Gluten-Free Vegan Tropical Carrot Cake

This Gluten-Free Vegan Tropical Carrot Cake is beautifully moist, subtly spiced, and bursting with tropical flavours!

I used my go-to cake batter for this – it’s undetectably vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar free, so easy to make and comes together in just one bowl.

The other ingredients really bring this cake come to life, though – carrots add natural sweetness, coconut adds tropical flavour, dried mango adds gummy bursts of nectar-like sweetness and pistachios add a nutty crunch, whilst cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and cloves add a touch of warming spice.

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And if you’re making a carrot cake, you obviously need to make a cream cheese frosting too, and we’re not going to let being dairy-free get in the way of having any cream cheese frosting are we?

I went for the simple and foolproof method of mixing coconut cream with lemon juice, which brings out a tartness perfectly reminiscent of cream cheese. If you’re feeling lazy, you can substitute the coconut whipped cream with coconut yogurt.

I then like to top the cake with some toasted coconut flakes, chopped pistachios and dried tropical fruit, for extra colour and contrasting texture.

I hope you’ll love this Gluten-Free Vegan Tropical Carrot Cake! Looking for more yummy cakes? Check out my:

• Red Velvet Cake
• Chocolate Truffle Cake
• Lemon Blueberry Cake
• Cherry Bakewell Cake
• Chocolate Sponge Layer Cake
• Black Forest Cake
• Strawberry Sponge Layer Cake
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.

Helpful tools to make this Gluten-Free Vegan Tropical Carrot Cake:

For the cake:

glass mixing bowl

box grater

18 cm / 7 inch sandwich baking tin

baking paper

cooling rack

For the frosting:

electric whisk

palette knife for frosting

5 from 2 votes

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Gluten-Free Vegan Tropical Carrot Cake

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

50 mins

 

Gluten-Free Vegan Tropical Carrot Cake with coconut, mango, pistachios and cream cheese frosting!

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: gluten-free carrot cake, tropical carrot cake, vegan carrot cake

Servings: 8

Calories: 394 kcal

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 60 g (1/4 cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
• 230 ml (1 cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
• Juice of 1/2 lemon*
• 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice (or sub a mixture of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves)
• Pinch of salt
• 100 g (3.5oz) carrot, peeled and grated (about one medium-sized carrot)
• 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
• 50 g (1/3 cup) dried mango or papaya (ensure refined sugar free if necessary)
• 30 g (1/4 cup) shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
• 150 g (1 1/4 cup) ground almonds** (almond meal)
• 150 g (1 1/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
• 2 heaped teaspoons baking power (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

For the frosting:

• 400 g (14oz) tin full-fat coconut milk***
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To decorate:

• Coconut flakes
• Shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
• Dried mango or papaya, chopped into smaller pieces if necessary

Instructions

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)

2. Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil)

3. Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, ginger, mixed spice, salt, grated carrot, dessicated coconut, dried mango, chopped pistachios, and ground almonds

4. Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
5. Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it's looking too dry
6. Transfer mixture between two small greased baking tins lined with baking paper (I used two 7inch/18cm baking tins)
7. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out clean
8. Once out the oven, immediately remove cakes from baking tins and transfer onto a wire rack to cool

For the frosting:

1. You'll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom. Make sure it is full fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won't happen and you won't be able to make this cream!
2. Open the tin upside down - the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid (save this for adding to soups or smoothies)
3. Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl
4. Add the lemon juice, maple syrup and vanilla extract
5. Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy

To decorate:

1. Once the sponges have cooled completely, place one sponge on a large plate or cake stand, and cover with half of the frosting
2. Place other sponge on top and use remaining frosting to cover the top
3. Sprinkle with coconut flakes, chopped pistachios and dried mango
4. Best when fresh, but keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days

Recipe Notes

*The lemon juice is crucial as its acidity needs to react with the alkali bicarbonate of soda to make the sponge fluffy. If you don't want to use lemon juice, substitute with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar instead

**You can alternatively use almond flour

***You can alternatively use 200g (7oz) coconut yogurt

Nutrition Facts

Gluten-Free Vegan Tropical Carrot Cake

Amount Per Serving

Calories 394

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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