Vegan Chocolate Carrot Cake
Ever since last year when I saw a chocolate carrot cake, I have wanted to make one. Because chocolate cake and carrot cake are both pretty amazing, and together they should be awesome, right? Well I decided to make one last weekend. It was time. I had a big bag of carrots begging to be used in my refrigerator, and I was in the mood for something decadent and chocolaty, so it was happening.
I had a few things I was going to change about this carrot cake recipe from my normal carrot cake recipe though. Of course I was going to add cacao powder along with the usual spices, but I wanted to make this a fruit sweetened cake. I have been experimenting with that a lot lately and liking the results. I used dates for this, and they worked out perfect. Just the perfect amount of sweet to offset the chocolate, and they kept this cake nice and moist. Second, I switched up my usual gluten free flour for quinoa flour because I had it on hand, it is also gluten free, and works as a 1:1 swap for AP flour in baked goods.
The cake tasted amazing. I gobbled up the scraps I trimmed from it to even it out in no time. It deserved a really decadent fudgy frosting. Nothing else would do. In the past, I would have simply mixed together maple syrup and cacao powder to get a fudgy frosting, but now I find that way too sweet. So I used dates instead as my sweetener, blended up with some water, nut butter and cacao powder, and what I got was the most amazing chocolate frosting I have eaten. Only 4 ingredients, and so good! It was also raw, so raw foodists take note, you can use this frosting recipe on your raw cakes as well!
This cake was freaking delicious once assembled. Chocolate decadent deliciousness...and honestly one of the best things I have made as of lately. It was simple to make as far as layer cakes go, so I would encourage you to try this! Bake it for a loved ones Birthday, they will think you are awesome!
Vegan Chocolate Carrot Cake
Makes 1 6 inch 2 layer cake
2 6 inch cake pans
Cake:
1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
1/3 cup cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 cup packed soft medjool dates, pitted, soaked in water for 30 minutes and 1/2 cup of the water reserved
1/4 cup avocado oil or olive oil
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup fresh orange juice at room temperature
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups shredded organic carrots
Frosting
1 1/4 cups pitted medjool dates, soaked in water for 30 minutes, and 1 cup of the water reserved
3/4 cup raw walnut butter or raw almond butter
3/4 cup cacao powder
pinch sea salt
Preheat the oven to 375F degrees and position rack in center of oven. Line two six-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides with parchment paper. Coat parchment paper and pan sides lightly with oil so that the cake doesn't stick and line the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment fit to the pan. Whisk flour, cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, ginger, and cinnamon in a large bowl to blend well. Place dates, reserved water, oil, orange juice, and vanilla extract into a blender, and blend until smooth, then whisk this blended mixture into the flour mixture until well blended. Whisk in the cider vinegar until bubbles form. Mix in carrots. Transfer cake batter to prepared pans and bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cakes completely in pan on rack, about 1 hour. Cut around sides of pan to loosen. Turn cakes out onto platter; peel off parchment paper. Let cool completely.
24 Comments
OMG!!! you always make such gorgeous desserts! I need to finally venture and make one of you recipes instead of just daydreaming about your cakes when I see them on facebook and have to control myself not to lick the screen lol!!! I'm thinking about making a half/mini version of this yumilicious beauty once I'm done with my sugar cleanse... so, maybe this coming weekend.... I'll keep you poste!
. Thank you for always sharing your beautiful creations!
Thank you so much :)! A half version of this would be perfect, and an awesome way to end the cleanse ;)!
This looks truly amazing - I can practical taste it! I love the natural sugars in this - I'm very tempted to make this my end-of-exams celebration cake for when that glorious day comes! Yum :)
Thank you :)!
!!!! This looks amazing--thank you so much for sharing. I'd love to try carrot/decadent chocolate combo together... and love the idea of using dates in the prep. Thank you for sharing this :)
Thank you so much :)!
This looks utterly incredible! I can't belive that the frosting is made with those ingredients! It looks sooooo indulgent! I am going to have to make this once I can eat dates again (currently off the menu to see if it helps my IBS)!
Thank you so much :)!
Can you clarify if this makes two 6 inch or 9 inch layers? The note at the end says doubling the recipe will yield four 9 inch layers. Thank you, can't wait to try this!
This cake makes 2 6 inch layers. It was supposed to say 2 9 inch if you double it, sorry that was a typo.
Hi Amy, You mention sugar in the mix but it's not listed in the ingredients list? Gorgeous cake, l'll make it for my daughter 's 16th birthday (which is today) so I'll add sugar to taste. Thanks for the recipe!
There is actually no sugar in the recipe. It was a typo, I was using my carrot cake recipe as a guide that has coconut sugar, and forgot to take it out of the directions. This would make a perfect B-day cake :)!
Hi, could you please help me out? I saw sugar mentioned in the description but I don't see it in the ingredient list. How much and what kind of sugar should I use? Thank you
No, there is no sugar in this cake. I mention that it is a fruit sweetened cake, and dates are the sweetener.
This looks incredible. Delicious! I have never thought of CHOCOLATE carrot cake. YUM.
Thank you :)!
Hi Amy, I'm going to make this for my brothers birthday. Can I make it a day in advance and keep it in the fridge, or is it best made the day it will be served? Can't wait to try it! Thank you
Yes you can! It keeps up to a week in the refrigerator after it is made.
Hello Amy, I made this cake last weekend for a dinner party with (non vegan) friends. It was a HUGE hit! Everybody absolutely loved it! And my husband said that it is the best chocolate cake he ever had! Thank you so much for all your super creative and delicious recipes!
So happy to hear you made it and you and your friends enjoyed it :)! You are so welcome!
Is it possible to use quinoa flour like in other recipes?
For this one you can, yes.
I LOVE cream cheese frosting, and I was wondering: Is it possible to make a chocolate vegan cream cheese frosting and substitute it for the frosting you have in the recipe, and more importantly, of course - would it be good?
Of course it would be good, it just wouldn't be too much different than the fudge frosting because it is still chocolate frosting ;). If you wanted to make it though you could make this recipe for frosting from one of my other recipes and leave out the cinnamon: http://www.fragrantvanilla.com/vegan-pumpkin-spice-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/