrot cake is less wet and has a better binding. Mission accomplished.

  • Wholemeal flour, 300 grams
  • Baking powder, 1 teaspoon
  • Baking soda, 1 teaspoon
  • Mix for spiced cookies, 3 teaspoons
    • 1,5 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 0,5 teaspoon nutmeg
    • 0,3 teaspoon clove powder
    • 0,3 teaspoon ginger powder
    • 0,3 teaspoon cardemom
    • 0,3 teaspoon white pepper
  • Salt, 1 teaspoon
  • Palm sugar, 60 grams
  • Walnuts, chopped, 70 grams
  • Grated carrot, 150 grams
  • Almond milk, 140 ml
  • Olive oil, 80 ml
  • Broken flaxseed or ground flaxseed, 2 tablespoons
  • Lukewarm water, 5 tablespoons
Third vegan carrot cake recipe
We love the structure of the third vegan carrot cake recipe

Vegan carrot cake recipe 3; ‘perfect’

  1. First, prepare the flax eggs. Whisk together the linseed with 5 tablespoons of lukewarm water. Let it rest for at least 10 minutes to thicken.
  2. Secondly, heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease a rectangular cake tin with plant-based butter and line with non-stick parchment paper.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients wholemeal flour, baking powder, baking soda, spice mix, palm sugar and salt. Use a whisk to mix well.
  4. Stir in the almond milk, flaxseed mixture and olive oil until batter is mixed.
  5. Finally, mix in the walnuts and grated carrot using a spatula or spoon. It’s quite a heavy mixture.
  6. Spoon the mixture into the tin, smooth the top and press gently. Bake for 45 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven. After 40 minutes you can test with a wooden skewer whether your carrot cake is ready. Insert the skewer into the centre of the cake, take it out and check whether the skewer comes out dry and clean. If so, your vegan carrot cake recipe is ready.
  7. Remove the carrot cake with parment paper from the tin and let it cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting in slices. I know it’s difficult to wait, but otherwise it falls apart.
Healthy vegan carrot cake
Healthy vegan carrot cake
Cake in a cut slice
Perfect structure to cut slices

Help, my carrot cake cracks on top!

My first and third vegan carrot cake recipe were cracking on top. Personally, I don’t have any problem at all with that. On the contrary, it looks rustic and the crust becomes crispy. But maybe you don’t want a cracked cake at all or you want to spread frosting on the cake. You can actually prevent cracking a cake. First you have to know why a cake cracks while baking.

Why cakes crack and how to prevent?

Cakes do crack when the oven temperature is too high. While baking the outside is cooking much faster than the inside. A crust forms on top as the inside continues to cook. While the cake is rising the cake cracks op top. You could say the cake is cooking too quickly. If you don’t wish a cracked cake, you must give the cake time to rise at slow pace. Simply do this by baking at lower temperature. Best is 75 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius, but be alert because every oven is different. Possibly your oven needs a different baking time. Also avoid opening and closing the oven during baking, otherwise temperature is fluctuating.

How to store my cake

If you have any leftovers you can store the carrot cake in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Make slices once the cake is cooled down to room temperature. I personally divide the slices into food storage containers to keep the cake fresh. This way I only have to grab the amount of slices we want to eat. On the Internet I read about wrapping the slices in plastic wraps, but using so much plastic is not really sustainable. If you want to keep the cake longer than a couple of days, freeze the slices and eat it within three months.

Vegan carrot cake third version
Vegan carrot cake recipe with wholemeal flour and less sugars

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