Talk about a food that is full of beta carotene and good for those peepers, it’s a carrot cake but in breakfast form. Well, then again, this is a girl who would gladly eat a slice of carrot cake for breakfast so I guess I should be a little more specific, shouldn’t I? This decadent breakfast is for the pancake lovers out there who are looking for new ways to sneak in good-for-you ingredients* without even knowing it.
*Please note that these are sweetened with 1/4 c. brown sugar but if you like your pancakes with less than that because you think your syrup is sweet enough, I suggest using 1-2 Tablespoons or maybe omitting completely.
To make it more Carrot Cake-like, you can use a vegan cream cheese and powdered sugar drizzle which was way too sweet for my liking. Look, I love sweets just like everybody else but I have line to draw, people. Sometimes it can be too sweet and I prefer these Carrot Cake Pancakes with a light drizzle of maple syrup instead. Still want the recipe? Well, you asked for it (and have been warned).
Vegan Cream Cheese Drizzle:
In a small sauce pan, heat up 4 Tbsp. vegan cream cheese and 1 Tbsp. vegan butter over medium heat until melted. Stir in 1/3 c. non-dairy milk. Whisk in 1/2 c. powdered sugar until thickened. If it’s too runny for your preference, add a tablespoon at a time. If it is too thick add non-dairy milk by the tablespoon until desired consistency is reached. Remove from heat and whisk in 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Pour over your pancakes and eat immediately.
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These rich and delicious carrot cake pancakes will satisfy anyone’s bellies. Not to mention no one will ever know that they are gluten-free and vegan!
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 1/4 c. Cara’s All-Purpose Blend
- 1/4 c. brown sugar (gently packed)
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Wet ingredients:
- 1 c. nondairy milk
- 1/4 c. vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp. flaxseed meal + 2 Tbsp. water – thickened for 5 minutes
Add-ins:
- 1 1/2 c. finely shredded carrots (from approx. 4-5 medium carrots)
- 1/4 c. walnuts
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Create a hole in the middle and pour all of the wet ingredients and mix until almost combined. Add the carrots and walnuts and stir until fully combined. Allow for the batter to sit for 5 minutes to thicken up.
- Heat up a skillet on medium – medium/high heat. Once it is ready to go, grease with olive oil spray or lightly coat with vegan butter.
- Using approx. 1/4 c. to scoop out the batter, pour onto a fully-heated greased skillet.
- Once it begins to bubble and firm up on the sides enough to lift up with a spatula, it is ready to be flipped. Brown on the other side. Repeat with the remainder of the batter.
- Makes 8-10 pancakes. Serve with maple syrup or favorite pancake coating.
It’s the perfect Easter morning breakfast. Those kids are going to need all the energy they can get while they are hunting for those plastic eggs filled with candy and coins, right? Well now they will have the vision of lasers too…
If you want to you use your own blend or mix up the flours, feel free to do so–always understand that your results might be different. Nothing is guaranteed in this crazy world of gluten-free vegan baking. Need help with flour substitutions? Check out this: Guide to Gluten-Free Flours.
I posted these in our Friday links round up and ended up making them this morning — they are fantastic. I left out the walnuts (personal preference) and made the cream cheese drizzle with about half the sugar (I used all the sugar in the pancakes) and I think I could eat these every day if I weren’t too lazy to make pancakes every day.
haha, Here’s to finding the will to make them everyday 🙂 So glad you liked them!
Any idea if I can freeze them?? Any suggestions??
I’ve been making your recipe for a while now and it is a hit but my husband always makes this comment about them not being so fluffy. So today I added 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/4 apple cider vinegar and BAHM!! THEY ARE SUPER FLUFFY!!!
Also, instead of gluten free flour I used spelt flour and it was great!!!
Great news, Anna, thank you for letting us know! About freezing them, you can definitely do that. Tightly wrap them up in a sealed container/baggie and defrost when ready to eat. They won’t be as good as when hot off the griddle but it should be fine to eat regardless.
Can you clarify what kind of skillet you used? I have had trouble with gluten free and vegan pancakes getting stuck to my skillet – I do not use non-stick pans. Wanted to make sure this recipe is friendly to stainless steel skillets before I give it a whirl. Thanks!
Cara – these look incredible. My poor husband cannot eat rice. Is there anything at all that I can use as a substitute for the brown rice flour that is also gluten free?? I need your help!! And he really wants these 🙂
Hi sweet Deepa! Check out this post, I think you will find it super helpful for substituting flours: http://www.forkandbeans.com/2013/12/30/guide-gluten-free-flours/
My thoughts: You could probably find best results with oat flour 🙂 Hope that helps! xo
I made these this morning for myself, thank goodness no one else was home, because they did not come out right 🙁 I’m not a vegan baker, but I do like to try new healthy recipes, so I have some vegan ingredients on hand, but I’m not experienced with substituting vegan ingredients. This is what happened: I used coconut flour, turbinado sugar, almond milk and ground my flaxseed fine with a coffee grinder. I meant to add a little molasses to make the sugar moister, but I forgot. When I added the wet ingredients to the dry, the mix was very dry and crumbly. I ended up adding way more milk and more flax/water mix and it was still very thick and crumbly, but moist. I tried cooking the batter in a skillet, but it fell apart, The flavor is good. I ended up putting it in a square baking pan and it is currently in the oven at 450 degrees. Where did I make my biggest mistakes? Thanks.
Hi Sue! Sorry to hear about the carrot cake pancake flop 🙁 Gluten-free vegan baking is very fickle so when you make any changes you fall prey to results that are different than the original recipe. It sounds like coconut flour is your culprit, especially if you used it completely in sub of the gf flour mix that I use. The reason the cakes became dry and crumbly is because coconut flour is like a sponge and will absorb any liquid in its way. Anytime you use this type of flour is should be in tandem with another flour(s) and only in a small amount. Hope that helps!
two of my faves in one! brilliant!! 😀
OMG. I have got to try this. Maybe for my boyfriend – he loves all sweet vegan things I make for him, but it’s a bit harder to make him eat salad… Oh well, have to start somewhere!
Yum, these look incredible and sooo totally creative. Love it. <3
Thank you so much, Beth!
Hippy Mom, I would put some kind of carrot cream ice cream(carrots are sweet)on top of your recipe. Yeah Im a super skinny fat girl. But I was impressed with your dedication and weekly multiple post of orgasmic delighted food items for my binge face. Roll with what I typed to you. XOXo
Ps. I will make this, this weekend
Well, aren’t you just super decadent with your pancake?? hehe. Always LOVE hearing from you girl! xo
Ummmm…yeah, so I am posting pancakes tomorrow. Haha! No joke they are from Lexie’s cookbook! These look delish:)
Oh my, those pancakes look so good in the Lexie’s book–I cannot wait to read your review! I love how we both have cakes of pan on the brain 🙂
Aha. NOW I see why you were advocating pancakes for breakfast! I am always too hungry to wait. When I get into the kitchen I start to prepare pancakes but am stuffing myself the whole time so that when they’re ready I’m full. So… have you ever made and frozen them to toast later or am I completely out of my gourd? You see I want them, I want them now. I’m also changing my name to Veruka (sp?). xoxo
I so do the same thing, Laurel! In fact, I do the same with cookies, cupcakes, and dinner. Pretty much everything that I eat 😉 I have THOUGHT about freezing them but never get around to it. Does that count, Veruca Salt?
These look amazing! What are the ingredients for Cara’s all-purpose flour blend?
Hilarious. I swear I need to sew my brain into my head (as if that will help!) This past week I have been SO forgetful and clumsy, it’s rather frightening. Thank you for the comment, Rebecca. It’s in the post now! xo
Thank you Thank you!!
Oh YUM! Two of my favorite things combined in to one. looks delish! 🙂
A rather guilt-free indulgence 🙂
Cara, these look and sound divine! Will be sharing lots of places and even including them in an All Gluten-Free Desserts carrot cake roundup. 😉
Thanks, dear! xo,
Shirley
That’s what I love to hear, Shirley! xo