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Incredibly flavorful, moist and made with whole food healthy ingredients. You’ll never know this is a gluten free and vegan carrot cake recipe!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

This recipe was originally published on 3/24/16

The flavor in this vegan carrot cake recipe is insanely amazing. You’ll second guess the peanut butter, but trust me when I say it fits right in. With a pillowy soft texture and perfectly moist middle, good luck having only one slice.

Healthy Vegan Carrot Cake Can Happen

When most people think of cake, they thing sugar, butter, white flour. I’m all about balance but my husband is a bit of a carrot cake fiend, so I wanted to create a cake that he could and feel good inside.

Is carrot cake healthier than regular cake?

What makes something healthy, cake, cookies or salad for that matter, is what you put inside of it. If the ingredients are mostly whole foods, things you recognize, and foods that you’d eat on a regular basis, then heck yes it’s healthy!

The basis of this cake is mostly whole foods. I tested and trials different combinations of things to get the perfect flavor and texture that you’d find in a regular carrot cake.

Here is what I came up with:

Regular white flour was replaced by a gluten free combo I made up of sorghum flour, potato starch and tapioca starch . Sorghum is a gluten free whole grain filled with nutrients.

. Sorghum is a gluten free whole grain filled with nutrients. Regular sugar was replaced by coconut sugar .

. The fat from the butter was replaced by peanut butter and ground pecans

All of these make this cake a much healthier version than the average dessert.

What gluten free flour is best for cakes?

Baking is a science. Especially vegan and gluten free baking. So a recipe will change depending on the combination of ingredients it has. There is no one size fits all approach in my opinion when it comes to gluten free vegan cake creation if you want the texture to be right.

The combination I came up with for this vegan carrot cake recipe (sorghum flour, potato starch and tapioca starch) worked perfectly with the other ingredients. This cake has a high moisture content due to the carrots, pecans and peanut butter in the base.

So I needed that right combo to avoid the gummy center. It took me many trials and errors to get it just right, so substituting other flours is not advised.

Other gluten free flours I use for baking are fine ground almond flour, oat flour and brown rice flour. There are loads more, but these are my first go-to’s when testing a new idea!

What frostings are vegan?

As long as the frosting doesn’t have eggs or dairy (meaning butter) then it’s vegan. But not all vegan frosting is considered healthy.

In order to be healthy, it needs whole foods instead of using vegan butters and white sugar.

The whole food ingredients I used in this vegan carrot cake frosting is a combination of cashews, peanut butter, coconut sugar and sweet potato for texture. But how did I think of this?

The potato I use in my popular vegan cheese sauce gives it a creamy texture, so I figured why not use it in a sweet recipe? Plus, my blogging friend Ricki Heller uses sweet potato in her amazing chocolate frosting so I knew I wasn’t totally off course.

In order to get the ultimate creaminess I needed, I reached for my favorite Silk Cashew, my savior for all things whole foods based that need that added creamy touch. I love it so much, it’s my go to creamy liquid for so many of my recipes, which is why I use it in the cake and frosting here.

Are you a Silk fan? If not, you should be. Because a nice cold glass of milk would go fabulous with this vegan gluten free carrot cake. So pour a little in the recipe, and save the rest to wash it down once it’s baked.

How to Make a Healthy Gluten-Free Vegan Carrot Cake

Even though it seems like a lot of work, this cake is actually not too hard to put together. The spices I used take up the end of the ingredient list. I tried to stick with the simple cinnamon addition, but it just didn’t hit the spot.

The trio of cinnamon, cloves and ginger I used just sealed the deal on it’s awesomeness.

The steps for the main carrot cake recipe are pretty simple:

Whip up the ingredients. I used my Kitchen Aide stand mixer (LOVE IT). Pour into a cake pan. Bake.

Then, after the cake is cooled, frost it. I like to make the frosting fresh while the cake is baking.

Here is another delicious cake recipe to try!

Gluten-Free Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe Sophia DeSantis Incredibly flavorful, moist and made with whole food healthy ingredients. You'll never know this is a gluten free and vegan carrot cake recipe! 4.82 from 11 votes Print Recipe Pin Recipe Prep Time 40 mins Cook Time 37 mins Total Time 1 hr 17 mins Course Dessert Cuisine American Servings 9 servings Calories 373 kcal Ingredients US Customary Metric 1x 2x 3x Cake: 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sorghum flour

3 tablespoons potato starch , not the same as potato flour

1 tablespoon tapioca starch , same as tapioca flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup coconut sugar

5 tablespoons chickpea liquid , use the juice in a can of chickpeas, called aquafaba (see note)

1/4 cup cashew milk mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar , makes a vegan buttermilk

1/4 cup creamy unsalted peanut butter , at room temperature

1 tablespoon molasses

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups grated or finely chopped carrots , see note

1/2 cup chopped raw pecans Frosting: 3/4 cups raw cashews , soaked overnight

1/2 cup cooked yellow sweet potato , see note

3/4 cup coconut sugar , blended to powder form for best results (see note)

1/4 cup creamy unsalted peanut butter , at room temperature

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon cashew milk

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon sea salt Instructions Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Mix together cashew milk and vinegar to allow it to settle into a buttermilk and set aside.

Combine flour, starches, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Use a whisk to mix well and break up any clumps.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the carrots and pecans) along with the premixed buttermilk into a large bowl and using a stand or hand mixer, whip until mixed well.

Add in the flour mixture and mix again.

Add in the carrots and pecans and combine well.

Pour into a round or springform cake pan (whatever size you decided on).

Bake at 350 for about 37 minutes. Depending on your oven, your baking time may vary. Start checking the cake at 32 minutes and take it out when the top begins to get firm and have a spring to the touch and your toothpick comes out dry. A few dry crumbs at the bottom are fine, but if you see wetness, it isn’t ready.

Let cool in the cake pan. Once cool to the touch, remove and continue cooling on racks until completely cool, about an hour.

If you haven’t already done so, while the cake is baking, make frosting by placing all ingredients into a food processor. Keep blending until smooth and creamy. It will take some time, so keep scraping down the sides and be patient.

Mine took up to 8 or so minutes to be fully smooth. You can use this right away or if it was made already and you want it lighter and whipped in consistency, remove from fridge, place in a bowl and using a hand or stand mixer whip it until light in consistency.

After the cake is cooled completely, frost your cake.

Enjoy and try to share with others! If you have any leftover, wrap in tin foil and enjoy the next day. It should stay moist for a few days. Notes This recipe is for ONE layer of cake.

You can make this cake in many ways, either in a round or springform cake pan. If made in a 9 inch cake pan, it will produce a little over a 1 inch high cake.

You can also make it a bit thicker if using an 8 inch cake pan or you can even make 1 1/2 times the recipe and use a 10 inch cake pan for a bigger thicker cake, most likely using a springform pan for this is best because of the height.

I made a 2 layer 9 inch round cake using a springform cake pan and the size was perfect. The measuring method I used was to spoon the flours into the measuring container then even it out with a knife.

If you pack in the flour by dipping the measuring container into the flour bag, you may get a different result.

The chickpea liquid is called “aquafaba” and is an egg replacer discovered by Goose Wholt. Simply drain a can of chickpeas and collect the liquid to use. You can freeze the extra in ice cube trays for a later use.

You can either shred or chop your carrots in a food processor, whatever way you prefer them in a carrot cake.

When cooking your sweet potato for the frosting, do not boil or you will add too much extra liquid. Bake or cook in a microwave if you’re short on time. You can use an orange sweet potato if you prefer, but they tend to be a little more moist so your consistency may be a tad different.

For the coconut sugar in the frosting, it is best to put it in a blender or food processor to make it into a powdered form so that it will mix smoother in the frosting. However you can use it whole if you prefer, your consistency just may not be as smooth.

The frosting can be used as is or made the day before and cooled in the fridge overnight to be whipped the next day. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge until ready to use. Tips to prep ahead: Chop carrots and pecans.

Drain liquid from chickpeas.

Make frosting the day before if you want to whip it. Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes. Nutrition Calories: 373 kcal Carbohydrates: 53 g Protein: 7 g Fat: 16 g Saturated Fat: 2 g Cholesterol: 0 mg Sodium: 674 mg Potassium: 470 mg Fiber: 4 g Sugar: 26 g Vitamin A: 5800 IU Vitamin C: 2.4 mg Calcium: 67 mg Iron: 1.9 mg Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate. Keyword healthy carrot cake, vegan gluten free cake Tried this recipe? Let me know how it was!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.