The Best Vegan Carrot Cake made with simple ingredients like almond flour, gluten-free oat flour and sweetened with coconut sugar! A healthy and easy gluten-free recipe.

The BEST ever vegan carrot cake is here!

I teased this recipe over on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, and you guys went crazy. I didn’t realize there was so much love over vegan carrot cake! Jord and I are personally huge carrot cake lovers, which is shocking since I love chocolate so much. But carrot cake is truly one of my favorite desserts to enjoy when I want to switch things up.

I love making my Vegan Carrot Cake Loaf for a healthier breakfast recipe or brunch to enjoy, but this recipe takes things up a notch. And it is made with just a few simple ingredients.

This Vegan Carrot Cake, is gluten- free and  is the best dessert to bake for any occasion, holidays, random family nights at home or when you are solo and just want to bake and eat something delicious.

Let’s run through what ingredients we need to make this carrot cake:

  • Unsweetened applesauce – This helps make the cake extra moist. I recommend using unsweetened (check the label!) because it is a waste of sugar otherwise and some brands cane extra sneaky adding in unnecessary sugars. You can use banana too.
  • Flax eggs – or use regular egg if you prefer
  • Non-dairy milk – any works. I used almond milk here.
  • Coconut oil – melted and cooled.
  • Coconut sugar – this is the only added sugar to this recipe. It adds just the right amount of sweetness.
  • Gluten-free oat flour – any oat flour works as well as spelt flour or gluten-free all purpose flour.
  • Almond flour – I haven’t tested another sub here.
  • Chopped pecans – optional but I love the crunch and you can use walnuts too.
  • Grated carrots – the main star of the cake!

How to make gluten-free carrot cake bars:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 baking dish with oil and/or line with parchment paper
  2. Whisk together applesauce, eggs, oil, milk and vanilla
  3. Mix in coconut sugar, flours, baking powder and cinnamon until smooth and creamy
  4. Fold in carrots and pecans then add to baking dish
  5. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes
  6. Allow take to cool completely then slice and enjoy

FAQs when making vegan carrot cake:

  • Do you taste the carrots in carrot cake? Nope! At least I don’t and I am someone who doesn’t like carrot at all. So basically I feel healthier when I eat this for dessert ha!
  • Can you make this carrot cake in advance? Absolutely. This is such a good recipe to make the day before easter or a month before and freeze. I recommend adding the frosting before enjoying. You can use a store bought or make this one.
  • Can you make this into a round cake? Totally! You can bake it in an 8-inch round cake dish instead of the 8×8 if you want a round cake. Then double the recipe to make it a double layer cake.

vegan carrot cake

A few other delicious carrot cake recipes to make:

Zucchini Carrot Cake Muffins from my cookbook

Gluten-free Pecan Carrot Cookie Cake (egg-free +grain-free)

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookie Carrot Cake Bars (gluten-free)

Vegan Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal!

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The Best Vegan Carrot Cake (Gluten-free)

★★★★★

5 from 18 reviews

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The Best Vegan Carrot Cake (Gluten-free) is made with simple ingredients like almond flour, gluten-free oat flour and sweetened with coconut sugar! A healthy and easy recipe when the carrot cake craving hits.

  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 25 mins
  • Total Time: 30 mins

Yield: 9 pieces/bars 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana
  • 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds + 5 tablespoons water)*
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
  • 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 1/2 cup gluten-free oat flour or gluten-free all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup almond flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup chopped pecans
  • 3/4 cup shredded organic carrots
  • Cream cheese frosting

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 baking dish with oil and/or line with parchment paper
  2. Whisk together applesauce, eggs, oil, milk and vanilla
  3. Mix in coconut sugar, flours, baking powder and cinnamon until smooth and creamy
  4. Fold in carrots and pecans then add to baking dish
  5. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes
  6. Allow take to cool completely then slice and enjoy

Notes

*Sub regular egg if preferred

**Store leftovers in airtight container for 5 days or freezer for longer

  • Author: Rachel