Ok, what season is it... Sometime in early spring(!) I made a delicious baked chocolate carrot cake, and promised to share the recipe later. Except you know how life gets... 6 months later, I got a nice "Hey, where's that cake?!" reader email reminding me of the aforementioned promise.
Whoops!
So where was the cake? Well by this point the recipe had gotten a bit buried, but luckily after a rummage through paper / sticky notes and online docs, the long lost chocolate cake was rescued from the depths of my chaotic baking archives. Yay :)
Now any lost recipe hunter knows that the only responsible thing to do when so much time has lapsed since the original recipe was documented is to... you know, test it again. Just for the excuse to be sure it's the correct rich, gooey, mega-chocolatey cake recipe you remember.
Happy to report it's just as good as it was 6 months ago. Yep, delicious alright...
This is a layer cake recipe, left "naked" for the sake of simplicity by only frosting the middle and top. If you're not a layer cake kinda person, or don't have a special occasion to make this for, it works well as a sheet cake, too -- single pan, single layer of delicious frosting, zero fuss. All the chocolate.
And speaking of frosting, when I made this the first time I didn't include the cashew butter in the frosting -- the result was more of a firmer chocolate ganache. With the added cashew butter in there this time though, it became thick and fluffy, and uber satisfying.
A pinch cinnamon thrown in is lovely, though optional. This frosting would work great with other flavors, I'm sure -- like peppermint, or a hint of almond extract, orange extract, etc. Somehow the warm tone of cinnamon made a lot of sense to me with a carrot cake profile.
By the way, unlike a regular carrot cake, you can't taste too much carrot in this chocolate version. You're basically relying on the goodness of sneaking veggies in there more for nutritional content, moisture, and a hint of flavor.
Just thought I'd mention that in case you're expecting something super carroty... (if you are, you might want to try this or this recipe instead).
Chocolate Carrot Cake
Rich, gooey, mega-chocolatey baked carrot cake with layers of vegan chocolate frosting. Gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: two layer 6" cake
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
Cake -- Wet Ingredients:
- 5 steamed carrots
- ¼ cup water
- ¾ cup agave
- ¼ cup cashew butter
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Cake -- Dry Ingredients:
- 6 tbsp cocoa powder
- ¼ cup white rice flour
- 3 tbsp tapioca starch
- 3 tbsp sweet sticky rice flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp salt
Frosting:
- 1 ½ cup chopped chocolate bar of your choice (or chocolate chips)
- cream from 1 can of full fat coconut milk chilled overnight (only the solid white part; roughly just over ½ cup)
- ½ cup cashew butter
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- optional: ½ teaspoon raw ground vanilla bean
- ⅛ tsp salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F. Lightly oil 2 6" round cake pans and line the base with a parchment paper circle. Set aside. (Note: if you prefer, use an 8"x8" square pan or a pan of a similar size for a sheet cake instead of a layer cake).
- Process all wet cake ingredients into a puree in a food processor (as smoothly as you can). Add in dry ingredients and process again to blend the mixture together. Divide the cake batter between the two prepared pans. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 40 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out dry. Remove from oven and cool completely on a cooling rack.
- While cake is baking, prepare the frosting by melting the chocolate on a double boiler. Remove chocolate mixture from heat, stir in remaining frosting ingredients and stir vigorously to combine. The mixture will be soft / runny at this point, so place it in the freezer until ready to frost to firm up a bit (for an hour or so, or until you get to your desired consistency). When the cake is cooled, check on the frosting -- if it is too firm, simply re-warm it for a few minutes on a double boiler, stirring as it softens, until it reaches a good spreadable consistency.
- Assembly: Place the first cake layer on a plate (or serving tray). Spread about half the frosting evenly (leaving about ½ an inch all around the edges unfrosted). Cover with the second cake layer and press down gently in the center to set the cake. Then frost the top with the remaining cake frosting. (Alternatively, you can just divide the frosting between the two cake layers, and frost the top of each evenly. Then layer one over the other). Place the cake in the refrigerator for about 30 mins for the frosting to settle. Then enjoy! (Store leftovers in the fridge).
Chris says
Audrey, seeing this recipe reminds me of the recipe for my grandmother's chocolate zucchini cake, which is loaded with gluten, dairy, egg, and sugar--but so delicious! I've never been able to reproduce it without those ingredients, at least in a way that tasted decent. Just saw your buckwheat chocolate zucchini cupcake recipe and will try with a substitute for coconut. How do you think this cake would work with zucchini rather than carrot? The cinnamon mirrors that of my grandma's cake (which also had allspice). Also, have you ever made this cake without frosting?
Audrey says
Hi Chris, I haven't tried this cake in zucchini, so not 100% sure. But now you're making me go make a chocolate zucchini cake. It's been a while :) So maybe I'll add something like that to the blog soon. My thoughts are: zucchini is a lot more wet than carrots, so some of the ratios in the recipe will likely need to be altered.
For the recipe as is, i.e. with the carrots, the cake base is really good without frosting too.
Sha says
Audrey, how big is your carrot? Carrots come in a variety of sizes where I live, thin, fat, long, short... I'm forever facing this problem when I'm trying recipes that list "(insert number here) avocado / banana / mango / whatever fruit or vegs that exist in single pieces". The fruits and vegs here generally come in different sizes and it's frustrating when a fixed number if pieces is used to represent the amount. Maybe going forward you may want to include the weight (which is most accurate) or if the fruit / veg is to be mashed in the recipe, provide how much in cups, mashed?
Thanks... I've made your recipes in the past and loved them.
Audrey says
Hi Sha,
Thanks for your comment. I hear ya. I have been more mindful of that for some time now and try to add more specifics to the recipes, though haven't had a chance to revisit the older ones. I guess here all carrots are more or less the same size (unless you go to the farmers market) so given there's not much variety I used 5 average carrots and didn't think much of it! :) An average medium size carrot here is about 60 gr, but to be sure I'll weigh some of my carrots tomorrow first thing once I have access to my scale and will let you know for sure.
Funnily enough, by the way, if I ever share a recipe with fruits or veggies and mention the weight only (a system I tried switching to for a little while) I always get asked to just say how many carrots, potatoes, etc. I used as a lot of people aren't familiar with weights (or cups, and so on). It's hard to cater to an international audience in this sense sometimes :D
Audrey says
Weighing update: roughly between 65 - 75 grams each (with the tops cut off). Hope that helps!
Lenore Pierce says
Love your creativity and can't wait to try your recipes.
Lenore.
Audrey says
Thanks so much, Lenore. Enjoy! :) And happy baking.
Zuzan says
Turn out super delicious. I made two - one with carrots the second red beet. Also replaced the cashew butter with macadamia nut butter and topped it with a lot of fresh figs. Thanks Audrey for all the inspiration ❤️
Audrey says
Hi Zuzan. Thanks so much for sharing and for the lovely feedback -- all your variations sound lovely! :)
Karou says
Hi, I really like this recipe and want to try it. Can I use all purpose flour instead? If yes, what are the measurments?
Audrey says
I haven't tried it myself, but I think it should work fine. I'd replace the white rice flour, tapioca starch, and sweet sticky rice flour with regular flour -- same measurements.
Azita says
Hello, Audrey! I am going to make this cake. I would like to make it in a 9" round pan, and am wondering how I would adjust the quantity of ingredients in order to make it work? Thank you so much!
Audrey says
Hi Azita, the ingredients would need to be doubled. Happy baking!
Sierra Snodgrass says
Hi Audrey, i was wondering if you had ever tried this recipe without the cashew butter and if not what you thought might happen if i opted not use it?
big thanks!
Audrey says
Hi Sierra. The cashew butter in here adds the "fat" from a whole plant source (as opposed to something like oil, butter, etc.) as an alternative, which acts as a binder, adds moisture, and also of course lends its flavor and sweetness. So it can't be entirely cut out, and to substitute it isn't a straight substitution for something else, so it would require some playing around. I haven't tried this particular cake without it, but just curious why you're trying to swap it out? Is it because you want something completely fat-free? Or just don't like cashew butter? etc. -- it would help me think of alternatives better if I know the issue :)
Lilie says
Hi! I was thinking of doing this too as my sister has a nut allergy, as well as a dairy and egg allergy! Could you use coconut cream? Or maybe a bit butter substitute like sunflower seed butter? Thank you!
Audrey says
Hi Lilie. I think sunflower seed butter is a good close substitute. It will alter the flavor some, since it naturally has a stronger taste, but combined with the chocolate I think you're good to go with that option.
Denise says
Hello, so i had a issue with the frosting, the second I started frosting the cake it was melting and the cake was completely cool. Any of else have is issue?
Audrey says
Hi Denise. Thanks so much for sharing. Sorry it didn't quite work out as expected!
Strange it was melting. I'm wondering, did you by chance include all the liquid from the can of coconut as opposed to just the white cream part? Did you modify anything else? Is it very hot where you live? Please do let me know -- I'd love to get to the bottom of this frosting issue and see what's going on there...
Mandy says
I don't care what season it is, I would devour a slice of this cake! What a delicious combo! I've never seen a chocolate carrot cake before, but I can imagine how amazing it is because, well, chocolate ;) And that frosting looks absolutely dreamy!
Audrey says
Hehe. Thanks, Mandy! I know, no wrong season for chocolate. Although, I'm not really sure why carrot cake is a spring thing to begin with... Seems like a good fall / winter veg to me :)
Jessica Karlsson says
This looks delicious! I don't know where to find sticky rice flour here in Sweden. Can this be substituted with something else? Many thanks for all your lovely posts!!
Audrey says
Thanks, Jessica :)
I'm not sure of a substitute -- you could just do all rice flour instead of the regular rice and the sticky rice, or substitute with oat flour, but the texture will be altered quite a bit and the cake will not be as "springy" (which is a quality the sweet sticky rice flour adds). You can probably find it online or in Asian grocery stores if you have those. Here's a link that might give you some leads on finding it in Sweden :) https://gastronomibloggen.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/mochiris-mjol/
Natalia says
I will make tomorrow a cake for my husband's birthday on Sunday , I was thinking of a simple frosting(coconut-chocolate), but your idea of addding cashew butter is really interesting, I am so curious to try it! I have never tried carrots-chocolate combination, would love to try it once too! Thank you for the beautiful recipe, Audrey!
★★★★★
Audrey says
I really loved it. I've tried it with almond butter and peanut butter as well -- all delicious, though of course they all have their own flavors so would need to match the cake. Cashew butter is milder, so the taste is not as prominent, but the creaminess and added mild sweetness of cashews was really lovely. Happy birthday to your husband :)
Natalia says
Thank you, dear Audrey!
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
An actual baked cake!?! What is happening here! haha :D Just kidding. The concept of chocolate + carrot sounds marvelous, and that frosting is the dreamiest thing I've seen since I don't even know when! Plus carrots are orange so that makes the entire thing totally October appropriate I say ;)
Audrey says
Haha. Yes! It's been a while :D And true... it's cozy. Plus there's never a wrong season for chocolate... so.. let there be cake all year round.
Jasmin says
There's no wrong season for a nice carrot cake :)
★★★★★
Audrey says
true :)