Have you ever tried a vegan carrot cake which is also filled with mouth-watering lemon flavours? This carrot cake is filled and topped generously with Vegan Lemon Curd and buttercream frosting. Trust me when I say that your taste buds are going to be dancing.
For more carrot cake treats and inspiration, check out my vegan carrot cake bars and my vegan carrot sheet cake recipes that I made recently.
Ingredients & Notes
- Freshly grated carrots - grate them yourself but avoid using the pre-packaged variety.
- Soy milk
- Apple cider vinegar - to be mixed into the soy milk to create 'buttermilk'.
- All-purpose flour
- Light brown sugar
- Ground cinnamon -nicely flavours the cake, along with the cinnamon.
- Ground nutmeg
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Canola oil - this is the same thing as rapeseed oil. People simply call it different things in different countries.
- Vanilla extract
- Vegan butter block
- Vegan cream cheese - just a little amount to be added to the frosting.
- Powdered sugar
- Cornstarch - this makes a great thickener for the lemon curd.
- Granulated sugar
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Lemon zest
- Coconut oil
- Turmeric - gives the lemon curd a bright yellow colour.
How To Make Vegan Carrot Cake
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
For the full method and ingredient amounts, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
1: Grease two loaf cake tins with vegan butter, then set aside.
2: Make the vegan buttermilk.
3: Combine the dry cake ingredients inside a large bowl.
4: Add the wet ingredients to form a batter.
5: Pour the batter into the greased tins and bake .
6: Make the cream cheese frosting.
7: Also make your lemon curd filling.
8: Spread the frosting onto one of the cake halves.
9: Add some lemon curd on top of it.
10: Place the other cake over the fillings then add more of each on top. Slice and serve.
Expert Tips
Use Freshly Grated Carrots
Avoid buying pre-packaged and pre-grated carrots that you would find at a supermarket or a convenience store. Fresh carrots have moisture, whereas pre-grated carrots will have dried out and little moisture will have been retained. Therefore, your cake won't be as moist and delicious as you would like.
Don't Over-Mix The Batter
This will cause the texture of your carrot cakes to become dense and not too pleasant, but if you fold the batter, you will get better results. Folding calms the gluten and doesn't over-work it.
Variations & Substitutions
- Add extra toppings and/or fillings. I love to add chopped walnuts to my carrot cake recipes. I gave them a miss for this particular cake but I often like to fold the walnuts into the cake batter as well as sprinkling some on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
You sure can! Line a large cupcake tray with liners and bake for roughly the same amount of time. When a skewer comes out clean they are done. Also check out my vegan carrot cake cupcakes, which are paired with a lemon glaze.
Storage Tips
Store this cake at room temperature and inside airtight containers for up to 4 days. You can also store it in the fridge for the same amount of time if you like, but I definitely prefer to keep it out.
More Mouth-Watering Treats
Vegan Krispy Kreme Style Donuts
Vegan Open Sandwich Cookie Butter Bars
Vegan Carrot Cake with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the carrot cake batter:
- 165 g freshly grated carrots
- 200 ml soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 190 g all-purpose flour sifted
- 175 g light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 50 ml canola oil rapeseed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the frosting:
- 230 g vegan butter block
- 50 g vegan cream cheese
- 240 g powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For the lemon curd:
- 10 g cornstarch
- 30 g granulated sugar
- 40 ml plant milk
- 20 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 25 g coconut oil room temperature
- ⅛ th teaspoon turmeric
Instructions
Preparation:
- Preheat your oven to 177 Celsius (350F). Grease two rectangular 20cm x 10cm loaf cake tins with vegan butter and set aside.
- Grate your carrots if you haven’t already. Set aside.
- Make your vegan ‘buttermilk’ by stirring the soy milk and apple cider vinegar together. Set the ‘buttermilk’ aside to curdle for 8 minutes.
Make the carrot cake batter:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients, including your grated carrots.
- Now, add in the curdled ‘buttermilk’, canola oil, vanilla extract. Fold the dry into the wet gently. Don’t over-mix. Be patient and continue to fold the cake batter until all the pockets of flour are gone.
Bake the two cake halves:
- Pour the carrot cake batter into the two greased tins, evenly.
- Bake them in the centre of your oven for 20 minutes. By this point, a skewer will come out clean.
- Allow the cakes cool down inside the loaf cake tins for at least 15 minutes. After that, transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting:
- Add the vegan block butter and vegan cream cheese to a stand mixer. Cream with the whisk attachment on a high speed for 2 minutes. Switch to a medium speed and add in half of the powdered sugar and beat again until combined.
- Now pour in the rest of your powdered sugar and the vanilla and beat once again until a thick buttercream forms. Set aside.
Make the lemon curd:
- Mix the cornstarch with the granulated sugar inside a small saucepan.
- Stir in the plant milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, coconut oil and turmeric, then place over a medium-low heat.
- When it begins to simmer, whisk continuously for 1-2 minutes. As soon as you notice that it has thickened a little, remove from the heat and pour into the jar. It will continue to thicken while it cools. Let it cool fully.
Assemble the cake:
- Spread half of your frosting onto the flat side of one of the cooled carrot cake halves, followed by half of the lemon curd on top of it.
- Place your other half of carrot cake on top of the fillings then spread the remainder of the frosting on top of the cake. Drizzle some more of the lemon curd on top of the cake.
- If you have any left over, it makes a brilliant topping for other treats such as pancakes and ice cream. Slice the cake and serve.
Bea says
BEST carrot cake that I’ve ever eaten (and I’ve eaten many)
DJ says
Wow! That's so kind of you, Bea! Really appreciate it, thank you.