Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes (with Maple Cream Cheese)
These Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes are like eating carrot cake for breakfast!! They’re gluten free, meal preppable and topped with a divine vegan maple cream cheese drizzle!
Fun fact: carrot cake is my favourite cake of all time. Cue carrot cake energy bites and carrot cake muffins. I might have mentioned that like a billion times before, but hey, it’s super relevant here. What do you do when you want carrot cake over the Easter, but you know you have way too many episodes to catch up on to make an actual carrot cake?
You make these easy, fluffy and thick carrot cake pancakes. Oh, yes.
Look. This needs to be on your next meal prep list. Or tomorrow’s breakfast. Or both. These carrot cake pancakes have that spot on flavour of carrot cake thanks to the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in the batter. Then of course, I had to add vanilla extract. To top it off – I made you a maple cream cheese drizzle.
The maple cream cheese drizzle reminds me of something one of those fancy brunch places would serve you on the side. You’re trying to figure out what is this magical sauce and you figure it’s something crazy fancy. Wrong. It’s vegan cream cheese, almond milk + maple syrup and it’s incredibly simple and tastes divinely complex. You’re going to want to drizzle this all over your pancakes, and probably into your oatmeal, on your bagel, and on pretty much everything after this.
Just saying.
Pro tip: Don’t skip those spices. They really amp up the flavour and will have you wanting one of these every time you get a carrot cake craving. Or..am I the only one that wakes up with carrot cake cravings?!
Pro tip part 2: I grated the carrots because if you shred them, they won’t cook quickly enough, which we don’t want. So definitely grate them nice and fine. Your pancakes will thank you.
Enjoy, friends!
Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes (with Maple Cream Cheese)
Ingredients
CARROT CAKE PANCAKES
- 1 cup soy milk, (240mL) or any vegan milk
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar, (10mL)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, (120g)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder, (14.4g)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, (2.8g)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, (12.5g) any kind, or maple syrup or agave
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or vanilla paste
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter or oil, (14g) + extra for the griddle/pan
- 1 cup grated carrot, ensure they are grated, not shredded
MAPLE CREAM CHEESE DRIZZLE
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese, softened and room temperature
- 2 teaspoons non dairy milk
Instructions
- CARROT CAKE PANCAKES
- Mix the nut milk and the lemon juice or ACV together in a small bowl/measuring cup. Set aside for about 5 minutes – this will make the vegan buttermilk.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. The sifting really helps to make the pancakes fluffy.
- Add the sugar, vanilla extract, melted butter/oil, buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and using a spatula, gently mix the batter until JUST combined. Fold in the grated carrots, again until just combined into the entire batter. It's okay (and normal) to have some lumps.
- Let the batter sit for at least 5 minutes to allow the ingredients to fully incorporate and absorb well together.
- Heat a griddle pan or a cast iron skillet over medium heat and brush with oil or vegan butter.
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into the pan/skillet for one pancake. Wait until some bubbles start to form on top. Allow to cook for about 2-3 more minutes and then flip the pancakes over once the bubbles begin to pop on top. Cook for about 2-3 more minutes until batter is cooked through.
- Repeat for the rest of the pancakes. Serve pancakes hot and drizzle with maple cream cheese on top and your favorite toppings.
- Enjoy!
MAPLE CREAM CHEESE DRIZZLE
- Whisk all of these ingredients together until combined. Serve with pancakes. You can store in a separate container in the fridge too. If you want it thinner, add more non-dairy milk per ½ teaspoon, or if you want it thicker add more vegan cream cheese.
Notes
Expert Tips & FAQ
Pancakes are very simple to make once you know a few key tips:- Test to ensure that your baking powder is still active. Let’s just say I’ve confidently whipped up a double batch of pancakes only to realise I had tossed my good baking powder and kept the expired one. We don’t want that! It’s very easy to test and will make all the difference in getting your pancakes nice and fluffy!
- Don’t overmix your batter. Like, seriously. Lumpy pancake batter is key for light and fluffy pancakes, so ensure that it looks similar to the photos above.
- Sifting your ingredients really helps with the fluffiness. If you don’t have a strainer, sieve or sifter, that’s okay you can still make the recipe, I do recommend it however.
- While pancakes aren’t as precise as baking a cake, I would still recommend weighing out your ingredients. It ensures the perfect consistency of the batter.
- Ensure all your wet ingredients are room temperature. Cold soy milk doesn’t mix very well, so I always pull a new container (I usually make several batches of pancakes at a time) OR I take my bottle from the fridge, pour out what I need and warm it up in the microwave so its room temperature. If you’re planning ahead, you can always just leave it on your counter until it is room temperature.
- Freeze your pancakes so they last! I recommend flash freezing them then heating them up in your toaster oven. They remain just as light and fluffy.
- If you’re making a lot of pancakes, you can preheat your oven to 200°F and keep them on a baking pan in the oven while you make the rest.
Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
How does this recipe have Chlosterol when it is Vegan?
Thanks so much for pointing this out Edward its definitely an error on our part. We’ll fix it.