Cathy Fisher
Cathy Fisher is the creator of StraightUpFood.com, a website offering free recipes and information on eating a whole-food, plant-based diet free of salt, oil, and sugar. She is also a cooking instructor, teaching classes at TrueNorth Health Center and the McDougall Program, both in Santa Rosa, CA. Cathy began eating a plant-based diet in 1999, and in 2016 published her first cookbook, Straight Up Food: Delicious and Easy Plant-based Cooking Without Salt, Oil or Sugar. Find her on Instagram and Facebook.
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Comments (207)
What an amazing recipe! The frosting too. I used oat bran (240 grams) instead of oat flour and divided the cake in 2 and baked them for 40 minutes in two 6-inch silicone pans. This way, I did a 2-layer cake with the frosting. I used milk for the frosting and added it little by little, otherwise it would be too liquid. I omitted the raisins and put chopped dates instead to the cake mix. Just make sure to soak your dates and cashew when making the frosting, so it doesn’t leave bits of cashews behind. This is definitely the BEST cake I’ve ever had. It’s very creamy, moist, and perfectly baked. You could make a fortune making and selling these! 🙂
I should specify, I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk, not dairy.
Is there any way of omitting the baking powder? It burns my tongue somehow. Could I use a bit of vinegar to activate the baking soda?
Hi Danielle,
While we haven’t tested this out ourselves, from what we’ve seen online, yes, you should be able to use a little baking soda plus something acidic to replace the baking powder. You could do a half teaspoon baking soda plus 2 teaspoons white vinegar, or a half teaspoon baking soda plus 2 teaspoons lemon juice. If you give it a try, please let us know how it goes!
Thank you,
Courtney Davison
Editor, Forks Over Knives
We loved this. Very moist and tasty. We served it with some nice-cream.
this is the best recipe ever! People cant believe it when I tell them no added fat, only fruit sugar, no wheat a plus for me and some friends! I subbed dried currants out for the raisins. D.O.
Made this cake twice this month. First time it was perfect, second time (I think I got a little over confident) it was too moist on bottom. Next time I will carefully measure bananas (I think that was the problem) and cook for full 45 minutes (I only baked for 40 min the second time). I used that canned “cream cheese” frosting (which is actually vegan, but full of all kinds of other bad stuff) in a pinch for company. Like it without the frosting too!
Can’t wait to see the look on my friends faces when they find out it is vegan, sugar-free, oil-free, lol!
This cake is stellar. Loved it and the frosting too. Next time I make it I’ll chill the frosting as I think I’ll be able to pipe it.
I made this in two 6” cake pans and made it a layer cake.
I love this cake. It was too sweet with the frosting, but I love it just as it is. I usually add more walnuts and carrots. It is good with apple and frozen mango too.
I love this channel God bless you
This was a tasty, dense cake. Made sure the liquid blend was very smooth, and the oats were basically flour. Made it without the suspended walnuts or raisins (can’t do the different textures). I ended up using butternut squash (peeled, scraped, and chopped fine in my magic bullet) because my carrots weren’t good anymore.
Frosting was also very good.
Everything about this cake is spot on. I did not add the frosting, although that was the plan. The cake stood well on its’ own so I chose against the added fats and sugars. I served it to my non-plant based family and it was a hit with the whole group.
Super yum. Even without frosting.
Thanks for sharing.
Perfect indeed!
Mine finished cooking at bedtime. Should I leave it on the counter to cool all night or put it in the fridge. Just for future reference. I’m leaning toward cooling rack sitting on a plate with both covered somewhat with a plastic cover used in my microwave.
So, yes- it comes out dense-ish. The bottom does downright look like you cooked a pancake. It’s still pretty good- especially the day after, straight from the fridge. Initially it felt like the spices weren’t quite right, but after a night in the fridge it somehow became tastier. I made a cream cheese frosting by mixing Kate hill cream cheese w 1 tbsp of maple syrup (which I might sub w date syrup next time) and 1 tsp vanilla extract (which I would reduce to 1/2 tsp next time) along with a sprinkle of some cinnamon. I really like that the cake is sweetened without using even maple, and adding carrots is a nice way to sneak in some veg- I think this will make a nice grab and go breakfast when there’s no time for a proper one.
How would I incorporate crushed pineapple into this? I would love to try this for my birthday
Pure Deliciousness!
Excellent recipe. I love carrot cake and will make this many times I’m sure. Also, you can switch out walnuts and carrots for pineapple and pecans for a Hummingbird cake. A versatile recipe. Thanks!
I made this cake yesterday and it turned out delicious. Very moist, sweet, but not over sweet. I served as dessert for friends that was visiting, and they loved as well. Thank you for the great recipe!
Nancy, 4 ounces is half a cup. So 4 1/2 ounces is going to be a little over half cup.
How much in cup or less is
4 1/2 ounces of dates?
Worst cake I’ve ever made or eaten . Heavy doughy and unappetising
My husband’s favorite cake, is carrot cake. When we went plant-based, we thought that it was a thing of the past. We came across this recipe and tried it out. We had all the ingredients and made it as written. It is absolutely delicious! My husband is delighted, and we didn’t even need to put frosting on. It was moist, and delicious, the flavors are amazing! It freezes incredibly well also! It is now one of our go to desserts. I am sharing the recipe with everyone I know! Thank you so much!
this cake was delicious ! I didn’t have cloves on hand but the flavour was really a stand-out. I didn’t measure the banana and perhaps put too much in as it was overly moist- but I will know that for next time. I was looking for a cake that was low in fats and refined sugar and this one was perfect. I’ve recently had to go on a diet that is cholesterol reducing and this is perfect with no butter, no eggs, no, margarine, no coconut oil ! Instead it has all the good stuff ! Thank you
I never had such a good cake. My favorit
Delicious,moist and no way anyone would think it wasn’t full of sugar and oil. I am looking for a no nut ,no oil,no sugar frosting that is as good as this cake. Thank you
If wanted to use pineapple how much would I add? Thanks in advance.
Best cake I have ever made and to top it off…it’s VEGAN!! Highly recommend.
I’m new to blant based whole foods. I’m a sugar junkie and I had to come to my senses. Anyway, at 73 I made my change and still need my desert fix. Today I made this very easy, delicious carrot cake.
Recipe is easy to follow. I haven’t made the frosting yet because I was out of cashews. But trust me. It’s next on my list.
And b.t.w. being on this change of eating in only 2weeks, I’ve lost 6lb. I’m so proud of myself and feel wonderful
Wow that’s awesome. Keep it up
I’m proud of you too, Virginia! Way to go!
This was truly impressive. My husband and kids liked it, despite their taste buds being more wired for conventional desserts than mine are. This will be a regular in my house. . . Especially since I can totally justify having cake for breakfast under these circumstances
This cake is amazing much loved in our household. One time I made it we were out of bananas so I put in some apple sauce and sweet potato.
This is truly more of a bake oatmeal. It has a nice flavor, but is dense and heavy, so much so that I would not call it a cake in the traditional sense. That said, it has its place in our menu as a sweeter breakfast item or snack.
Made this last night and was very pleased with the results! The balance in sweetness and spice is very nice. The cake is moist but not mushy. I blended the wet ingredients in my Vitamix on the smoothie setting and everything was super creamy. I swapped applesauce for the banana since I’m allergic. I will definitely make this again.
Literally made this at least 10x! It’s delicious! I had a few people try this version against a store bought version and everyone chose this cake. So tasty!
What are the macros in this recipe? Sounds delicious but curious about the carbohydrate, protein, fat percentages?
Can you use quick cooking oats, will the outcome be the same?
Hi D.,
They’ll cook faster than regular oats, so you may need to adjust the cooking time to get the same textural result.
We recommend going extremely easy on coconut milk in your diet, because it’s high in saturated fat. If you do use coconut milk, we recommend getting the beverage kind, which is lighter than the canned kind.
Thank you,
Courtney, editor, Forks Over Knives
What about coconut milk?
Looks amazing! Can’t wait to make it
I look forward to trying these healthy recipes.
This is better than any carrot cake I’ve ever had in my life, and my non-vegan family was very impressed!
I see a lot of judgemental comments on this thread when someone is just asking for nutritional info. The forks over knives program is advertised for diabetic patients. Those of us on insulin need to know the exact net carb totals in order to eat any of these recipes. It’s quite time consuming and overwhelming when a recipe has a lot of ingredients. I would think if these recipes were done by nutritionists that it should be easy to publish.
A 113g slice (1/8th of the cake with the recommended icing) came out to protein 7.7g, carbs 61.7g, fat 11.7g, alcohol from the vanilla extract 0.4g. I put all the ingredients in chronometer when I made it. Hope this helps.
You can add all the ingredients and measurements to any calorie/nutrition app and then it tells everything.
You can find the nutritional info on the web site straightupfood.com.
This is a great cake cake!! I make it for my daughters first birthday so I took out the nuts and raisins and added crushed pineapple instead. . . Yum! Everyone loved it!
How much pineapple?
This is so good. It doesn’t taste healthy at all:) I made it into cupcakes. Baked for 25 minutes. I added a teaspoon of vinegar as suggested in the comments to help the baking soda. Will be making this often.
Can I use almond flour for this to make it gluten free?
You can get certified gluten free oats – even oat flour.
It’s possible that it won’t bind together with almond flour. Oat flour has binding ability. Maybe try it and used a couple of flax eggs to hold it together.
Rather than oats, I used whole wheat flour. Does that make it less “wfpb”? I live in Poland where the flour (especially whole wheat) is just ground wheat- no additives.
Whole wheat isn’t less “wfpb”. Some people just like to add gluten free on top of that, sometimes due to autoimmune issues. Just for your information, industrially milled wheat flour is rarely just wheat that has been ground and put into bags. The components inherently separate during the milling process. Whole wheat is just those components mixed back together without adding other things. On the downside this sounds like pure. On the plus side the flour will be more consistent because there won’t be variation in the amount of each depending on the harvest.
Made this and I love it! It’s a little time consuming to make but the results are worth it.
Delicious and naturally sweet with the dates.
Very delicious – no sweet like regular carrot cake. Very moist and full of texture.
Delicious. I used dried raspberries instead of raisins and added 1 heaped tsp ginger powder for a slightly varied flavour. This is my go-to carrot cake recipe.
This was a very simple and delicious cake. i just used a simple non vegan icing for ease but I will continue to use this cake recipe.
Can you put the measurements in grams please? Online converters give conflicting answers sometime.
Omg – uh-MAZING! I will definitely make this for guests in the future!
Its very good. However, would be great with nutritional facts. Calories important for me to know!
just enter your ingredients into the myfitnesspal recipe app
Made this over the weekend and it is outstanding – it is so moist and delicious you could skip the frosting but I did make the Vanilla Bean Frosting for it and it is the perfect complement (just a note on the frosting, I added a bit of soymilk to help blend). If you want a dessert for non-plant based eaters this is a great one – they will be amazed, it is so good, better than traditionally made carrot cake!
I made this in a 8” square dish, and it turned out great. I baked it for 40 minutes. The spices are spot on and make this cake so full of flavor. I made a frosting with firm tofu instead of cashews, and it turned out perfectly. However, the cake is so doggone delicious as is, no frosting necessary (but it’s nice to have on the side to add if you wish).
Hi! How much tofu did you use?
Hello! How long do you bake it if using a 9×13 pan?
Recipe sounds great. Really looking forward to making it!
H,
Now that is good to know! I don’t think it is going to last long around here, either
I made it in a 9 x 13 pan but I used 1.5 times the quantities for everything. 8 x 8 pan is 2 liters and a 9 x 11 pan is 2.8 liters so we had more cake to enjoy! The 8 x 8 pan does not last very long on our house.
Hi J! We don’t recommend using a different size pan as it will thin the batter and produce a much flatter cake. However, if you experiment with the size and enjoy the end product, let us know!