Vegan Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting.

Name: Vegan Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 255 min
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups carrots finely shredded; 1¼ cups all-purpose flour; 1 cup whole wheat flour; 1 cup sugar; 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp ground cloves; 1/2 tsp ground cardamom; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 3/4 cup plant based milk I used soy; 1/2 cup vegan butter melted (I used Earth Balance); 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 8 oz vegan cream cheese softened (I used Daiya); 1/2 cup vegan butter softened (I used Miyoko's); 4 cups powdered sugar; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

With thick layers of sweet, tangy cream cheese frosting, this moist carrot cake is truly out of this world.

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By Shan · Updated October 26, 2026

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Total: 4 hr 15 min
Serves: 12
Ingredients: 19

Recipe

Vegan Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

With thick layers of sweet, tangy cream cheese frosting, this moist carrot cake is truly out of this world.

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Vegan Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 12 servings
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 60 minutes
Total: 255 minutes
Additional Time: 180 minutes

Ingredients

For The Carrot Cake

1 1/2 cups carrots finely shredded
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup plant based milk I used soy
1/2 cup vegan butter melted (I used Earth Balance)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

For The Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz vegan cream cheese softened (I used Daiya)
1/2 cup vegan butter softened (I used Miyoko's)
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional Topping

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 7-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another.
Combine wet and dry ingredients and pour into lined cake pan.
Bake for 50-60 minutes (toothpick inserted into off-center should come out clean). After 15 minutes remove the outer band of the cake pan. Cool cake for 1 hour uncovered, then cover and chill at least 1 hour. The center may deflate slightly while cooling.
Remove side parchment. Trim top of chilled cake to make it even. Use trimmings to fill center dent if there is one. Cut cake into 2 layers to frost.
To make the frosting, use a hand mixer to combine the frosting ingredients until light and fluffy.
After frosting, sprinkle cake with chopped walnuts. Cake is best served cold!

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With thick layers of sweet, tangy cream cheese frosting, this moist carrot cake is truly out of this world!

In order to come up with new vegan recipes, I spend a few hours every day in the kitchen – trying out recipes, experimenting with ingredients, and making a HECK of a lot of dirty dishes.

Sometimes the recipes turn out well, sometimes they don't. With this carrot cake, I knocked it out of the park!

It's so stinking good that I wondered if I should put it up on this blog, or save it for a future cookbook. But then I realized that with the crazy times we're living in, the world could use a little more carrot cake. So here it is, friends – my gift to you!

Vegan Carrot Cake

I studied many different carrot cake recipes while working on this cake. I knew wanted my vegan carrot cake to be:

moist
light
have visible carrot
decadent & delicous!

A close-up image of a bite size piece of carrot cake with frosting on a fork.

Luckily, that is exactly how the cake turned out. The texture and flavor are perfect. And with the slight tang of the cream cheese frosting? Oh my. You are in for a treat!

Baking Notes

There are a few ways you can go about shredding the carrots. I used a mandoline slicer that has a shredding blade, and it worked perfectly for this recipe. My mandoline slicer is this one by Borner and it's probably the best one money can buy. They're pricey but you can probably find a decent used one on Ebay for a lot less (which is what I did!).

Other things that would work for shredding the carrots include cheese graters (use the smallest blade holes if you have a choice) and food processors (with shredding attachment), or if you have a grater attachment for your stand mixer, that would work too.

Top down view of a whole carrot cake with one slice removed, a slice of carrot cake on a plate, and cup of coffee on a table with a white tablecloth.

This carrot cake would be perfect for dessert at any time of day. It goes well with coffee or tea. I would suggest serving the cake slightly chilled, as the cake and frosting will be a little more firm and easier to slice.