Carrot Cake Bread
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Perfectly moist, sweet and crazy delicious carrot cake in loaf form. Top it with cream cheese icing, add chopped pecans, make it yours! This Carrot Cake Bread will become a Springtime recipe staple in your kitchen, guaranteed.
After enjoying this bread recipe try my Cream Cheese Frosted Pumpkin Bread, Sweet Potato Bread, Lemon Blueberry Bread, and Easy Moist Banana Bread next.
Carrot cake bread is a fun twist on two of my favorite things: cake and bread. I know, I know, that sounds kind of simple but truly when a mashup like this comes along, I just get so excited – it’s everything you love about a sweet bread (cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and carrots in this case) and everything you love about cake (okay all of the same ingredients and plus optional frosting). But you don’t feel so bad when you’re eating carrot cake bread and not carrot cake…cake. Long story short – make this, make it now!
How to Make This Recipe
- First, preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch loaf pan. (not pictured)
- Then, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. (photo 1)
- In a large bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs, then stir in the shredded carrots. (not pictured)
- Combine the batter by adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir it by hand until it’s just combined and there are no more steaks of flour. (Do not over-mix.) (photo 2)
- Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes (on a rack in the lower third of the oven) until a toothpick inserted deep into the center comes out clean (a few loose crumbs are fine, but you don’t want any wet batter!). (photo 3)
- Allow to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. (photo 4)
- Finally, if you’re making the frosting, you can do this while the cake cools.
Making the Frosting (optional)
- In a medium bowl cream together the cream cheese and the butter for 2-3 minutes.
- Mix in the vanilla and the salt, then add powdered sugar one cup at a time until it’s completely incorporated, and frosting is fluffy. (If it’s too thick, you can mix in 1 tablespoon of milk.)
- Frost the cake loaf, slice, and serve.
Why This Recipe Works
So delicious – So moist, sweet, carroty, cinnamony, and deliciously frosted (if you want!) that you’ll want to make it over and over again.
Great for guests – Did I mention this carrot cake loaf is so very delicious? So delicious that you might even want to share it with others. Maybe. But seriously, I love to make this carrot bread for Easter morning to share with the family. And it’s also great for brunches with houseguests.
Optional frosting – Unfortunately (for me) most of my family prefers this carrot cake loaf unfrosted. So we’ll serve it like you would any other banana bread or banana muffin, for breakfast or a snack. Buuuuut it’s also so good frosted and eaten as dessert! Just one extra step and voila! Dessert is ready!
Simple ingredients – You probably have all the things you need for this carrot bread in your pantry and fridge right now. (Go ahead and check, I’ll wait.) See? You can whip this up for tomorrow’s breakfast tonight, or today for dessert. Easy, peasy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Unfortunately, even though carrot cake has veggies in it, it’s still a cake made with oil, butter, and sugar and it still is a dessert, which generally means it’s not in the “healthy” category. But I say everything in moderation and a little slice of carrot cake loaf with frosting is okay!
Recipe Customizations
- Do you love bread with nuts? Me too! I often add chopped walnuts to this carrot cake loaf. Just about ¼ cup will do. I also like to sprinkle some chopped walnuts over the top of the frosting too.
- A little nutmeg is also really good in carrot cake loaf. A teaspoon is plenty.
- Coconut flakes are really yummy in this recipe too. I like to sprinkle them on top of the frosting or mix them into the batter. About ¼ cup of coconut flakes is perfect.
- Serve this carrot cake bread with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side – you won’t be sorry!
Expert Tips
- Carrot tip: Be sure to grate the carrots yourself, do not use pre-shredded carrots – they are too large and dried out, this recipe needs the moisture of freshly grated carrots. On that note, you do not need to squeeze/drain your shredded carrots.
- If you’re making the frosting, use full-fat cream cheese. Anything other than full-fat cream cheese will not taste great or mix correctly.
- If your cake begins to brown too much on top in the oven, place a sheet of foil loosely over the top of the cake pan. (I usually do this about halfway through the baking time.)
- Store the carrot cake bread recipe into an airtight container for up to 3 days or in the fridge up to 5 days.
More Recipes To Check Out
Looking for all the carrot recipes? I’ve got you covered! Try these Carrot Cake Muffins, Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, and Cream Cheese Swirled Carrot Cake Bars.
- Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken with Potatoes and Carrots
- Honey Brown Sugar Roasted Carrots
- Carrot Cake
- Carrot Coriander Soup
- Carrot Souffle
- Carrot Cake Cookies
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Carrot Cake Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ⅔ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups finely shredded carrots, see note
Frosting (optional)
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch loaf pan.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a large bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Stir in the shredded carrots.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir by hand until just combined and there are no more steaks of flour. (Do not over-mix)
- Transfer batter to your prepared baking pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes (on a rack in the lower third of the oven) until a toothpick inserted deep into the center comes out clean (a few loose crumbs are fine but no wet batter!). *If your cake begins to brown too much on top, place a sheet of foil loosely over the top of the cake pan, I usually do this about halfway through the baking time.
- Allow to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
- If making the frosting, you can do this while the cake cools.
Making the Frosting
- In a medium bowl cream together cream cheese and butter for 2-3 minutes.
- Mix in vanilla and salt, then add powdered sugar one cup at a time until completely incorporated and frosting is fluffy. (If too thick, you can mix in 1 tablespoon of milk)
- Frost your cake loaf, slice, and serve.
- Store in airtight container up to 3 days or in fridge up to 5 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Tiffany, I’m 83 and wonder if you can suggest healthy meals for one person.
Hello! There are healthy recipes on this website that you can browse through and pick the ones you like 🙂 you can also hover over the amount of servings and a bar will pop up and you can move it down to one serving. The ingredients will change for the one serving. Hope you find some recipes you enjoy!
Recipe is great,Note if using electric oven lower temp to 300 to prevent it from burning and check cooktime at about 45.minites
If you add coconut, should it be sweetened or unsweet?
I think either could work- but I prefer unsweetened!
Still want to try the Carrot Cake Bread recipe, but I am waiting to hear back about the number of eggs to use. The unmixed wet ingredients show 3 eggs, but the written recipe lists 2 eggs. Thanks.
Sorry for the delay- 3 eggs! The recipe is updated. Thanks!
Thank you for the recipe update for your carrot cake bread re. the number of eggs.
I have a question about your Carrot Cake Bread recipe. The written directions state to use 2 large eggs, yet the photo showing the wet ingredients, prior to mixing together, shows 3 eggs. Which is correct? Thanks in advance
Sorry about that mistake- the recipe is updated! 3 eggs is correct.
Made this with crushed pineapple instead of applesauce (because it’s what I had) and added 1/3 cup of coconut. Oh. My. Gosh. Amazing! We polished it off super fast and I’m making more. It’s a wonderful bread for breakfast, especially if you don’t add the cream cheese frosting. It reminds me a lot of the carrot cake my Mom made when I was a kid from the Lion House recipes but in bread form. WOW!
I made the carrot cake bread exactly as written. This is fantastic! The bread is very moist and the top has a nice crust. My husband really liked it and my daughter (who is my Mikey) really like it too! Great recipe.
Can I replace the oil w butter? So excited to make this.
No, that will not create the correct end result!
Could you add some crushed pineapple? I’m wondering about replacing some of the applesauce but not sure how to do that. My mom used to make carrot cake with pineapple and I loved it!! I plan on making this tomorrow!
You could sub crushed pineapple for the applesauce 🙂
I don’t have any applesauce on hand, can I substitute!!
Hi Kathy! You could substitute it for oil.
If substituting oil for applesauce is it equal amounts?
Yes!