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Perfectly moist and studded with raisins, this vegan carrot cake is sweetened with dates and banana and gets its rich flavor from cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and vanilla. A blender is used to grind the oats into a flour and combine the liquid ingredients, then the batter is mixed by hand to avoid overbeating. No need to peel the carrots before shredding them—just give them a quick wash to remove any dirt or grit. The cake will keep for up to five days and tastes even better the day after it’s made. It also freezes well. Spread with Vanilla Bean Frosting or serve on its own.

Recipe from straightupfood.com

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups unsweetened plant milk, such as almond, soy, cashew, or rice
  • 4½ ounces pitted whole dates, chopped
  • ¾ cup raisins, divided
  • ½ cup sliced ripe banana
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or seeds from 1 vanilla bean)
  • 1¾ cups regular rolled oats
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • 1½ cups finely shredded carrots
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 1 cup Vanilla Bean Frosting (optional)

Instructions

  1. Combine the plant milk, dates, ¼ cup of the raisins, the banana, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes or until dates are softened.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper (or use a silicone baking pan).
  3. Place the oats in a blender. Cover and blend until a powder forms. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in the baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and cloves.
  4. Transfer the date mixture to the blender. Cover and blend until smooth. Add the date mixture to the oat mixture in bowl; stir just until combined. Fold in the remaining ½ cup of raisins, the carrots, and walnuts (if using).
  5. Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan; cool on a wire rack. Spread the cake with Vanilla Frosting (if using).
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Comments (199)

(4.83 from 99 votes)
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Joann4 weeks ago
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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.

Michelle1 month ago
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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.

Elvina Jn Baptiste1 week ago
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I love this channel God bless you

Stephanie2 months ago
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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.

Linda2 months ago
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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.

Astrid2 months ago
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Super yum. Even without frosting.
Thanks for sharing.

Rhi2 months ago
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Perfect indeed!

Birtha2 months ago
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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.

MMOm092 months ago
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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.

Tracy B2 months ago
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How would I incorporate crushed pineapple into this? I would love to try this for my birthday

S.H.2 months ago
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Pure Deliciousness!

Elizabeth3 months ago
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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!

SCosta3 months ago
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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!

Zee162 months ago
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Nancy, 4 ounces is half a cup. So 4 1/2 ounces is going to be a little over half cup.

Nancy2 months ago
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How much in cup or less is
4 1/2 ounces of dates?

Lorraine3 months ago
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Worst cake I’ve ever made or eaten . Heavy doughy and unappetising

Tammy Fairchild3 months ago
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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!

Jill Warren3 months ago
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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

Roos3 months ago
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I never had such a good cake. My favorit

carol barnes4 months ago
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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

Oksana4 months ago
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If wanted to use pineapple how much would I add? Thanks in advance.

Barbie4 months ago
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Best cake I have ever made and to top it off…it’s VEGAN!! Highly recommend.

Virginia Burkholder4 months ago
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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

Noobs2 months ago
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Wow that’s awesome. Keep it up

leslie3 months ago
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I’m proud of you too, Virginia! Way to go!

Jodi4 months ago
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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

Haggith Nadav4 months ago
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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.

Judy Mische4 months ago
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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.

Jenn R4 months ago
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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.

Nicole5 months ago
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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!

Jackie4 months ago
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What are the macros in this recipe? Sounds delicious but curious about the carbohydrate, protein, fat percentages?

D.Blu5 months ago
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Can you use quick cooking oats, will the outcome be the same?

Courtney Davison4 months ago
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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

D.Blu5 months ago
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What about coconut milk?

Lisa Wise5 months ago
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Looks amazing! Can’t wait to make it

Ilene5 months ago
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I look forward to trying these healthy recipes.

Lauren5 months ago
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This is better than any carrot cake I’ve ever had in my life, and my non-vegan family was very impressed!

Jj5 months ago
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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.

Avinash3 months ago
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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.

Jenna Hymers5 months ago
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You can add all the ingredients and measurements to any calorie/nutrition app and then it tells everything.

chris r5 months ago
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You can find the nutritional info on the web site straightupfood.com.

Kristen C6 months ago
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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!

Elizabeth4 months ago
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How much pineapple?

Tappi6 months ago
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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.

Jodi6 months ago
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Can I use almond flour for this to make it gluten free?

Lynne6 months ago
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You can get certified gluten free oats – even oat flour.

Tappi6 months ago
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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.

Brooks7 months ago
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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.

Paul6 months ago
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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.

Linda7 months ago
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Made this and I love it! It’s a little time consuming to make but the results are worth it.

Lori7 months ago
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Delicious and naturally sweet with the dates.

Ms. Thai7 months ago
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Very delicious – no sweet like regular carrot cake. Very moist and full of texture.

Cori7 months ago
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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.

Barb7 months ago
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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.

Ellie8 months ago
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Can you put the measurements in grams please? Online converters give conflicting answers sometime.

Sara10 months ago
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Omg – uh-MAZING! I will definitely make this for guests in the future!

Debbie10 months ago
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Its very good. However, would be great with nutritional facts. Calories important for me to know!

LP10 months ago
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just enter your ingredients into the myfitnesspal recipe app

Andrea11 months ago
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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!

Mel11 months ago
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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).

Neha9 months ago
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Hi! How much tofu did you use?

J11 months ago
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Hello! How long do you bake it if using a 9×13 pan?

Recipe sounds great. Really looking forward to making it!

Jodi4 months ago
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H,

Now that is good to know! I don’t think it is going to last long around here, either

Haggith Nadav4 months ago
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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.

Forks Over Knives11 months ago
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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!

Sharen11 months ago
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Absolutely delicious, great without frosting and works well as a snacking cake. I make it often.

Jana12 months ago
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I am really impressed. Taste and texture is so good. I did use some lemon juice with the vanilla frosting. Will make this again .. allot

Cindy Cook12 months ago
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Absolutely delicious!

Michele8 months ago
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Amazingly delicious cake! I have never actually made the frosting, because the cake is so good on it’s own:) Reminds me of a Morning Glory muffin (without all the oil!)

Desiree Brandt1 year ago
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About how many calories are in a serving?

Nomzamo9 months ago
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May I substitute oats for rice flour?

Alex1 year ago
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Still in the oven… Just wondering though about the baking powder when there’s no apparent acidic ingredient like lemon juice or vinegar.

Brooks7 months ago
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I automatically put 1.5 tsp of vinegar in when I see “baking soda” listed as an ingredient. I also did that here.

alex1 year ago
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Forgive me, I meant baking soda.

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vegan carrot cake

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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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