Easy vegan carrot cake made with normal pantry ingredients! You won't know there's no dairy or egg in this delicious cake with "cream cheese" frosting.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease the bottom of two 9-inch cake pans. (Don't grease the sides; letting the cake cling to the sides helps it rise and stay fluffy).
Stir together all of the ingredients for the wet mixture and set aside.
Add all of the ingredients for the dry mixture to a mixing bowl, and mix well to combine evenly. If your flour or sugar are extra lumpy, sift them in to ensure they can be evenly mixed.
Slowly add the vegetable oil to the dry mixture while mixing. Continue to mix well until the texture becomes like crumbly wet sand. Try to get out as many lumps as you can; this takes some elbow grease with a strong fork.
Add one third of the wet mixture to the bowl and mix well until evenly combined. Add another one third of the mixture and mix well again. Finally, add the remaining wet mixture and mix thoroughly until smooth. Lastly, stir in the grated carrot.
Divide the vegan carrot cake batter between your two cake pans. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until the cake is just pulling away from the sides and toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Try to avoid overbaking this cake; it can dry out. Also, avoid opening the oven door at all until the cake has been baking for at least 20 minutes, otherwise that may cause it to sink.
Let the cakes cool for a few minutes in the pan, then gently loosen the sides and flip the cakes onto a cooling rack to continue cooling completely. After cooled, you can frost the vegan carrot cake with the frosting or icing of your choice.
For the macadamia "cream cheese" frosting:
Drain and rinse the soaked macadamia nuts and cashews. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender until completely smooth. Let cool if needed, then slather onto your cake. :)
Notes
APPLESAUCE: If using store-bought applesauce, measuring by volume should be just fine, but measure to 125 grams if you're using your own homemade applesauce.SOAKING MACADAMIA NUTS: You can soak the macadamia nuts in room temperature overnight to soften them for use in the frosting; or, soak them in boiling hot water for at least 30 minutes while you make the cake. Cashews can also be substituted for the macadamia nuts, and should also be soaked. Both raw or toasted macadamia nuts work well, but if using cashews, they should be raw (unroasted). I used to use 100% macadamia nuts for this frosting, but I found it too often came out gritty and a mix of cashews need to be used.NUTRITION FACTS: Nutrition facts exclude frosting.GLUTEN-FREE: This vegan carrot cake can be made gluten-free, just substitute the all-purpose flour with gluten-free AP flour and add 2 tablespoons of almond flour.