Eggless Carrot Cake Recipe (Whole Wheat)
This Eggless Carrot Cake recipe makes a delicious and tender cake every time. Whole wheat carrot cake is a slightly healthy(ish) dessert that features a wonderful lightly sweet flavor and a decadent, moist crumb. Follow my easy instructions with step-by-step photos to prepare a fantastic tea time delight, dessert, or even breakfast treat.
About This Carrot Cake
This classic recipe for carrot cake is naturally a slightly healthy dessert option, thanks to the fresh and nutritious carrots that give the cake it’s signature sweet flavor.
I’ve perfected this carrot cake recipe that’s made with whole wheat flour and skips the cream cheese icing that’s sometimes included in the US.
I’ve tested and tasted several versions to get just the right taste and texture you know and love in a carrot cake, but without any eggs needed.
The cake is slightly dense owing to the nature of whole wheat flour but it tastes great and you won’t complain.
As it turns out, a combination of sweetened condensed milk, whole milk, and sunflower oil creates a cake batter that’s moist and slightly fluffy. Exactly what you want in the best egg free carrot cake made with whole wheat flour!
In fact, the first perfect version of eggless cake I created was this Wheat Cake Recipe. It’s so wonderfully light and soft, I figured I’d try it as a base for making a simple carrot cake.
Give both of these recipes a try and I’m sure your whole family will love trying to decide which is their favorite.
How to make Eggless Carrot Cake
Preparation
1. First rinse and then peel 190 to 200 grams of carrots, or 1 to 2 large carrots. Use a fine grater to grate them into a bowl. You should have approximately 1 cup of grated carrots.
2. Grease a loaf pan very well with oil. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 minutes.
Sift Dry Ingredients
3. In a sieve over a bowl, add 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour (180 grams). If you prefer you can use all-purpose flour instead.
4. Then add 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 pinch of salt, ½ teaspoon of cinnamon powder, ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg powder and ½ teaspoon of ginger powder.
You can skip nutmeg and/or ginger powder, but I recommend using at least the cinnamon for that signature carrot cake flavor.
5. Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl. Set the bowl aside.
Mixing liquid ingredients
6. In another bowl add 1 can (400 grams or 14 oz.) of sweetened condensed milk. For a more sweet cake, you can also add 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar.
7. Then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
8. Pour in ¼ cup of sunflower oil or olive oil, or other neutral-tasting oil.
9. Add ½ cup of milk, either chilled or at room temperature.
10. Now use a wire whisk to briskly blend the wet ingredients for 1 to 2 minutes. You should have a smooth mixture.
11. Now add the grated carrots to the mixed liquid ingredients.
12. Mix again well.
Make Cake Batter
13. Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl with the sifted dry ingredients.
14. Use a spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. To see how folding is done, you can watch my youtube video – Eggless Banana Bread.
15. Use light pressure and fold well. Do not over do the folding. The batter should have volume and should not fall flat or become dense and thick.
It should have a pouring consistency. You can add ¼ cup of milk more if the batter looks doughy or too thick.
16. Pour the cake batter in the prepared pan.
17. Gently shake and tap the pan so that the cake batter spreads evenly in the pan and any air bubbles are removed.
Bake Eggless Carrot Cake
18. Place the loaf pan on the center rack in the preheated oven. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 35 to 45 minutes.
If using a regular oven or an OTG then heat only the bottom heating element (do not heat the top element – use bake option in the OTGs available in India).
Since temperatures vary from oven to oven, bake time may be different than what is mentioned here.
19. After 20 to 25 minutes, carefully cover the top of the pan with aluminium foil. Since condensed milk is used, this cake can get browned on top quickly.
20. Continue to bake until the carrot cake is done and a wooden skewer comes out clean.
21. Place the cake pan on a wired rack to cool for at least 15-20 minutes.
22. Once the cake cools down, use a butter knife to loosen the edges. Invert the cake on a chopping board.
23. Then slice the eggless carrot cake and serve. Leftover cake can be easily refrigerated.
24. Serve eggless carrot cake as a tea time sweet or as a dessert.
Serving Suggestions
This eggless carrot cake keeps well for up to two weeks in the refrigerator, making it the perfect cake to have in the fridge for whenever you need a sweet treat.
Keep wrapped in plastic or in an airtight container, and simply take out the cake and slice however many servings you need for tea time or dessert.
Although I prefer my whole wheat carrot cake plain as-is, you certainly can add a frosting if you like.
The sweet carrots and warm cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger flavors make it perfect to top with a classic cream cheese icing, chocolate frosting, or simple sugar glaze.
Choose whichever you want to turn this delicious treat into an ultra-decadent dessert.
Variations
The combination of fresh carrots and sweetened condensed milk make this cake sweet on its own.
However, if you want an even sweeter dessert you can add a few tablespoons of granulated sugar to the dry ingredients when preparing the recipe.
The whole wheat flour used in this recipe is a healthy alternative to all-purpose flour, but it does give the cake a slight dense consistency. If you prefer a fluffier eggless carrot cake, feel free to use all-purpose flour instead.
FAQs
Can I bake this carrot cake in a microwave oven?
Yes, you can prepare this recipe using a microwave oven in convection mode only. Preheat the microwave oven to 170 degrees Celsius (330 degree Fahrenheit) and bake as per the recipe below.
Can I make carrot muffins from the batter?
Absolutely! Grease a muffin tin or line with paper cups before adding the cake batter. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, as muffins tend to bake faster than a full cake. Cover the muffins with foil if needed halfway through the baking and continue to bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Can I add nuts?
Yes, add ¼ cup of finely chopped nuts of your choice when you are folding the batter. Raw or toasted walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios are great options. You can even add seeds like sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds. Raisins are also great in this eggless carrot cake.
How can I make a vegan carrot cake using this recipe?
Use coconut cream in place of condensed milk. To make up for the sweetness of the sweetened condensed milk, add a ½ to ¾ cup (depending on how sweet you want the cake) of raw sugar to the dry ingredients before mixing.
What can I use instead of condensed milk?
If you want to make an eggless carrot cake recipe you can prepare as a vegan version with coconut cream and sugar as mentioned above. However, the sweetened condensed milk really does create the best texture and taste.
What can I use in place of sunflower oil?
Feel free to substitute the sunflower oil with olive oil, another neutral oil you like, or melted butter.
Step by Step Photo Guide Above
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour (leveled) or 180 grams
- 1.5 teaspoons levelled baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder (ground cinnamon)
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder (ground or grated nutmeg) – optional
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder (ground ginger)
Wet ingredients
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk or 400 grams
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk – chilled or at room temperature
- ¼ cup sunflower oil – use neutral tasting oil or olive oil
- 1 cup finely grated carrots or 190 to 200 grams carrots or 1 large delhi red carrot
Instructions
Preparation
- Rinse, peel and finely grate the carrot.
- Grease a loaf pan very well with oil. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 minutes.
Sifting dry ingredients
- In a sieve, take all the dry ingredients mentioned above.
- Sift and keep aside.
Mixing liquid ingredients
- In another bowl pour sweetened condensed milk. For a more sweet cake you can add 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar.
- Add vanilla extract, sunflower oil and milk.
- With a wired whisk begin to stir and mix the wet ingredients briskly for 1 to 2 minutes to a smooth mixture.
- Now add the grated carrots to the mixed liquid ingredients. Mix again well.
Making cake batter
- Pour the liquid ingredients in the sifted dry ingredients.
- With a spatula using cut and fold technique, fold the dry ingredients in the wet ingredients.
- Use light pressure from hand and fold well. Also do note, not to over do the folding. The batter should have volume and should not fall flat or become dense and thick. It should have a pouring consistency.
- Pour the cake batter in the prepared pan.
- Gently shake and tap the pan so that the cake batter spreads evenly in the pan.
Baking carrot cake
- Place loaf pan on the center rack in the preheated oven. Bake at 180 degrees celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for 35 to 45 minutes. If using an OTG then heat only the bottom heating element. Since temperatures vary from oven to oven, the time taken will be less or more than what is mentioned here.
- After 20 to 25 minutes, cover the top of the pan with an aluminium foil. Since condensed milk is used, this cake can get browned quickly from the top.
- Continue to bake until the carrot cake is done and a bamboo skewer comes out clean.
- Place the cake pan on a wired tray to cool.
- Once the cake becomes warm or cools down, then with a butter knife loosen the edges. Invert the cake on a chopping board.
- Then slice the cake. Leftover cake can be easily refrigerated.
- Serve eggless carrot cake as tea time sweet or as a dessert.
Notes
Nutrition
This eggless carrot cake recipe from the archives was first published on Jan 2018. It has been updated on December 2024.
Ma’am i have a query but not related to the recipe. Can you please guide on how to dry curry leaves or any such herbs in an OTG. I use Bajaj OTG 20 litre.
Its a very small one and i wish to use it optimally for purposes other than baking too but i do not have any knowledge regarding the same.
If you can be kind enough to guide about it will be grateful for the help. ?
Hi Ruchi, you could use a temperature of 50 to 70 degrees Celsius to dry the herbs. Soft herbs will dry faster than thicker ones. Place the leaves and spread them on a baking tray. Keep the tray in the oven and let the leaves dry. After 30 minutes you can check on the herbs. If they are still not dried, continue to keep in the oven until dried and crispy.
After working with the herbs, you will know the time each herb takes to dry in the oven. The time will also vary with the quantity. I hope this helps.
Good Evening ma’am,
Thank you for always helping us out with the most basic queries?Ma’am just one more question related to previous one ..which rack and mode should be used for the same?
Hi Ruchi, use the center/middle rack and use bake mode where both top and bottom heating elements are heated. This will help to evenly dry the herbs.
Thank you ma’am
Carrot cake has always been my favorite, this recipe is great!
i’ve been trying different carrot cake recipes as it’s my boyfriends favorite cake and i would never expect an eggless recipe would be the best we’ve tried so far!!! absolutely delicious, thank you for your clear guidance!!
Great and thanks for the lovely feedback.
Hi Dasanna,
Thank you for all your recipes. We live abroad where it’s very difficult to get eggless cakes. I rely on your websites and bake delicious cakes for my daughter who is two and she enjoys them. Every time she smiles having the cake I think of you and can’t thank you enough.
I have a question regarding carrot cake. Can I use the same batter and make muffins instead of one bread loaf?
Thank you!
hi supriya, thanks for sharing this sweet feedback and review. glad to know that your daughter likes the cakes. definitely, you can make muffins instead of a loaf. welcome and thanks again.
Thanks for answering my question. Apologies that I misspelt your good name Dassana. I shall make this yummy muffins for my daughter.i wanted to share another thing. I baked banana cake from your recipe blog and shared it with her day care staff. Everybody appreciated that eggless whole wheat cake tasted so good. I pointed them to your website. All in all … a big thanks…:)
welcome supriya. not a problem. some readers to misspell my name. thanks for sharing the website link. whole wheat cakes do taste good. i can vouch for that as i have baked many cakes with whole wheat flour. just that some recipes have not been updated on the blog. while a few recipes i have had shared on the blog.
Hi Dassana
I just tried yummy carrot cake.it turned out awesome.very easy nd delicious cake. Thanks a lot.
Only temperature and timings I changed.i started wd 140 degree for approx 35-40 min .it was almost cook but upper crust was almost white so I raised the temp to 160 degree for 10 min but still proper browning was not there then I set 180 degree for last 10 min.
Colour taste texture all perfect
thanks for sharing this harmeet. nice to know that the carrot cake turned out perfect. depending on the heating in the oven, the temperatures and timing can be changed or altered. even i experiment on occasions with the timing and temperature.
HiDasana ,
What is the substitute for condensed milk. Can it be just sugar and milk , what is the proportion .
Thanks
Viji
Welcome Viji. There is no substitute for condensed milk in this carrot cake recipe.
Hi Dassana,
I love your site and I am a regular here with browsing through your site almost every day. I tried the banana cake recipe and it turned out well just that the middle part of the cake was slightly dense and a tad undercooked. I have a microwave oven. Can I bake this cake in the microwave oven and will I be able to use aluminium foil in the microwave?
thanks preeti. you can make in the microwave but in the convection mode only. do not make the cake in microwave mode. in the convection mode you can use aluminium foil but do not use in the microwave mode. also do not use combination modes for baking. reduce the temperature and bake preheat and bake at 170 degrees in the convection mode of the microwave oven.
Hello! Amit,
I have Wilton Heart Tasty Fill Pan which helps, me to bake 2 cakes with a ‘Hollow’ so, that I can fill it up with a frosting.
The challenge I’m facing is, all the recipes for this novelty pan recommend many eggs, mainly for holding the frosting from inside and outside as well.
Please, suggest if your ‘Eggless Carrot Cake’ recipe can help me overcome this challenge.
to make a cake support frosting from inside and outside
Thanking in anticipation.
devasena, i checked for the wilton heart tasty fill pan on google. this recipe will work. so you can go ahead.
Hi Dasana,
I loved your carrot cake recipe. And I really want to try it but we are vegans. Can u suggest a vegan substitute for condensed milk and milk?
Also just to let you know I am a big fan and follower of your website.
Your recipes never fail to impress my fussy family!!
Thanks for all your efforts!!
SK, i did try two times using vegan ingredients, but both times the carrot cake did not turn out well. instead of condensed milk, you can use coconut cream. but here you will need to add sugar. i tried the vegan method with ½ cup of unrefined cane sugar and it was sweet enough. so you can use ½ cup sugar. for more sweetness you can add upto ⅔ or ¾ cup sugar. but i did use carrots which were sweet. if the carrots are not sweet, then you can consider increasing the sugar.
for milk, you can use almond milk, cashew milk, rice milk or coconut milk. with coconut cream and coconut milk, there will be coconut flavor and aroma in the cake, which will taste good.
thanks a lot and welcome.
Hi Dassana,
I was going to ask the same exact question – about making this cake vegan !
Do you think apple sauce may be a good substitute for condensed milk as I have seen carrot cake recipes incorporate them? Perhaps I can add a combination of apple sauce and sugar —any tips/ suggestions for the amount to use ?
By the way , I love all your recipes and website. Every single time I try a recipe from your site, it turns out well without fail 🙂 I ve recommended your site to all my friends n family as well who are interested in cooking !
take care and thank you !
Vidhya
vidhya, apple sauce is a good substitute for eggs. but in this cake, carrot give a lot of moisture when baking as well as after mixing the batter. so one need to use a substitute which has more viscosity, thickness and heavy. so thus coconut cream fits these requirements. apple sauce can make the cake very moist and soft. in fact i tested making with curd also, but the recipe did not work. you can use apple sauce in combination with coconut cream or thick coconut milk. i think this combination will work.
thanks for the lovely feedback and also for sharing the site with your family and friends. hugs and you too take care.