Carrot Cake (Eggless)
Jul 15, 2014, Updated May 07, 2023
Super moist eggless carrot cake with classic cream cheese frosting!
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Carrot cake is one my favorite cakes and if you have been following my blog you would know that I mentioned the same when I posted Carrot Cupcakes recipe on Easter this year. I got the opportunity to bake carrot cake again during my stay in India this time. The occasion was special, it was my mom & dad’s 34th wedding anniversary and so I obviously wanted to make the PERFECT CAKE. This was the first time I was going to bake something for my parents and it made me excited and also nervous.
My grandmother doesn’t eat eggs and so I made this eggless version of carrot cake and it turned out exactly the way I wanted it to be – soft, moist and bursting with cinnamon and carrot. Because I didn’t use eggs I used little extra oil and buttermilk to get the right texture for the cake. I always prefer using oil over butter for carrot cakes because of the moistness that it imparts to the cake. I don’t miss the butter flavor because the frosting more than compensates for it.
Buttermilk again makes the cake moist, you can use milk in stead but I prefer using buttermilk. To make your own buttermilk at home in 5 minutes take 1 cup measuring bowl and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to it. Add milk till the cup is full, let sit for 5 minutes or till milk curdles sightly. You can then use this homemade buttermilk in your recipe.
My cake had a lot of carrots you can cut down on it but as far as I am concerned my carrot cake should have loads of carrots in every bite and hence I added 2.5 heaping cups of shredded carrot to the batter.
The classic frosting with carrot cake is cream cheese frosting and that’s the frosting I used for here. I am a cream cheese frosting fan but I think a light whipped cream frosting would also taste great with this cake.
This cake was a big hit and everyone finished it in minutes – that obviously made me super happy not only because it turned out perfect but also because for the first time I was able to bake something for mom & dad : )
Happy Anniversary Mummy Papa. I love you!
PS: I used Wilton tip 2D to make the big 3 roses on the cake and wilton tip 18 to make the rosette border.
*Adjust consistency of the frosting as per your requirement. Add more heavy cream/milk for a more spreadable consistency and more sugar for a stiffer frosting.
Carrot Cake (Eggless)
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1.25 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2.25 teaspoons cinnamon powder
- 1 cup oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 2.5 heaping cups carrot shredded
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons yogurt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter [1 stick]
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 1.5-2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1-2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Spray a 9 inch round baking pan with non-stick spray and set aside. I used a spring form pan and it was big enough, if using regular cake pans you can divide the batter into 2 pans.
- Grate the carrots finely using a food processor or using a hand grater. Set aside.
- In a bowl sift together all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon powder. Set aside.
- In steel bowl of your stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or using your hand mixer beat together oil and sugar till well combined.
- Add in the yogurt and mix.
- Now start adding the flour mixture alternating with buttermilk. Add flour in 3 parts and buttermilk in 2 parts starting and ending with flour. Mix till batter is smooth but do not overmix.
- Finally fold in the shredded carrots.
- Pour batter in prepared pan and bake at 350 F degrees for 35-40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cake completely before frosting it.
Frosting
- In the steel bowl of your stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or using your hand mixer beat butter and cream cheese together till smooth and creamy.
- Add vanilla and mix.
- Start adding confectioners sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add milk/cream and mix till frosting is smooth.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Manali,
Lovely looking cake and even lovelier frosting!! Did you use the cream cheese frosting for the rosettes too?
yes I did!
Hi Manali,
I was wondering if there was a way to make this with unrefined sugar or even better honey.
Thanks!
maybe but the recipe will need to be re-tested with honey, won’t be a 1:1 substitute
Hi..what is the yogurt to water ratio to make buttermilk??
it’s actually vinegar to milk ratio that works best- use 1 tablespoon vinegar and add it to 1 cup measuring cup. then fill that cup with milk , let sit 10 minutes and then use in the recipe in place of buttermilk.
Hi Manali. I have been following your healthy cake recipes and am a fan. Somehow missed this carrot cake recipe. Tried 4 other recipes , none worked – won’t rise at all . But my baking powder and soda are working well for other cakes. Just the carrot cake won’t come out well. I am gonna try this recipe tomorrow. What care should I take so that the cake rises well? Plz comment. Thanks in advance.
this recipe also isn’t a very rise recipe, maybe you are expecting the cake to rise like a vanilla cake? the carrot cake doesn’t have the same texture.
Hi Manali, Can I use this recipe to make cupcakes instead?
sure
Hey,
I am going to bake this carrot cake using wheat in cooker tomorrow.
What points should be remembered?
Can I add only nutmeg?
Hello I have never baked in cooker, so I am afraid I can’t help there. Nutmeg alone will not give the flavor which we want. In fact you can skip nutmeg but do add cinnamon in carrot cake
Hi Manali,
I tried the carrot cake and my family loved it! It was delicious and moist even though i reduced the oil to 3/4cup. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Hello Manali,
I made your cake for my mom (for Mother’s Day) and she absolutely loved it -said it was sooo moist and could not believe that I made it and thought I bought a premade cake!! EXCELLENT RECIPE! Will definitely make it again. Thanks so much!!
HI manali,
how many cups(approx) is 4oz of cream cheese?
maybe around 1/2 cup
For the first time I tried carrot cake…exactly followed the recipe..turned out really yummy..thanks for sharing!!!!
Can this carrot cake be covered with fondant
maybe..sorry I have no experience working with fondant so can’t comment
Manali, can you provide the weight for 2.5 heaping cups of carrots? I find that measuring shredded carrots by volume is tricky because the result depends on how firmly you pack the carrots into the cup. Thanks!
Please can you tell me if using a standard rectangular loaf tin, should i half the measurement for the ingredients. Thank you
You can do half for a 8 x4 inch cake pan!
Hi Suzanne, sorry for the late reply. Hmm I will measure them next time I make this and update.
Hi. I hadn’t baked for years and wanted to bake a healthy cake for my husband’s birthday. I was looking for a quick and easy carrotcake recipe. I substituted half the quantity of all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and used half a cup of sugar and half cup stevia. Everyone was skeptical about the cake as I had put carrots (I am a health freak!) But it came out very well, and everyone enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
You are welcome! so glad you all liked it!
I tried this recipe out today and am so glad I did! I absolutely love the texture and flavor of the cake. Though I got over enthusiastic – doubled the recipe and overloaded my baking pan and had to keep baking it until the cake stopped wobbling and the knife came out clean.
The result is fabulous!!! Thank you very much for the recipe!
Oh and I swapped the white sugar with brown sugar… It wouldn’t affect adversely would it? It didn’t seem to, but would like to clarify anyway 🙂
welcome 🙂 yeah using brown sugar is not a problem!
Hi Manali,
I have tried this recepie twice and both times the cake rose quite a bit while baking but sank towards the end. Also, my cake turned out to be very oily…I used 1 cup of oil first time, and made it half cup for the second try. Is it expected? The taste was good, cake turned out super soft and moist but cannot figure out why it sank and why it was oily.
Shruti there can be so many reason why cakes sink in between- incorrect oven temperature, expired baking powder/soda, if you tried opening the oven in between etc. etc. So it’s hard to say what was the reason in your case. It shouldn’t be oily at all, you can try butter next time if you don’t like the texture with oil…
Hi Manali,
Lovely recipe. I was looking for a good egg less recipe and found this interesting and easy to bake. . I put in all the ingredients to the mentioned measure. The taste was super, cake was soft and moist, but it became crumbly and I couldn’t cut it at all.
Can you tell me why?
Did the cake cooled down completely before you tried to cut it. I don’t see any other reason why you wouldn’t be able to cut it.
Yes Manali, It had cooled down completely. Maybe I will use a little less of baking powder and soda next time.
1 cup means??
1 cup US metric, 240 ml
Hi. I baked it first time. I used pressure cooker. And yet it become very soft and spongy.thank you.
Welcome Pooja!
Hi Manali I’m trying to do carrot cake how to make butter milk
Hi Madhu! Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1-cup measuring cup. Then add milk to it. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. It will curdle slightly. Use this as buttermilk in the recipe.
How to make buttermilk at home if I have yogurt? Can you please tell me the ratio of yogurt and water to make buttermilk
Hi Ramya..you can make buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon white vinegar to 1 cup milk, let it sit for 10 minutes until it slightly curdles and then use in the recipe
Best eggless carrot cake. Been looking for a good recipe
glad to know 🙂
Hi i am shoba maharaj. Would love u to post some savoury receipes
there are hundreds of savory recipes on the blog..please use the search box to see what you are looking for..
Hi Manali, You are really a baker! I so loved the presentation of your cake. Do You make the cream cheese at home or buy it.
If You do make it, then please be kind enough to share the recipe too.
Going to make it today. I hope it turns out good. 🙂
I buy cream cheese from store, hope the cake turned out okay for you 🙂
Hi Manali, I tried out your recipe this weekend & it turned out fabulously. I’m no baker so I was so impressed with the final product, the cake was soft, moist and delicious. I added pecan nuts to the recipe which gave it a bit of crunch. Thank you so much for sharing xxx Shaithal
I am glad to hear that Shaithal! Glad you enjoyed!
Can we substitute maida with whole wheat flour.
you may! the cake just won’t be that lighter!
Hi, I am just wondering what oil you used here? Thanks
Canola oil….vegetable oil will work as well!
Carrots and egg-less – what’s not to love??!! While I eat eggs, I prefer to make eggless cakes on some days simply because…
Lovely website! I recently stumbled onto it …
Thanks Prajakta !
Thanks Savita!
I love a loaded Carrot Cake – but even more than this yummy carrot-filled-cake are those amazing BRIGHT orange rosettes on top of this cake. BEAUTIFUL!
Thanks Rachel!