Carrot cake topped with cream cheese frosting, pecans and citrus zest

This cake is a favourite in our house. When you taste it, you wouldn’t know it was vegan and that’s key for me when I’m choosing vegan recipes. They should be every bit as delicious as non vegan recipes, you don’t want it to feel like something is missing. This Carrot Cake recipe by Meera Sodha will not disappoint you!

The best carrot cakes are made with oil, rather than butter so they’re already perfect for anyone that avoids milk. This recipe uses ground flaxseeds in place of eggs. They help bind the mixture together in place of eggs, but you don’t know they’re there when you enjoy the finished cake. Flaxseeds are also known as linseeds and they are packed full of omega-3 fatty acids and fibre among other useful things. Flaxseeds are best consumed ground and I buy mine in Aldi or Lidl where they come in a resealable pouch, so they keep really well in your cupboard between uses.

The carrots add lovely moisture to this cake & to make this recipe even easier I use the food processor attachment for my trusty Kenwood Mixer to grate the carrots. This attachment was a brilliant investment for me as it has a chopping blade and 6 different discs for slicing, grating and shredding. Did you know the Kenwood mixer was invented by a fella called Ken Wood?! True story.

A Kenwood Chef food processor attachment filled with grated carrots.

I love a lot of spice in my carrot cake, but you can adjust it to suit you. I like to add sultanas, pecans or walnuts, orange zest and all things nice! Whenever I bake with cinnamon, I also like to add a little half teaspoon of ground cardamom too as they compliment each other beautifully. If you’ve ever been put off cardamom by crunching on a cardamom pod in your curry, I urge you to try ground cardamom in your baking. It comes in two varieties – green and black. The green is gentle, warm and perfect for baking sweet treats. Try adding a little sprinkle of cardamom and cinnamon to your porridge with bananas. The black is bolder and smokier, better suited to savoury dishes. To ensure I use it at it’s best, I only buy the green cardamom and use it in both sweet and savoury dishes.

This recipe has a lovely cream cheese frosting, but if you prefer you can replace this with buttercream or a cloud of lightly whipped cream. Or you can leave it naked! Without the frosting it’s more portable if you want to take a slice in your lunchbox. Who wouldn’t want to find a slice of delicious carrot cake in their lunchbox?!

This is a simple mix it all together recipe, by the time your oven has warmed up you’ll have the cake ready to bake.

On with the recipe!

Meera Sodha’s vegan spicy carrot cake with cream cheese icing

You’ll need a 23cm springform cake tin lined with baking parchment
Serves 10-12

For the cake

2 tbsp milled flaxseed
120ml sunflower oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp oat milk
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 large carrots, grated (200g net)
200g caster sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
250g plain flour
1¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
50g pine nuts or walnuts, chopped

For the frosting
300g vegan cream cheese
2 limes, zested, and juiced to get 2½ tbsp juice
90g icing sugar

Method:

A bowl of grated carrots, golden sultanas and pecan nuts

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 and line a 23cm springform cake tin with baking parchment.

In a large bowl, stir the flaxseeds into four tablespoons (60ml) of warm water, and set aside for five minutes.

Add the oil, vinegar, oat milk, vanilla paste, carrots, sugar and salt, mix really well to combine, then put to one side.

Carrot cake batter in a bowl with a red spatula

In another large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, bicarb, spices and nuts. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix really well – don’t be alarmed by how dry or stiff the batter is.

A freshly baked carrot cake in a round tin lined with baking parchment

Spoon the mixture evenly into the baking tin, then shuffle the tin about to even everything out. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean, then leave the cake to cool before removing from the tin.

A round carrot cake covered with cream cheese frosting, orange zest, lime zest and chopped pecan nuts

Just before serving, and when the cake is completely cool, make the frosting. Put the cream cheese, lime juice, half the zest and the icing sugar in a bowl and mix with a fork until nice and whippy. Spread this all over the top of the cake, then sprinkle over the remaining lime zest, slice and serve.

A round carrot cake with a slice of the cake on a white plate with a vintage cake fork with flowers on the handle

Once frosted, store this cake in the fridge. Unfrosted, keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Top tip: If you don’t have enough carrots, you can substitute some parsnip, courgette, or butternut squash!

You can use vanilla extract if you don’t have vanilla bean paste. Likewise, if you don’t need this cake to be vegan, you can use regular cows milk cream cheese for the frosting.

I’ve been rather casual with the lining of the cake tin for this recipe as I don’t mind a wonky edge to a carrot cake. Simply cut a circle of parchment and press it into the base of the tin and up around the sides.

Enjoy!

Abi – The Brownie Lady