I love a snacking cake, and this pistachio carrot cake is the epitome of a perfect snacking cake.
Oh, what’s a snacking cake? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like. A cake made for daily snacking, not for desserts or big gatherings, but a homey cake made with humbler purposes in mind.
A snacking cake is supposed to be light enough to make you feel good eating it at breakfast, lunch or dinner, and it should be perfect to grab whenever you want something sweet. I like my snacking cakes to be moist, dense, but still packed with ingredients I love. Which is why this cake is simple, easy to make and dairy free. It’s easily made gluten free and you’ll be in love with how simple the ingredients are. Because cake’s shouldn’t be hard, especially snacking cakes.
Table of contents
Let’s talk about pistachio butter
Pistachio butter is one of my favorite nut butters. It’s mild, creamy, and a gorgeous color, even though it might not be the color you expect. Pistachios are gaining popularity, so finding pistachio butter is becoming more common, but even now I have to make it at home when I’m in a pinch.
This is how I make my pistachio butter:
- Pulse 1 cup (150 grams) of pistachios with 2-3 tbsp of olive oil in a food processor. Add a pinch of salt and then blend until smooth and drizzly.
If you don’t have pistachio butter on hand, you can also use tahini or almond butter in this recipe, just make sure it’s super drizzly!
The wet ingredients for this carrot snacking cake
Once you have the pistachio butter down, the rest of the wet ingredients are insanely simple:
- 100 grams fresh carrots, finely grated
- 2 large eggs, or 2 tbsp flax meal + 5 tbsp water. Mix and let sit until thick
- 140 grams pistachio butter, or drizzly tahini, or drizzly almond butter
- 180 grams honey
How to grate your carrots for a carrot cake
Similar to pumpkin bread or banana bread, the carrots in carrot cake are used for their moisture. So unlike zuchinni bread, you don’t want to grate the carrots and squeeze out their excess moisture.
I like to grate my carrots in the food processor, but you can also do it with a handheld grater. The key is to avoid grating the pieces too big (and please PLEASE don’t use store-bought), because the smaller pieces maximize the moisture in this pistachio carrot cake.
The dry ingredients for this pistachio carrot cake
And after the wet are combined, the dry ingredients are just as simple:
- 140 grams all-purpose flour, or a gluten free 1:1 flour blend
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp each of all spice and clove
- ⅛ tsp salt
Instructions to make this carrot snacking cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a 9″ spring form cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, spices and salt.
- In a larger bowl, whisk together the carrots, eggs, pistachio butter, and honey
- Gradually pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix to combine.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake at 350F for 22-26 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, you can prepare the icing. Add the cream cheese to a stand mixer, or use an electric mixer. Mix for about a minute on medium or until the cream cheese is smooth. Add the butter and mix for another minute, then gradually sift in the powdered sugar. Continuing mixing until no clumps remain. Taste and add sugar as you see fit!
- Let the cake cool completely before putting on any icing. Add a generous layer of icing to the top, and serve whenever!
FAQ
I like to store my cake on the counter, covered on a cake stand. If you don’t have a cake stand with a cover, use the spring-form pan you baked it in and flip it upside down to cover the cake. This will keep the cake fresh and the frosting fluff.
This will keep on the counter for 5-6 days and in the fridge for up to 10 days!
Yes, this cake is easily made gluten free if you use a 1:1 GF flour blend.
Looking for other cake recipes?
Here are a few of my other favorites from the blog!
Vegan & Gluten Free Funfetti
Honey Pumpkin Bread
Gluten Free & Vegan Blackberry Loaf
And that’s it for this pistachio carrot cake!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Ingredients
- 140 grams all-purpose flour , or a gluten free 1:1 flour blend, about 1 cup
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp each of all spice and clove
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 100 grams fresh carrots, finely grated, about 2/3 cup
- 2 large eggs, or 2 tbsp flax meal + 5 tbsp water. Mix and let sit until thick
- 140 grams pistachio butter , or drizzly tahini, or drizzly almond butter, about 1/2 cup
- 180 grams honey , about 2/3 cup
For the optional cream cheese icing
- 44 grams cream cheese or vegan cream cheese, softened, about 1/4 cup
- 56 grams butter or vegan butter, softened, about 1/4 cup
- 195 grams powdered sugar, plus more as needed, about 1 & 1/2 cups
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a 9" spring form cake pan with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, spices and salt.
- In a larger bowl, whisk together the carrots, eggs, pistachio butter, and honey
- Gradually pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix to combine.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake at 350F for 22-26 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, you can prepare the icing. Add the cream cheese to a stand mixer, or use an electric mixer. Mix for about a minute on medium or until the cream cheese is smooth. Add the butter and mix for another minute, then gradually sift in the powdered sugar. Continuing mixing until no clumps remain. Taste and add sugar as you see fit!
- Let the cake cool completely before putting on any icing. Add a generous layer of icing to the top, and serve whenever!
Comments
Yum!! About how many cups is 140g of flour? And pistachio butter?
Just added estimates!
this looks so good! quick question though… would i weigh out 140g of pistachios and then food process it into pistachio butter?
Yes! I have instructions in the blog post, you can scroll up a bit to find them! I’ll also add it into the recipe block 🙂
Can’t wait to make this! Do you think it would adapt OK to a bread tin?
Yes! It works wonderfully in a 8″x5″ loaf tin 🙂
How would you adjust cook time for an 8×8 pan? I can’t wait to make this!!!
I’d start checking it at the 25 minute mark, but the bake times should be similar!
Can I substitute sugar for honey? If so, how much sugar should I use?
I recommend subbing honey for either maple syrup or light corn syrup! The moisture content is needed to make sure the cake’s crumb comes out correctly 🙂
Wow! This cake is amazing. Followed recipe exactly, but added cardamom instead of allspice/clove and baked 29 mins. On its own it’s barely sweet, great for breakfast but with the frosting it’s a tender, fragrant perfect bite. Love it!
I’m so glad you appreciate the difference in the components – it is BOMB for breakfast 🙂 Thank you for leaving a review!!
Do you think I could replace the butter in the frosting with more pistachio butter? (Keeping it in the fridge afterwards, and keeping in mind that it might be a bit more of a drippy frosting/glaze?)
Hey there! Unfortunately I don’t believe pistachio butter would work seeing as it can’t aerate and emulsify with the powdered sugar in the same way. If you are plant-based, any vegan butter will work just as well!
I made this but it didn’t rise at all. (I made mine with the flax eggs for a friend who is vegan.) any ideas what might have gone wrong?
Egg is huge factor in rise, so that’s definitely why it won’t look exactly like the egg version – let the flax egg sit a bit longer next time for maximum lift (you want it to look EXTRA thick)
Leave a Comment
Made this recipe? Tell me all your thoughts or if you’ve got any questions!