Vegan Carrot Cake {Gluten Free}

The easiest vegan carrot cake that is completely gluten free and refined sugar free! Incredibly moist, it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser!

As weird as it sounds, carrot cake is actually such a comfort food for me, and this vegan carrot cake definitely lives up to it! With a dairy free vegan cream cheese frosting, no one will be able to notice that this vegan carrot cake is actually completely gluten free and refined sugar free as well!

Pretty cool, right?

You know it’s a good recipe when your dad tastes it and can’t even tell the difference between the two. Yep, my gluten free carrot cake is that good!

Now, my dad is not one to like many gluten free and/or vegan creations, but I’m going to be honest, carrot cake is one of his weaknesses. I mean, he loves carrot cake. So when I brought him a slice of this carrot cake, I knew it was the make or break moment, the real moment of truth as to whether this cake stands up to its traditional counterpart.

The verdict? Even better.

I absolutely love how lightly sweet this gluten free carrot cake is; it doesn’t need much sweetener because we’re using a few of my favorite ingredients in this cake and you don’t need as much maple syrup in there because maple syrup tends to taste sweeter than sugar!

It’s truly an incredible cake that will be a favorite with kids and adults alike 🙂

Plus, I was actually shocked at how easy this vegan carrot cake came out to be. All it took was one bowl and some patience while letting it bake in the oven!

Okay, so the patience part really isn’t that easy haha! I mean, smelling this carrot cake bake in the oven is just insane! I wish I had a candle of it. Now, I guess anytime I want the house to smell good, I should just make a vegan carrot cake!

So let’s get into the ingredients for this vegan carrot cake! Because there are a few ingredients that, yes, they’re common in the kitchen, but I’m betting you probably have never tried them in a carrot cake 😉

Vegan Carrot Cake Ingredients

Shredded Carrots: now if you want an arm workout, you can shred about 2-3 large carrots yourself, but you can also buy these carrots pre-shredded! I like to shred them myself because I find that the carrot cake then tastes a lot fresher.

Oat flour: again, I made my own oat flour. It’s cheaper that way over going to the store and purchasing a whole bag of oat flour (because often times, oat flour goes bad easily!). All you need to do is take about 2 cups of gluten free rolled oats and pulse them in a blender or food processor until it’s in a powder! 2 cups of oats will yield about 1 1/2 cups oat flour for those who are going to make their own 🙂 Trust me, oat flour is going to taste amazing in this vegan carrot cake!

Brown Rice Flour: for my gluten free households, I’m sure you’re familiar with brown rice flour! It’s not a flour that I use often, but I asked everyone on Instagram, and many wanted to see some recipes with more affordable ingredients (because almond flour is not a cheap ingredient!). Brown rice flour is pretty cheap at every grocery store, and it’s full of fiber, so don’t think that it’s not a good, healthy alternative! Plus, you don’t need any gums in this gluten free carrot cake, so it’s totally a win 🙂

Flax Seed: yes, we’re using ground flax seed again! I love using flax seed as a replacement for eggs because it actually comes out cheaper per serving, so if you haven’t tried ground flax seed in your recipes yet, I highly recommend trying it out!

Sweet Potato: it’s here again! Yes, I used sweet potato again in a recipe, and let me tell you, it totally makes this vegan carrot cake. Personally, I’m not a purchaser of apple sauce, which is what many vegan cake recipes use in place of oil or as an extra sweetener. I personally love an even more natural substitute, the sweet potato, because not only does it add sweetness to any recipe, but it also adds density, moisture, and structure to the finished product! Bake your large sweet potato at 375F for 60 minutes and remove the skin. Mash it up, and you should have about 1 cup!

Maple Syrup: if you’ve been here for a while, then you know that I love using maple syrup as a sweetener! It’s such a delicious flavor and really complements the spices and natural sweetness of the carrots and sweet potato 🙂 Plus, you don’t need a lot, even for this vegan gluten free carrot cake, because maple syrup just tastes sweeter than sugar!

Olive Oil: you could also use coconut oil or melted vegan butter (about 1/2 cup), and this is to just make sure that the carrot cake remains moist 🙂

Spices: well, you can’t have a carrot cake without the spices! I use a blend of cinnamon, Allspice, and nutmeg! Hits the spot!

Now onto the vegan cream cheese frosting, because you cannot do a vegan carrot cake with any other frosting! And it’s not even complicated! Check out the ingredients below!

Vegan Cream Cheese Ingredients

Vegan cream cheese: they really do have some great vegan cream cheeses on the market these days. I know that Trader Joe’s has a good one that’s more affordable than most name brands, but if you do have a favorite name brand, I love using either Kitehill or Miyoko’s!

Vegan butter: for a vegan butter that tastes good and is simple, I highly recommend Miyoko’s! I think it’s a great alternative, but New Barn is also coming out with a vegan butter soon, so stay on the look out for that!

Coconut milk: because we need something to get everything going in order to have a thick yet soft vegan cream cheese frosting!

Maple syrup: yes, maple syrup again! Most of the vegan cream cheese frostings, or really all cream cheese frostings, use a bunch of powdered sugar. Not that there’s anything wrong with sugar, but when you think about it, that’s just a lot to go into one recipe, and I always like keeping it minimal! So you only need a little maple syrup to bring out the sweetness in this vegan cream cheese frosting 🙂

I still can’t get over how delicious this vegan carrot cake tastes, and with the vegan cream cheese frosting, you’re just going to be blown away!

I’m normally a vanilla cake kinda gal, but I might even choose this gluten free carrot cake over vanilla…and that’s a bold statement to say for me!

I’m planning on making this recipe for Easter, but it’s also wonderful during fall and Christmas time 🙂 I’ll probably make this for my dad on Father’s Day as well, since he loved it so much! Oh, and don’t expect this cake to last you long, because it will for sure be gone in the snap of a finger!

Cannot wait to see what you think! Let me know in the comments below if you gave it a try, and happy baking!

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