Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe

I’m not really a sweets person, but carrot cake has a special place in my tummy. I love how moist it usually is, and paired with a steamy cup of tea it’s just marvelous during any season.

I try to keep a plant-based diet 90% of the time and have been doing so for about six years now. I’m lactose intolerant and eating animal products gives me a lot of bloating, therefore testing recipes without any animal products is always on my task list.

Last week I was at a friend’s house and he had a whole bag of leftover grated carrot from juicing. He was about to toss them away when I said “Wait! I’ll make a carrot cake with that!”

It’s crazy how much food we waste when we could be repurposing it!

The result was a DELICIOUS sugar-free carrot cake that tastes even better than the original. This recipe is simple, easy to follow, and will have you never going back to traditional carrot cake again. To make it even more nutritious, I added Nutrilite All-Plant Protein.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! Let me know in the comments.

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Grated Carrot

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour (Can be substituted for Almond Flour)

½ Cup Nutrilite All Plant Protein Powder

1 ½ Tsp Baking Powder

1 tbsp baking soda

1 ½ Cups Unsweetened Applesauce*

1/3 Cup Melted Coconut Oil

1 Cup Coconut Sugar

¾ Cup of Oat Milk

¼ Cup Melted Coconut Oil

1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1 tsp Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix (optional, replace with ginger spice and cardamom)

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tsp orange extract

1 cup chopped walnuts or pumpkin seeds

*You can substitute the applesauce for 3 flaxseed eggs, however, it will not be as fluffy. To make a flax egg, all you have to do is mix 1/2 tbsp of grated flax seed with 1 tbsp of water and wait 5 minutes.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil 8X8 pan with coconut oil or baking spray.

2. In a bowl with a spatula or mixer with the paddle attachment, add all wet ingredients except oat milk and apple cider vinegar. Mix carrots, applesauce, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, and orange extract.

3. Add coconut sugar and incorporate it into the wet batter.

4. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients: flour, spices, baking soda, and baking powder. Divide into four equal batches and fold into with mix on the lowest settings or slowly by hand, making sure not to overmix. Add oat milk slowly to loosen the batter.

5. Once all dry ingredients have mixed into the bowl, add apple cider vinegar to incorporate.

6. Drizzle nuts on top of the batter (optional). 

7. Scrape batter and add to a greased pan. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.