Vegan Carrot Cake with Cardamom

The vegan carrot cake is spiked with cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg—and topped with a luscious vegan cream cheese icing.

Vegan carrot cake is an all-time Autumn favourite around my house. While some consider it a Spring dessert, for me it’s all about Autumn with it’s warming spices and root veggie base.

Traditional recipes rely on a lot of sugar and a ton of oil, but this version is much lighter cutting some oil for apple sauce and maple syrup for sugar. The addition of a good dose of cardamom and a hint of orange zest makes this recipe more modern and less like your mum’s carrot cake of yesteryear.

This vegan carrot cake is almost healthy enough to nibble on for breakfast. So, if cake for breakfast is just your thing, try baking these in a muffin tin to make the perfect morning treat. 

I topped mine with some maple sweetened whipped coconut but a simple glaze will work just as well. For something entirely different, but delicious, try icing yours with a chocolate ganache.

Ingredients

• Flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground ginger
• Ground cardamom
• Ground nutmeg
• Sea salt
• Unsweetened apple sauce
• Coconut sugar
• Maple syrup
• Almond milk
• Cooking oil
• Carrot
• Orange
• Pecans

Recipe

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4.67 from 6 votes

Vegan Carrot Cake with Cardamom and Orange

The vegan carrot cake is spiked with cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg—and topped with a luscious vegan cream cheese icing.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time35 minutes mins

Total Time45 minutes mins

Servings: 1 Cake

Author: Sophie

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¾ teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients

• ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
• ½ cup coconut sugar
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 1 cup almond milk
• ⅓ cup light cooking oil
• 1 ½ cups finely grated carrot
• Zest of 1 orange
• ½ cup chopped pecans

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
• Grease a 9-inch (23-cm) square baking pan with 1 teaspoon of oil and line it with parchment paper. Leave some paper hanging over the edges of the pan to use as handles later. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, orange zest, and spices.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, apple sauce, coconut sugar, oil, and maple syrup.
• Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture then pour the mixed wet ingredients into the bowl of dry.
• Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, gently fold everything together until just combined, with some streaks of flour remaining.
• Add the grated carrot and chopped walnuts to the bowl. Continue to fold the batter together gently until just combined — a few streaks of flour are ok!
• Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan. Smooth the batter evenly into the pan using the back of the spoon.
• Place the carrot cake in the preheated oven for 33 to 35 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched, or a tester comes out clean.
• Remove the cake from the oven, and place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Use the parchment paper handles to gently lift the cake from the pan. Remove the paper from the cake then place it on the wire rack to cool completely.
• Serve vegan carrot cake plain for breakfast or as a snack, or top it with vegan cream cheese frosting (pictured) or coconut whipped cream.