Everything that comes out of my kitchen is dairy-free, but for my family, at special events, I like to bake things that are as “normal” as possible. To do so, I often peruse the recipes that grandma clips from the newspaper or dog-ears in her favorite magazine, Taste of Home. Though I’m not completely sure of the original source, this dairy-free carrot cake recipe was born from one that I found at my grandma’s house.
My grandma, father, and I are big carrot cake fans, and it took just a few minor tweaks to develop a dairy-free carrot cake recipe that we all loved. I surprised her with a big slice of it for her 6th 75th birthday (you do the math).
Carrot Cake Frosting Tips
I topped it off with the dairy-free cream cheese frosting recipe that I created for Allergic Living magazine, but this recipe is also quite delicious. To maintain the thickness of the frosting, start with just 1 cup of powdered sugar and only add as much as needed for your tastes. I find that adding the full amount can make it a touch runny, depending on the brand of dairy-free cream cheese alternative.
Vegan & Egg-Free Carrot Cake Suggestions
If you can use eggs in this recipe, do! The results are superior with eggs. If you need an egg-free option, I have a full egg substitute guide to help out. The options I recommend trying are a powdered egg replacer or aquafaba. Avoid alternatives that are too moist and heavy, like applesauce and flax eggs. The cake might not set up if you use an egg option with density but not structure.
Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Carrot Cake Suggestions
Because carrot cake is so moist, I recommend using a flour blend that doesn’t contain any gums. Gums can get, well, gummy in moist recipes. But I do recommend keeping the eggs, and not using an egg replacer, if you are trying this recipe without gluten. The carrot cake recipe I created for Allergic Living used a basic gluten-free flour blend of 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, and 1/3 cup tapioca starch. I have not tested that specific blend in this recipe.
Quick Tip
Note that I do grate the carrots for this dairy-free carrot cake recipe by hand, which can be time consuming. If you have a food processor to help make fast work of the carrots, this cake will come to together quite quickly.
Special Diet Notes: Grandma’s Best Dairy-Free Carrot Cake
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, and vegetarian. For an egg-free and vegan carrot cake, see my tips above.
- 6 cups grated carrots
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup coarsely chopped raisins
- 4 eggs (see notes in the post for egg-free suggestions)
- 1½ cups white sugar
- 1 cup vegetable or grapeseed oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (see notes above on my gluten-free recipe)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- Combine the grated carrots and brown sugar in a medium bowl and set aside for an hour. After the two have had some good mingling time, stir in the raisins.
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF, and grease and flour two 10-inch cake pans, three 8-inch cake pans, or two 8-inch cake pans +8 cupcake tins.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and briefly set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, and gradually beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the pineapple. Stir the flour mix into the wet mixture, being careful not to over mix. Gently fold in the carrot mixture and nuts.
- Pour the batter evenly into your prepared pans. Bake as follows: 10-inch pans – 40-50 minutes, 8-inch pans – 30-35 minutes, Cupcakes – 20-22 minutes, or for all, until the cakes are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Place the pans on a wire rack to cool for 10-20 minutes before removing them from the pan.
- Once the cake is completely cool, then you can frost it or drizzle with icing.
142 Comments
Making this right now! I only have 9 inch and 6 inch cake pans. I’m thinking two 9 inch pans. How should I adjust baking time? ANything else?
I hope it worked out! around 35 to 45 minutes should probably work. I would test for doneness starting at about 35 minutes. The top should seem relatively firm.
This cake is sooo good! I make it yearly for my mother’s birthday, and it’s always a big hit. I typically make a two layer cake and do the rest as cupcakes that can be frozen and enjoyed for the next few months. It freezes great, too! Thank you so much for your reliable dairy free recipes.
Thank you for the great feedback Carmen!
This recipe is SO GOOD! I followed it to a T and it was delicious and moist. I did have to bake mine a bit longer. I frosted it with some dairy free cream cheese frosting. Thank you for the great recipe!
That’s wonderful! Thank you for the feedback Sierra.
Can I buy the bagged, shredded carrots at the grocery store for this? or do I really need to grate 6 cups of carrots?
Bagged carrots are typically too thick and too dry to work well in recipes like this one. You can use a food processor, if you have one. I do it by hand.
Hi Alisa
please help me with 2 questions:
1. What is the size of the measuring cup mentioned in your recipe (in Australia we use metric cup ie i cup = 250ml);
2. what is the purpose of adding sugar to the graded carrots? can i just skip this step and put graded carrots directly into the mixture?
thanks
In the U.S., 1 cup is 237mL. I recommend following the directions for best results!
Alisa, I was also interested to know if you drain the liquid after soaking the carrot in the brown sugar?
I do not drain it.
when mixing the grated carrots and brown sugar for an hour, would it have a ‘dehydrating’ effect and cause the carrot to produce juice? this is an interesting step which i have not tried before. what is the purpose ?
i used to have a fool proof carrot cake recipe from a chinese old lady but unfortunately displaced it. i have been searching for another one since but so far haven’t been able to do so. most of the time the cake came out too crumbly for some reasons. Any suggestions of what went wrong?
It softens and infuses the carrots for better flavor and helps to release some of the juices for moisture.
Hello. We love this carrot cake. My daughter has egg and dairy allergy but she passed her baked egg and baked milk challenges and now she can have things with baked eggs and baked milk. Is it possible to bake this carrot cake with milk? If so, how could we alter the recipe? Thank you!!
Hi Merve,
Carrot cake isn’t usually made with fluid dairy milk, so I couldn’t help you on this particular recipe! If you added it or reduced the oil, it could affect the end result. I really wouldn’t recommend using butter in place of the oil, in terms of flavor, but functionally, you could use melted butter. I’m just trying to help you though – we are a dairy-free website, so adding dairy to things is far from my expertise!
Sorry, I didn’t see your comment before Lynn. I’m not sure – this has never happened to us. The tester came out clean, so it was cooked. It sounds like it might have taken on moisture from the frosting. We usually frost the same day, or just before serving, but haven’t had the issue you mention with leftovers that were refrigerated. I can say, if the cake was even slightly warm, and you frosted it and then stored, this could definitely cause a moisture trap. If frosting a day or more in advance, I would probably refrigerate the layers first (for an hour or so), to ensure they are completely cool, then frost.
I made this just last night and soaked the carrots in the brown sugar as instructed- did not drain. I cooked the cake for the entire 50 minutes and cake tester came out clean. After cooling, I put the layers together and frosted. I cut into it the next day – it was in fridge overnight – and this cake was not even cooked. it was literally like eating soft fudge -flavor was great but the texture was awful. What went wrong? My oven has accurate temp. It was like the liquid saturated the entire cake. I was so disappointed and really embarrassed as this was presented at an office bday celebration.
I am so thankful for this site. I’ve had to go dairy free for baby and use many of your recipes. It’s my birthday tomorrow so I am making myself this cake. The six cups of carrots are getting sugar-fied as I type! Thank you so much for sharing. A true blessing to this first time mom in quarantine!
Thank you for the kind words Genevieve! I hope you enjoy this cake as much as we do. Happy birthday!
Baked this for my daughters birthday yesterday and everyone was amazed! The cake came out so delicious! Only thing I added was a tad (maybe half a tsp) of ground cloves. thank you so much for this recipe will definitely be trying it again!
That must have added a nice little dose of spice! Thank you for your feedback Negina.
What would you recommend for high altitude with the flour?
I wouldn’t change the flour, and honestly, this cake might work as is at high altitude. I’ve lived at high and very high altitude – this cake hasn’t been tested at those levels, but was tested at 2000 feet in a very dry desert climate. The dry climate can have a mild effect on baking that’s similar to higher altitude. Depending on how high altitude you are, I might just consider reducing the baking soda. Perhaps down to 1 1/2 teaspoons for the first try.
Thank you for the recipe. Please share your frosting recipe for this carrot cake.
There’s a link in the recipe to one that’s very similar to the one I use.
I know this is an old recipe but I just had to leave a review. this cake turns out perfect every time. It’s one of the best carrot cakes I’ve ever had. I make it for parties and everyone loves it, and I recommend this recipe to everyone. thanks so much!
There might be old recipes, but they’re never outdated! Glad you’ve enjoyed it Keavy and thank you for your feedback!
This recipe looks amazing! I am allergic to pineapple, can I do it without it?
Yes.
Hello! I’m so excited to make this recipe for Easter! If I make today for Easter tomorrow, will the vegan cream cheese icing on the cake hold up until tomorrow? Do I need to refrigerate the cake? Thank you in advanced?
If you ice the cake ahead of time, you will need to refrigerate it. Otherwise, you can refrigerate the icing – whip it before using – and ice the cake before serving. This is just a general rule with cakes that have icing using refrigerated ingredients. The cake will keep at room temperature for up to a few days, like most cakes, but I prefer to refrigerate it after a day or two. It also freezes well.