Here it is! The most delicious cake we've ever made. This recipe is not as simple as most of our recipes are, but is quite easy to make considering it's a cake, especially if you don't add any topping.
I'm trying to avoid oil because I prefer to use less processed fats like coconut milk, which is basically water and coconut meat. To make oil, you need to remove the fiber and other great nutrients that are good for your health. Anyways, you can use any other plant milk and add oil or any other healthy fat you want.
I want to share with you some pictures of the process: the shredded carrots, the batter before baking, the cake before adding the toppings, the cake with the frosting and last but not least, the best carrot cake we've ever tried!
It's super easy to make healthy sweets and desserts. At the beginning, it can be challenging because we're used to bake using white flour, white sugar, eggs and dairy, but you just need to learn how to cook using other healthy ingredients, that's all. I know this is not a recipe you should make every single day, but at least I know I'm taking care of my gorgeous body while I'm enjoying this amazing treat.
Tips:
- Feel free to use any other type of flour or sweetener, although maybe you'll need to add more or less (take a look at the picture of our batter).
- Use any kind of vinegar you want or even some lemon juice.
- As this is an oil-free recipe, I recommend you to use coconut milk or at least a plant milk with a high fat content.
- Raisins, walnuts and cinnamon powder are optional ingredients as well.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Carrot Cake (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ¾ cup oat flour
- ½ cup cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 2 tablespoon flax seeds + 6 tablespoon water
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup full fat coconut milk
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup raisins
- Vegan cashew frosting, optional
- More chopped walnuts and raisins on top, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 390ºF or 200ºC.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl (the brown rice flour, oat flour, sugar, baking soda and cinnamon powder).
- To make the flax eggs, just blend the flax seeds and the water in a blender. Transfer to a jar or a bowl and let stand for at least 5 minutes to get a thick consistency.
- We peeled, chopped and blended the carrots in a food processor, but you can also use a blender or a grater.
- Add the flax eggs, shredded carrots, vinegar and coconut milk to the bowl and mix until well combined.
- Then add the walnuts and the raisins and stir.
- Grease the cake pan with some oil (coconut oil is my favorite one). If you use a non-stick pan, you can omit this step. We usually place a sheet of parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan to avoid using oil. We used a 8 ⅔ " or 22 cm pan in diameter.
- Pour the batter into the pan.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until it's fully cooked.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool down completely.
- We added some vegan cashew frosting, chopped walnuts and raisins on top.
Notes
- We blended rolled or instant oats in a blender.
Curious says
Hi, I need to replace the oat flour with something else gf, do you think quinoa flakes would work? Thank you!
Iosune Robles says
Hi! Feel free to use any kind of gf flour 🙂
Lily says
Hi Losune,
Can I replace lemon instead of apple cider vinegar. and what is the reason why ACV is used, as it is commonly used to food. Thank you for the recipe, I love your blog
Iosune Robles says
Hi Lily! Thanks 🙂 Feel free to use lemon instead! We use ACV because baking soda needs an acidic ingredient to create the rising reaction.
Sue Murray says
I made this with the cashew frosting yesterday for Easter and it was a hit! The cake was somewhat dense but not heavy. Everybody in my household loved it and it's really not labour intensive. The night before I combined the dry ingredients and soaked the cashews so it was pretty easy to get it in the oven the next day.
Iosune Robles says
Hi Sue!!!! That is so great!!! We are happy about it! Thank you for sharing it with us! Have a great day!
Genevieve M says
I made this yesterday and was really impressed. Many other the other oat based carrot cakes I've tried have been really mushy but this one was moist and light. I'm looking forward to making this again!
Iosune says
Hi Geneieve! So glad you liked it 🙂
Alexis says
Hello Iosune, Is it particularly important to use oat? On my mind Oat and Barley are pretty much interchangeable, and currently I only have Barley at hand so this is what I would like to use to replace Oat, what do you think?
Thanks for your blog it's amazing.
Iosune says
Hi Alexis! I've never tried it myself, but I think it should work 🙂
Engi El Naggar says
I did this recipe yesterday but with 2 changes, I used normal eggs and xylit sugar. Omg, it's the yummiest gluten free cake I've done the last 3 years. The consistency is great and it's so moist and addictive. Thanks so much for the recipe. Next time I will try it with the flax eggs.
Iosune says
Hi Engi! So glad you enjoy it. Flax eggs are a great alternative to chicken eggs 🙂
Daniela says
So I did this today Bc it’s my birthday 🤪 and honestly it’s so delicious 😋
Iosune says
Hi Daniela! Happy birthday to you 🙂 I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Kelly says
Cake turned out great it tasted delish - next time I’d prob make 2 and sandwich together as the cake is about 2 cm high I’d also try it without the raisins ( although it would be a super alternative to fruit cake at Xmas ) - I liked that I could throw in brown rice and oats in my high speed blender to make fresh flour instead of using store bought g/ f flours thanks for the recipe 👍
Iosune says
Hi Kelly! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂