Sweet cinnamon and warming nutmeg infuse this incredibly moist and sumptuous vegan carrot cake. It is packed full of flavour and is topped off with a light and silky frosting… made of tofu!
My best friend and I recently visited New York to celebrate her birthday (which you can read about here).
It was our first time to The Big Apple and it was one of those trips that you know you’ll remember for the rest of your life – filled with fun, laughter, amazement… and incredible food.
After a long morning of sightseeing and shopping we ended up in Little Italy in a beautiful cafe called Spring Street Natural. We’d stopped for a good old cuppa but both having a penchant for carrot cake, we didn’t need much persuading to share a slice. I say ‘slice’ but it was more like half of a cake. New York portions hey?!
When the cake arrived on the table, causing a small earthquake (ok maybe a slight exaggeration), you could tell it was going to be good. It was jam-packed with tasty ingredients and had a silky smooth frosting, topped off with a generous sprinkling of coconut.
The cake was deliciously sweet with hits of cinnamon and nutmeg. What struck me the most was how moist it was – it was sumptuous, packed full of flavours and textures and topped off with a light and silky frosting. My friend, a non-vegan, said it was hands down the best carrot cake she had ever tried… and she’s tried a lot!
After we had polished off every last scrap of the cake I asked the waitress in wonder what the frosting was made of. To my astonishment she said tofu! I didn’t even realise you could make vegan frosting out of tofu! At that moment, I knew that this incredible cake just had to be one of my recipe re-creations from this trip.
This recipe may just be my best yet. I have tried, tested and perfected it – it has the PERFECT consistency, flavours, and textures with the silkiest smooth tofu frosting. I am so proud of this recipe!
Best of all its easy to make and is more or less fool proof!
I have no doubt that you will LOVE this recipe – be sure to tag me on Instagram when you make it @aveganvisit 🙂
The Video Recipe:
The Written Recipe:
The Best Vegan Carrot Cake You’ll Ever Try
Ingredients
Carrot Cake:
- 300 g coconut sugar
- 275 g coconut oil (melted)
- 30 g flax meal (mixed with 8 tbsp water and left for 2 mins to form a flax egg)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 g self raising flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp allspice
- ½ tsp salt
- 300 g finely grated carrot
- 120 g sultanas (soaked in orange juice for 1 hour)
- 120 g toasted pecans (roughly chopped (2/3 for the cake, 1/3 for the topping))
- 50 g desiccated coconut
- zest of 2 oranges (1 for the cake, 1 for the topping)
Tofu Frosting:
- 350 g silken tofu (drained and patted dry (*see note))
- 30 g maple syrup
- 50 g coconut oil (melted)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 75 g icing sugar
- zest of 1 orange
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Instructions
Making the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 170°C fan (190°C conventional / 375°F / gas mark 5).
- Grease and line a 20cm round or rectangular, deep, loose bottomed cake tin.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, oil, flax eggs and vanilla extract.
- Into the same bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Fold gently into the rest of the mixture.250 g self raising flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp salt
- Add the grated carrot, sultanas (minus the orange juice), 2/3 of the pecans, coconut and the zest of one of the oranges. Mix thoroughly.300 g finely grated carrot, 120 g sultanas, 120 g toasted pecans, 50 g desiccated coconut, zest of 2 oranges
- Transfer your mixture to your cake tin and bake for 50 minutes. Don’t open the oven during cooking as this could cause the cake to sink.
- Once the cake has been baking for 50 minutes, test to see if it is cooked through by sticking a knife or skewer into the centre; if it comes out clean then it should be ready.
- Once the cake is cooked, cool it in the tin for 20 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack. Make sure it is fully cooled before attempting to ice it (it can take an hour or two to cool fully).
Making the tofu frosting:
- Add all of the icing ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.350 g silken tofu, 30 g maple syrup, 50 g coconut oil, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 75 g icing sugar, zest of 1 orange, 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Chill the mixture for 1 hour in the refrigerator before icing your cake.
Finishing off the cake:
- Once the cake is fully cooled, smooth the frosting onto the top and sprinkle with the remaining chopped pecans and orange zest.
- Store in a cool place.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Tara
Hi, I’m Tara! I’m taking you on a trip around the world in vegan cuisine and bringing the world’s most delicious dishes to your kitchen.
