Oil-Free Vegan Carrot Cake with Oat Flour

I am SO in love with this oil-free vegan carrot cake recipe. It's everything I want in a carrot cake. Moist (there I go with that word again), lightly-sweetened, fragrantly spiced, flecked with sweet, juicy raisins, and topped with a creamy, tangy, dairy-free cream cheese frosting. Oh, and it happens to be oil-free, gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, whole grain, and full of whole food plant-based goodness.

It's full of healthy ingredients like carrots (duh), raisins, oat flour, applesauce, walnuts, shredded coconut, and pineapple. Not to mention, it's the best vegan carrot cake (really, the best carrot cake, period) I've ever had.

Wait, wait, wait. Pineapple?

Well, shit. I was hoping I could sneak that by you. Yeah, I was skeptical, too. But when the magical Somer McCowan suggests something, you listen!

Carrot cake is THE BEST kind of cake and I make one for my birthday every year. A few days before my birthday last year, I asked Somer if she had a good, not-terribly-unhealthy carrot cake recipe. She sent me this recipe from the NY Times and told me she veganizes it. I made some smart ass comment about being a carrot cake purist and said I was super opposed to pineapple in my carrot cake. But you know what? I don't think I had ever even had carrot cake with pineapple in it (I'm just an asshole), and I trust any recommendation from Somer, so I decided to go for it.

It was... incredible. Over the next couple months, I made the carrot cake six more times, each time tweaking and adjusting and adding and removing things, until I came to this version I'm giving you today. It has a pretty long list of ingredients, and it's not a quick recipe, but it is SO worth the effort. I hope you love it as much as I do.

(THANK YOU, SOMER!)

Let's talk about the recipe!

Recipe Highlights

• This vegan carrot cake recipe contains no eggs, no dairy, no wheat, no gluten, no oil, and no cane sugar. No cashews in the cream cheese frosting either.
• Oat flour makes it whole grain and it's packed full of fruits, veggies, and nuts. This is probably the most nutritious carrot cake you'll ever eat. Healthy vegan carrot cake for everyone! 🥳
• The unfrosted cake freezes well, so it's an easy make-ahead dessert. Just thaw and frost.

Ingredients

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, but here's a quick look at the ingredients you'll need to make your very own oil-free vegan carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

• oat flour (make sure yours is certified gluten free if you have a sensitivity)
• coconut sugar (date sugar would also work)
• ground cinnamon
• ground ginger
• baking soda
• salt
• ground flax seeds mixed with water to make a flax "egg"
• your favorite plant milk mixed with apple cider vinegar to make vegan "buttermilk"
• carrots
• canned crushed pineapple
• chopped walnuts
• unsweetened shredded coconut
• raisins
• unsweetened applesauce
• molasses
• vanilla extract
• canned coconut cream
• your favorite vegan cream cheese (I've used Kite Hill every time!)
• lemon juice
• xanthan gum

Recipe Steps

First, you'll want to put a can of coconut milk or coconut cream in the fridge the night before.

When you're ready to bake, gather your ingredients*, preheat your oven and prepare your cake pans. Make sure you get the cream cheese out of the fridge so it can come to room temperature. *Keep the coconut milk in the fridge until you're ready to make the frosting.

Now grate your carrots and chop your walnuts. Add them to a big bowl with the rest of your add-ins.

Make your flax "egg" and vegan "buttermilk".

Next, you'll combine your dry ingredients. Then combine your wet ingredients and pour them into the dry ingredients. Once it's mixed, fold in the grated carrots, pineapple, walnuts, coconut, and raisins.

Pour the batter into your cake pans and bake!

While the cake is baking, make the frosting by powdering your coconut sugar, then whipping together all the frosting ingredients in a stand mixer.

When the cake is done baking, let it cool completely before covering it in creamy, dreamy frosting.

Helpful Tips

• Make sure you use canned crushed pineapple in 100% pineapple juice. The texture and juice both play a part in the recipe, so make sure you get the right stuff!
• Save time by using a food processor to grate your carrots and chop your walnuts.
• Make sure the cake is completely cooled before you frost it or the frosting will make a melty mess. You can even split the process into two days by wrapping the room-temperature cake in plastic wrap and refrigerating it overnight before you frost it. The cake can be frosted straight out of the fridge.

FAQs & Substitutions

If you make this oil-free vegan carrot cake recipe and become the healthy carrot cake champion amongst your friends and family, please come back and tell me all about it in the comments (while you're down there... how 'bout rating the recipe?). And since I'm already sitting here barking orders at you, share a photo of your cake and tag me on Instagram, too! 🤓

Oil-Free Vegan Carrot Cake

Amber Asakura

This cake is moist, lightly-sweetened, fragrantly spiced, flecked with sweet, juicy raisins, and topped with a creamy, tangy, dairy-free cream cheese frosting. It also happens to be oil-free, gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, whole grain, and full of whole food plant-based goodness.

5 from 16 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hr

Cook Time 45 mins

Cooling and Frosting Time 2 hrs 30 mins

Total Time 4 hrs 15 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Diet gluten-free, oil-free, vegan, wfpb

Servings 12 people

Equipment

• Hand-held grater or food processor with grating attachment
• Spice grinder or high speed blender if you're making your own oat flour

Ingredients

 

VolumeWeight

 

1x2x3x

For the Cake

Add-ins

• 3 large or 5 small carrots ends trimmed, washed and finely grated (should be around 2 cups/250g, but does not have to be exact)
• 1 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
• 1 8oz (225g) can crushed pineapple do not drain
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut weight varies greatly based on moisture content
• ⅔ cup raisins

Flax Egg

• 3 tablespoon ground flaxseed
• 9 tablespoon water

Vegan Buttermilk

• ¾ cup unsweetened plant milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups oat flour
• 1 cup coconut sugar see notes
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

• ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the Frosting

• ⅓ cup coconut sugar see notes
• ½ cup canned coconut cream refrigerated overnight
• 1 8oz (227g) container of plain Kite Hill vegan cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon xanthan gum see notes
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

 

• Place your can of coconut milk in the fridge the night before you plan on making your frosting.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat the inside of your cake pans with coconut or other oil, and line the sides and bottom with parchment paper. (See note below for tips.)
• Grate your carrots using a handheld grater or the grating attachment on your food processor and transfer them to a medium bowl. Chop your walnuts by hand or by pulsing a few times in a food processor and add these to the bowl of grated carrots, along with the pineapple and its juice, the shredded coconut, and raisins.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flax and water and set it aside to thicken.
• Measure your plant milk into a liquid measuring cup and stir in the apple cider vinegar. Set this aside to curdle.
• Whisk the oat flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl and set it aside.
• Give the flax mixture a stir. Then add the milk and vinegar mixture, applesauce, molasses, and vanilla and stir to combine. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until smooth.
• Fold in the grated carrots, pineapple, walnuts, coconut, and raisins. Batter will be thick!
• Pour batter into your lined baking pan. Spread batter to the edges of the pan and smooth into an even layer.
• Bake 40-45 minutes or until the center springs back when lightly touched. Cool the layers (in the pan) on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then, invert the layers onto the rack (removing the pan) to cool completely.
• While the cake bakes, make your frosting.
• Place the coconut sugar into your spice grinder or high speed blender (you may have to do this in two batches depending on the size of your spice grinder). Process for about 10 seconds, until it becomes a fine powder. Set it aside with the lid on so the sugar dust can settle.
• Open your can of coconut milk and carefully scoop out 125g (½ cup) of the thick coconut cream. Add this to a stand mixer along with the cream cheese and beat on medium for 3 minutes.
• Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides.
• Add the powdered coconut sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, xanthan gum, and salt and mix on medium-high for three minutes.
• Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides again.
• Beat on medium-high for another minute.
• Scrape down the sides again. Cover the bowl of frosting and refrigerate it while the cake cools.
• Cool the cake completely before frosting it.

Notes

For a 9” x 13” cake: Grease or line the baking dish with parchment paper. Bake for 45 minutes. Cool and frost the cake in the pan.

For cupcakes: Line 20 muffin cups with cupcake papers. Prepare the batter as directed and scoop a rounded ¼ cup (or about 75g) into each cupcake paper. Bake cupcakes for 30 minutes and cool completely before frosting.

Lining your pans: To get the right size of parchment to line the bottom of your round pan, place your pan on a sheet of parchment paper and trace around it. Then cut out the shape, cutting slightly inside the line you drew so you’re not transferring the ink or pencil lead to your cake. Place it in the bottom of the greased pan.

Next, measure the circumference (the length around the inside of your pan) and height of your pan. Cut a long strip of parchment as wide as the height of your pan and as long as the circumference (or you can cut multiple shorter strips to equal just over the circumference and overlap them slightly when you place them inside the pan). Line the inside walls of your pan with the strips.

Repeat these steps if using a second pan, obviously. 😉

Coconut sugar note: You can use date sugar or cane sugar in place of the coconut sugar.

Xanthan gum note: The xanthan gum is absolutely, positively required for this frosting to work properly. It helps the ingredients come together and makes a fluffier frosting. If you skip the xanthan gum, your frosting will look curdled and pretty dang gross.

Frosting coconut sugar note: If you like a sweeter frosting, you can increase the amount to 80g (½ cup) of coconut sugar.

Frosting yield: The frosting recipe makes enough to frost the cake as shown (frosted top and filling between layers). If you also want to cover the sides of the cake in frosting, make a double batch.

Nutrition

Calories: 386kcalCarbohydrates: 52gProtein: 6.6gFat: 19gSaturated Fat: 7.8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 1.6gSodium: 365mgPotassium: 404mgFiber: 6.1gSugar: 34gVitamin A: 3486IUVitamin C: 4.3mgCalcium: 87mgIron: 2mg

Keyword carrot cake, gluten free, oil free, vegan

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and let us know how it was!