Nut and Dairy Free Carrot Cake with Ginger & Orange (Gluten Free, Vegan)

If you are looking for a deliciously spiced and moist carrot cake, you’ll love this recipe with fresh orange, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Even better, there’s no nuts to be seen in this delicious allergy friendly and gluten free carrot cake recipe. Made without eggs or milk – right down to the delicious dairy free cream cheese and orange frosting – this vegan carrot cake is perfect for catering to lots of dietary requirements.

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Traditional carrot cake and food allergies

Most carrot cakes contain not only gluten and wheat in the flour, as well as eggs and milk, but they usually come laden with walnuts. This makes carrot cake a ‘no go’ for people with nut and other allergies. This recipe uses gluten and wheat free flour and leaves out the milk and eggs to create a vegan and allergy friendly cake. You won’t miss the nuts thanks to the wonderful mix of spices, making this cake a bit like a cross between carrot cake and gingerbread.

Often carrot cake is topped with a cream cheese frosting or icing. We’ve also fixed that with a wonderful dairy free cream cheese and orange frosting.

This easy recipe makes a single layer square cake that’s perfect for sharing.

Allergy friendly carrot cake ingredients

For this spicy nut and gluten free carrot cake you’ll need:

• 2 cups gluten free self raising flour (eg Orgran)
• 1 cup soft brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• pinch salt
• 3/4 cup oat milk (or other non dairy milk)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
• grated rind of one orange
• 2 1/2 cups grated carrot (about 3 to 4 large carrots)

Gluten free self raising flour

For tis recipe we used Orgran self raising flour, one of our favourite allergy-friendly brands that is free from nuts and other allergens.

If you don’t need a wheat or gluten free cake, feel free to use normal wheat self raising flour in this recipe. It will change the texture slightly and possibly shorted the cooking time by a few minutes, but otherwise the recipe will be the same.

Dairy free cream cheese frosting ingredients

To make dairy free orange cream cheese frosting you’ll need:

• 1/4 cup dairy free vegan margarine/butter (eg Nuttelex)
• 115g (4oz) vegan cream cheese (eg Bio Creamy)
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups of icing sugar
• Orange zest for garnish

Allergy friendly cream cheese

For the cream cheese frosting, we used My Life Bio Creamy dairy free cream cheese substitute. This spreadable vegan cream cheese is made with coconut and is soy free.

If you can’t source a vegan cream cheese to make the frosting, a simple orange frosting would be delicious with this cake too.

Method

To make the carrot cake

Pre heat the oven to 170C/240F.

Grease and line a 20cm (8 inch) square cake pan with non dairy spread and parchment paper. You could also use a 23cm (9 inch) round tin.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients – flour, sugar. cinnamon, nutmeg and pinch of salt.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the oat milk, olive oil, vanilla, fresh grated ginger and orange rind. Stir well until the mixture forms a thick batter. Add the grated carrot and stir through until combined.

Transfer the cake batter to the prepared tin and place in the middle rack of the oven to cook for around 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

To make the orange cream cheese frosting

Place dairy free margarine and vegan cream cheese in a medium bowl and beat until creamy. Add the orange juice and vanilla to the cream cheese mixture and beat to combine. Gradually add sifted icing sugar to the bowl and beat until smooth and spreadable.

Once the cake is completely cooled, top with frosting and fresh orange zest for garnish.

This recipe makes 16 square serves of cake.

Storage and freezing

Any leftover cake can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 to 5 days. This vegan carrot cake can be frozen for up to 3 months, but is better frozen unfrosted.

More allergy-friendly recipes

For more allergy-friendly cake recipes, try our vegan vanilla peach cake or lemon poppy seed zucchini cake. Or for more sweet treats made with oranges, you’ll love our vegan orange coconut macaroons and vegan orange and poppy seed muffins. If you’re looking for more ways to use carrots, you’ll also love our spiced carrot and lentil soup recipe.

All of the recipes on our allergy-friendly recipe page are dairy and egg free and free from other top allergens.

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