Carrot cake is such an iconic flavour. I made this one for my Dad’s birthday and it came out perfectly. Wonderfully moist and spongy while having a great crunch with the nuts. The spices create such a lovely flavour without overpowering the cake, it’s perfect!
Baking vegan cakes can seem a bit daunting, without using egg many people fear the cake won’t rise. There are a lot of egg replacement products on the market and they can get pretty expensive. We won’t be using any of those in this recipe, but we’ll still bake a perfectly risen and moist cake.
This cake takes just under an hour to create and goes perfectly with either a cream cheese frosting or a buttercream icing. I served it with some buttercream on the top and it was perfect. The balance of the icing with the spices and nuts was wonderful. This cake isn’t very challenging and perfect for using up any carrots before they get bad!
Steps taken to make this carrot cake
The secret to vegan baking is using baking powder and soda along with apple cider vinegar. The combination of these ingredients causes a chemical reaction, you’ll see it when you add the vinegar. It fizzes and bubbles and this allows the cake to rise. Don’t worry about the apple cider vinegar tainting the flavour of this cake. You won’t be able to taste it and you’ll be left with a fantastic carrot cake!
There is a lot of liquid in this cake and it can make it seem a bit wet when you pour it into the tins. Don’t worry, it will cook through and give you a fantastically moist cake. Check the notes at the bottom of the recipe, I’ve detailed the cooking time if you use one tin or two. When I created my cake I used one tin and the cooking time is significantly longer! If you use one tin or two, the taste and texture will be the same. I made this for my father who doesn’t like things to be too sweet, hence the lack of icing in the middle! If you wanted to use two tins you could sandwich them together with either cream cheese frosting or buttercream.
This cake uses three different spices; cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. If you don’t like any of them you can omit them and add a bit more of the others. Don’t add too much of the spices though as they will become overpowering and ruin the overall flavour of the cake.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know in the comments if you made it and tag me @nashirasnibbles on Instagram!
Carrot Cake with Walnuts & Pecans
Ingredients
- 400 g Plain Flour
- 220 g Grated Carrots
- 300 g Caster Sugar
- 1 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 80 g Chopped Walnuts
- 40 g Chopped Pecans
- 250 ml Oat Milk
- 110 ml Vegetable Oil Any nutrual oil will work
- 3 tsp Vanilla Extract I used paste
- 20 ml Apple Cider Vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, Gas mark 5.
- Grease a cake tin with some oil and line the bottom with baking parchment. (Please refer to the notes about using one tin or two)
- In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, salt and spices together
- Add in the baking powder and soda
- Add the wet ingredients and stir well (apple cider vinegar, milk, vanilla & oil). Make sure there are no dry bits
- Slowly add in the grated carrot and the chopped nuts
- Once all the ingredients have been added to the bowl, pour the mixture into the tin(s)
- Place on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 minutes (please refer to the notes about cooking times depending on how many tins you are using)
- Once cooked, allow the cake to cool in it's tin for at least 10 minutes before turning out and placing on a wire rack to cool
- Decorate as desired and enjoy!
