Incredibly moist and delicious vegan carrot cake with creamy dairy-free frosting. So good, you won’t believe it’s egg and dairy free!
Why you’ll love this recipe
Here’s a made-from-scratch super moist and delicious vegan carrot cake with loads of Vitamin A carrot goodness, plump raisins and crunchy walnuts for the perfect texture contrast.
The secret to the plump raisins is soaking them for 15 minutes in water — in advance — so they won’t look and feel dry, and hard when baked.
What makes this cake healthier than the rest is the use of olive oil and flaxseed meal to give it the light moist texture, added fiber and zero cholesterol. The flaxseed meal water mixture is used here as an egg replacer to give the cake body while making it soft and moist.
In addition to its function, flaxseed has the richest source of plant based omega 3 fatty acids (ALA) and many other health benefits. Here are the 15 health benefits of flaxseed according to science from Jen Reviews.
Carrot cake is not complete without the cream cheese frosting, of which I have a quick and simple vegan version here — using a blend of vegan cream cheese, powdered sugar and vegan butter/margarine. For those who don’t have access to, or don’t want to use vegan cream cheese, you can simply replace the same amount with pre-chilled whipped coconut cream. The end result is a slightly runnier frosting but I assure you, it will taste just as good!
One of the reasons I rarely order desserts, especially cakes, at a vegan restaurant is because they almost always taste dry, hard and way too sweet for my liking. This egg-less and dairy-free cake is healthier and tastes so good, you won’t believe it’s vegan!
Enjoy!
Delicious Vegan Carrot Cake
Ingredients
Frosting:
- 8 oz vegan cream cheese Tofutti cream cheese
- ⅓ cup vegan butter or margarine softened (Earth Balance Butter Sticks)
- 2½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup flour optional for thickening
- Flaxseed Mixture
- 3 tablespoon flaxseed meal
- 9 tablespoons water
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup olive oil Bertoli olive oil for baking
Dry Ingredients:
- 1½ cup self rising flour sifted
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Fruits and Carrots
- 3 cups of grated carrots
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ¾ cup raisins or sultanas soaked in water for 10 minutes
Instructions
To Make the Frosting:
- Combine frosting ingredients and mix until smooth. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
- To Make the Flaxseed Mixture
- Mix flaxseed meal and water together in a bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes.
To Bake the Cake:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 F or 180 C.
- Grease a 9 inch baking loaf pan.
- Mix the flaxseed mixture and dry ingredients in a bowl until well blended (about 2 minutes).
- Sift together the dry ingredients in another bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Blend well.
- Add carrots, walnuts, and raisins. Using spatula, fold into mixture.
- Pour into one greased 9 inch baking loaf pan or square pan.
- Bake at 350 F or 180 C for 30 minutes on the middle rack of oven. Then place an empty tray on the top rack and bake for another 15 minutes, or until fork inserted in center becomes clean.
- Cool completely before adding frosting.
- Sprinkle some chopped walnuts on top.
