Gluten-free Vegan Carrot Cake

This easy one-bowl carrot cake has a fluffy and moist texture. The cake is gluten-free and vegan topped with creamy dairy-free frosting. I don’t think you can only enjoy this perfect cake on Easter!

Both my and my sister’s birthdays are in April. As the date of Easter varies each day, in some years my sister’s birthday fell on Easter holiday and sometimes mine fell on the holiday. I’m saying that I actually made this delicious carrot cake for our birthdays!

I seriously think that the first person who put carrots in cake was a genius. Finely grated carrots bring moisture to the cake. Not only do they make the cake healthier, its sweetness has perfectly matched the spices and saved the amount of sugar the cake needs!

TEXTURE OF THE CARROT CAKE

Fluffy, moist and light. No one in my family is the kind of people who like gooey cake. That’s why my family enjoyed this fluffy and airy carrot cake so much! What’s so surprising is that my boyfriend APPROVES the cake and he doesn’t eat gluten-free or vegan! Topped with the creamy and thick frosting made with coconut cream and vegan cream cheese, I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t like this cake!

INGREDIENTS & SUBSTITUTES FOR GLUTEN-FREE VEGAN CARROT CAKE

Below are the key ingredients and some highlights for this delicious carrot cake:

Gluten-free flours: I used a combination of almond flour, gluten-free oat flour and tapioca flour. If you wish to make the cake nut-free, you can substitute almond flour with more oat flour. I made my own oat flour by grinding gluten-free rolled oats. You can simply use a good quality blender or food processor to do so. Powdered erythritol: I intended to reduce the amount of sugar in this cake so I chose this sugar-free sweetener in place of part of the coconut sugar. Make sure it’s fine enough or else it’ll be quite difficult to dissolve. If you don’t mind more sugar consumption, you can definitely use all coconut sugar for this cake. For US measurement, substitute 1/5 cup coconut sugar for 1/3 cup powdered erythritol; for metric measurement, just simply make 1:1 substitute. Coconut sugar: you can substitute coconut sugar for powdered erythritol, but this is not the case in reverse, as coconut sugar adds special flavor to the cake that perfectly matches the spices. Unsweetened applesauce: this is a perfect egg replacer for carrot cake so I haven’t tried any substitution. It adds moisture to the cake and makes the cake softer. Coconut oil: it should be melted completely before use. You can replace it with other liquid oil like canola oil and grapeseed oil. Carrots: make sure they’re finely grated. Spices: I used ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Spices make carrot cake wonderful! Don’t skip them!

INGREDIENTS & SUBSTITUTES FOR VEGAN CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Coconut cream: I used Siam’s full-fat coconut milk. Chill the coconut milk overnight to get solid coconut cream. Save the remaining coconut water for other use. Vegan cream cheese: let it soften under room temperature before use, or else the frosting will become lumpy. Powdered erythritol: to make the frosting sugar-free, I used powdered erythritol, which makes the frosting a little bit less firm than the one made with traditional powdered sugar. As mentioned above, you have to make sure it’s fine enough so that it can easily dissolve.

TIPS

Do not overmix: oat flour is a good binding agent in baking, very similar to the function of gluten in wheat flour. However, if you overmix the batter, oat flour can make the cake dense and gummy. Cake pan size: this is a 4-inch diameter three-layer carrot cake (I know it’s a bit tiny for some of you). The same amount of ingredients in this recipe can make a 6-inch two layer cake. The baking time may take 5-10 minutes longer. Storage: the leftover cake can stay in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

MORE GLUTEN-FREE + VEGAN DESSERT RECIPES! !

• Keto Vegan Cheesecake Bites (No-bake Fat Bombs!) ()

• Keto Vegan Matcha Cookie Sandwiches

• Gluten-free Vegan Double Chocolate Mochi Cookies

• Keto Vegan Basque Burnt Cheesecake

• 6-ingredient Keto Vegan Strawberry Cream Tart

• Gluten-free Vegan Banana Raspberry Streusel Muffins

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Gluten-free Vegan Carrot Cake

This easy one-bowl carrot cake has a fluffy and moist texture. The cake is gluten-free and vegan topped with creamy dairy-free frosting. I don’t think you can only enjoy this perfect cake on Easter!

	For the Cakes

• 45 milliliter unsweetened soy milk

• 1 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

• 94 grams unsweetened applesauce

• 45 grams coconut oil (melted)

• 45 grams powdered erythritol

• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 45 grams coconut sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/3 teaspoon sea salt

• 330 grams carrots (finely grated)

• 38 grams walnuts (chopped)

• 75 grams almond flour

• 75 grams gluten-free oat flour

• 114 grams tapioca flour

    For the Cakes

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).

In a large mixing bowl stir together soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Let sit for about 5 minutes until the mixture coagulated. Then add coconut oil, applesauce, sweeteners, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt, and whisk to combine.

Fold in grated carrots. Then add almond flour, oat flour and tapioca flour and stir to just combine. Be careful not to overmix or else the oat flour will make the cake dense and gummy.

Line three 4-inch round pans with parchment paper (see blog post TIPS). Divide the batter evenly among cake pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until deep golden brown. Inserted a skewer into the cake center to see if it comes out clean. Please note that the baking time varies if you use larger pans.

After the cakes come out of the oven, let them stay in the pans for about 30 minutes. Then transfer onto the cooling rack to cool completely before doing frosting.

For frosting

Scoop out the coconut cream from the can and reserve the coconut water for other use.

In a medium mixing bowl add the coconut cream, softened vegan cream cheese and erythritol. Whisk with an electric hand mixer until combined and creamy. Chill for at least an hour before using.

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