Adapted from carrot cake and pumpkin bread, this supremely moist carrot cake loaf is even more wildly delicious than it looks. It’s dense, yet ultra soft and flavored with brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Serve plain or spruce it up with walnuts, raisins, pecans, and/or top with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. No matter how you serve it, this quick bread will become a staple in your kitchen. 1 loaf disappears FAST!
This is carrot cake turned into a carrot cake loaf and you have total control over its sweetness and dessertyness.
Why yes, dessertyness is a new word we’ll explore today.
One reader, Lori, commented: “I’ve eaten many variations of carrot cakes over my years, and I must say, this is probably the best I’ve tried—and baked—yet! The flavors of the warm spices are rich in the crumb, it is so very moist, and who doesn’t love a delicious cream cheese frosting! I am thinking of making this for my Easter family dinner to end a yummy meal! This will now be my go-to carrot cake loaf! ★★★★★”
Is it Cake? Is it Bread?
Both.
As pictured, this carrot cake loaf is basically carrot cake in a loaf pan. If you skip the frosting and reduce the sugar, you have a lightly sweetened carrot quick bread. I tested this batter with all different amounts of brown sugar. 1 cup (200g) of packed brown sugar produced a sweet cake-like loaf. 3/4 cup or 2/3 cup produced a lightly sweetened loaf. Any less than that produced a bland loaf. Feel free to use anywhere between 2/3 – 1 cup depending on the flavor and level of dessertyness (ha!) that you want.
Also, feel free to substitute the brown sugar with white granulated sugar or coconut sugar. But keep in mind the loaf won’t be as tender and moist.
Video Tutorial
This Carrot Cake Loaf Is:
- Wonderfully spiced and flavorful
- Stick-to-the-back-of-your-fork moist
- Sweetened with brown sugar
- Easy to make—from mixing bowl to oven in minutes
- Excellent plain or with cinnamon cream cheese on top
Most of its flavor comes from cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, brown sugar, and carrots. Ginger adds a tasty zing, but isn’t overpowering at all. Like my favorite apple cinnamon bread and banana bread, the crumb is dense but still super soft.
Plus, you can create plenty of variations from this recipe. Leave it plain or add raisins, chopped pecans, chopped walnuts, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, etc. Turn the loaf into carrot cake muffins or even add a cinnamon swirl & topping like we do with this cinnamon swirl quick bread. The streusel topping from orange cranberry bread would taste awesome on this loaf too. I always appreciate basic & multipurpose recipes like this!
Overview: How to Make Carrot Cake Loaf
You need 2 mixing bowls: 1 for the dry ingredients including flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices and another mixing bowl for the wet ingredients including oil, brown sugar, applesauce/yogurt (either work), eggs, vanilla, and carrots. Combine everything together and pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake time is about 1 hour, give or take.
Success Tip: When baking with carrots, my #1 tip is to shred whole carrots at home. Do not use packaged pre-shredded carrots because they are hard and dry. When you shred them, you’ll notice how wet they are—that’s essential moisture for your carrot loaf! Just like shredded zucchini creates unparalleled moisture in peanut butter chocolate chip zucchini bread.
Optional Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
I LIVE FOR toppings on my baked goods. Cinnamon swirl? Totally. Streusel? Yes, please. Glaze? Absolutely.
Keeping this in mind, trust me when I say that this bread tastes phenomenal without an accessory on top. But if cream cheese frosting fits, we’re definitely wearing it. You need brick cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Add a little vanilla and cinnamon and you have a whole new level of flavor to complement your spiced carrot loaf.
You will not regret this.
If you’re not a fan of cream cheese frosting, vanilla buttercream will work great here, too.
Recipes with Carrots
Carrots are an underrated baking ingredient. They add natural sweetness, extra moisture, and taste wonderful with fall’s favorite spices. Why not bake with carrots more often?! Here’s a list of my favorite recipes using carrots.
- Carrot Cake: This is the golden standard for carrot cakes. It’s equally spiced, moist, and soft as today’s quick bread.
- Super Moist Carrot Cake: This is my go-to simple one layer carrot cake. It tastes a little denser than today’s carrot cake loaf.
- Pineapple Carrot Cake: This cake includes pineapple, a flavorful pairing with carrot. It’s slightly denser than today’s carrot cake loaf.
- Coconut Carrot Cake Cupcakes: These cupcakes include shredded coconut and coconut extract. They taste cakier than today’s quick bread.
- Harvest Spice Bread: Equally dense, yet soft. This bread is sort of like carrot cake, pumpkin bread, and apple bread all in one. One of my favorites!
- Cheesecake Swirl Carrot Bundt Cake: This big bundt cake is denser than today’s recipe. Fresh orange zest adds a pop of flavor and that cream cheese swirl is out of this world.
Carrot Cake Loaf (Quick Bread)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 4 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This carrot cake loaf is dense, yet ultra soft and flavored with brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Serve plain or spruce it up with walnuts, raisins, pecans, and/or top with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar* (see note)
- 1/3 cup (80g) unsweetened applesauce or yogurt, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (200g) peeled and shredded carrots* (about 3 large carrots)
- optional add-in: 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, raisins, or dried cranberries
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (Optional)
- 4 ounces (113g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. See notes for muffins or mini loaves.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg together in a large bowl until combined. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, eggs, brown sugar, applesauce, vanilla, and carrots together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently whisk until *just* combined. Fold in the nuts/add-in. Batter will be semi-thick.
- Spread the batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55 – 65 minutes. (I like to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent heavy browning on top.) Baking times vary so keep an eye on yours. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out *mostly* clean with zero raw batter. Remove the bread from the oven.
- Cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack before removing and frosting.
- Optional Frosting: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese in a medium bowl on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Beat in the butter until combined. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt (I usually add a little less than 1/8 teaspoon), then beat on low speed until smooth and creamy. Taste. Add more cinnamon and/or salt if desired. Frost cooled bread, slice, and serve.
- Storing without frosting: Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 3-4 days or in the refrigerator for up to about 10 days. Storing with frosting: Cover and store leftover bread in the refrigerator for up to about 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Loaf freezes best without frosting. Freeze baked & cooled loaf for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. If desired, bring to room temperature and frost before serving. To learn more details about how to freeze quick breads, see my post called Make-Ahead Baking.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Vegetable Peeler | Box Grater | 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand)
- Brown Sugar: I tested this batter with different amounts of brown sugar. 1 cup (200g) of packed brown sugar produced a sweet cake-like loaf. 3/4 cup or 2/3 cup produced a lightly sweetened loaf. Any less than that produced a bland loaf. Feel free to use anywhere between 2/3 – 1 cup depending on the flavor you want. You can substitute with white granulated sugar or coconut sugar, though the loaf won’t be as moist or flavorful. I don’t recommend liquid sweeteners.
- Applesauce/Yogurt: You can use either. If you don’t have either, use the same amount of mashed banana, crushed pineapple, or sour cream.
- Carrot: Don’t use pre-shredded carrots found in the produce aisle. They’re on the dry side. Rather, freshly grate 3 large carrots to yield approximately 1 and 1/2 cups of moist carrot shreds. Instead of carrots, you can use shredded apple or even shredded zucchini.
- Muffins: Prepare this batter as directed in step 2 and follow the baking instructions for morning glory muffins (steps 1 and 3). Makes about 14 muffins.
- Mini Loaves: Grease a mini loaf pan. Prepare batter as directed in step 2. Spoon batter evenly into greased cups, filling to the top. Bake at 350°F (177°C). Bake time and yield depend on the size of your mini loaf pan.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Subbed the flour for King Arthur gluten free 1:1 (180 gms, I use a food scale for all GF baking), and the loaf came out beautifully! I baked one with the crushed pineapple and one with the applesauce, delicious both ways.
Sally, this recipe is wonderful and have received compliments on the muffin version. Now, I would like to add raisins, coconut and nuts. Can you pls. lmk the amounts of each that can be added? I would also like to see a carrot bread recipe with pineapple and coconut. Thanks for all your great recipes!
Hi Ginny, we recommend keeping the total amount of add-ins to 3/4 of a cup.
Could this be made in a 8” round pan as well to make it go further?
Hi Kathy, we’re not sure if that would be a good size for this amount of batter. Here’e our one layer carrot cake, if you have a springform pan to use.
Can I use wholemeal flour instead of all purpose?
Hi Punita, using whole wheat or wholemeal flour would yield a more dense loaf. We would try a 50/50 mix.
I made this last year and we loved it – but now I have a little one with an egg allergy. I’m thinking yogurt could be the best substitute for the two eggs, but wondering if there’s a best path forward – I don’t know that two “flax” eggs would cut it here?
Hi Hillary, I wish we could help more but don’t have any experience baking with egg substitutes. Let us know what you try!
I made this today (muffins not loaf) and subbed flax “eggs” for real eggs. Worked beautifully. They are so moist and yummy.
Lovely recipe, might swap the canola oil with coconut oil the next time i try this recipe. Felt like the oil taste lingered after eating the loaf… but otherwise, it’s great
Does it matter whether you use light or dark brown sugar?
Hi Florence, you can use either–or a mix of both–in this recipe. Enjoy!
I make this two to three times a month, it’s wonderful! I share it with my friends at our pottery studio and they say it’s the best carrot cake they’ve ever had! Plus with the recipe in grams it’s always consistently good. My favorite!
What are your thoughts on replacing the applesauce with crushed pineapple? Thanks!
Hi Monica, You can use the same amount of crushed pineapple. See recipe notes for all of your options to replace the applesauce.
Made this for the first time. Doubled the recipe and made 2 loaves. Topped it with the cream cheese icing as in the recipe. The loaf is moist, perfectly spiced. The icing takes it to another level. I used 8×4″ loaf pans for 52 mins. Delicious!! I will be making this again.
Can this recipe be made gluten free?
Hi N Huff, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour so we’re unsure of the results. Although some readers report using an all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free flour in many of our recipes with success, you should expect slightly different results anytime you substitute ingredients. Let us know if you give it a try!
This is going into our rotation! Moist and so dang delicious! I made it as written, using yogurt instead of Applesauce. I added 2 tsp flax seeds, a handful of pre-soaked golden raisins and a ton of chopped walnuts. I used 2/3 cup brown sugar and the sweetness is totally on point (not too sweet!). I think I baked it for about 60 minutes total. Next time I’m going to add cranberries and raisins and more seeds instead of nuts, so it is school friendly. Thanks for continuing to create great recipes for us.
I make alot of your stuff and am always happy. However this time I made it, 12mins left and it looked dark so I loosely covered with foil and when I took it out the middle had fallen. Smells good, hope its cooked (60 min). Why would the middle fall?
Hi Connie, how did the bread turn out for you? Breads can typically sink in the middle when they are undercooked. A few additional minutes in the oven should help for next time. Be careful not to overmix the batter, too, which can also cause loaves to bake up squat and dense. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I have eaten many variations of carrot cakes over my years, and I must say this is probably the best I’ve tried, and baked, yet! The flavours of the warm spices are rich in the crumb, it is so very moist and who doesn’t love a delicious cream cheese frosting! I am thinking of making this for my Easter family dinner, to end a yummy meal! This will now be my go-to carrot cake loaf!
I made this recipe for the first time yesterday … what an incredible loaf cake! So moist, perfect bake (for me 60 minutes); I did not add the walnuts (allergies in the house) and it was delicious without! I did as Sally suggested and added a loosely-tented piece of foil over the top halfway through bake time to protect top from getting overly brown.
Cream cheese frosting (minus the cinnamon … preferences) added that beautiful finishing touch! This will be my go-to carrot cake/loaf (although who knows, after I try any other of Sally’s carrot cakes!).
This was so quick and easy to put together, and my whole family including my 2 toddlers loved it. We added the optional pecans and put about 3/4 cup of sugar. I kept the cream cheese icing on the side so we could enjoy it as both a dessert or a snack.
Well, I have been wanting to bake a carrot cake, but only wanted a small cake because a large layer cake with only 2 people is ETERNITY! This cake was fantastic. I added toasted chopped walnuts which added a little crunch and lots of flavor. The cinnamon cream cheese icing is off the chart delicious and adds greatly to the pure perfection of the flavor profiles.
I agree about the whole cake! I bought some 6 inch pans and you can make four of these with the carrot cake recipe. Two people can handle a 6 inch double decker with some commitment!
Everything I have made on this site has been great. This cake/ bread is no exception . I didn’t have a loaf pan on hand so used a 9×9 pan- cooked in 30 min at 350. Then cut in half and dressed like a cake – it was delicious. Not too sweet
I harvested about 10 lbs of carrots from the garden, shredded 3 cups to double the recipe. Unfortunately, I used oat flour and the cake/loaf seems saturated in oil, pretty dense. Do you have suggestions for using oat flour as a substitute for regular baking flour? Is it a 1 to 1 ration?
Also when measuring shredded carrots should I pack it or lightly fill the measuring cup.
Hi Jessika, happy to help. Oat flour will yield a dense, heavy loaf. We would try replacing only half the flour, if you would like to use oat flour. It will still have a more dense texture than all all-purpose flour. You want to lightly pack the shredded carrots – if you have a kitchen scale, that would be the most accurate way to measure. And lastly, so do recommend making separate batches instead of doubling for best results. It is easy to over or under-measure large batches of batter.
This is great— thanks so much for including the different amounts of sugar. I often reduce sugar in baking recipes and it’s awesome to have in the recipe a kind of “minimum possible amount”. I love this site and it always has exactly what I’m looking for!
I used 3/4 white whole wheat flour, 1/4 all purpose flour, Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup golden monk fruit sugar, and raisins and walnuts. In my oven (which is accurate), and a clear glass loaf pan, 47 minutes in the oven is perfect. For the last ten minutes, I put a cookie pan underneath the loaf pan, and cover the top loosely with foil. Did not have cream cheese in the house, so skipped the frosting. It is delicious as is, we don’t miss the frosting a bit. Super recipe!
So good! The frosting and bread are delicious!
This recipe is perfect, the proportions are spot on. Things I did specific to my taste: I added 1/4 tsp of ground cloves, for the add ins I like walnuts and dates so I diced 1/2 cup dried dates and 1/4 cup ground walnuts for a total of 3/4 cup add ins, and for the frosting I used a bit more butter (2.5 tbsp) and a bit less powdered sugar (~ 3/4 cup) and 2 pinches of salt – a richer, creamier, tastier frosting the 2nd time around when I did this. I found a cooking time of 65-70 minutes optimal, probably due to the fact that I used certain add ins and I used the full prepackaged applesauce container which had a bit more than the recipe called for.
Love it.
I found my dark metal pan made the ends too brown so I made it again today in a stoneware pan I forgot I owned and it came out much better. I think this will be on heavy rotation, it is super easy and so good.
After 30 minutes I went to cover the cake but the top was already black and smoke was coming out of the cake. The top of the cake superhard. When I removed it from the pan I saw that it also had black spots at the bottom already. The oven was at the correct temperature.
Hi Sarah! It sounds like your oven may run a little (or a lot!) hot if the loaf burned so quickly. We always recommend using an in-oven thermometer so you know the exact temperature of your oven. Most ovens run hot or cold!
This one’s a real delight! So moist and flavorful; I think the freshly grated carrots + spice blend are doing a lot of heavy lifting, there. Didn’t have any oil on hand, so I used melted unsalted better, and it was delicious. Such a lovely dessert or even breakfast!
Can this recipe be doubled?
Hi Maryanne, we recommend making two batches instead of doubling to avoid over or under-mixing a large amount of batter.
The only thing I would change is double the cream cheese recipe because that’s just my preference with carrot cake! Moist and perfect amount of spice!
I found this cake to be dry. I did not over bake it and followed the recipe exactly. I added both nuts and plumped up raisins. Next time I will add a small can of crushed pineapple. Tastes very good though.
It’s awesome!! But I would like to know is it ok if I use 7x 3.5×3 inch loaf pan?
Hi Vino, that will be too small for this much batter, but you could fill your pan half way to 2/3 way full and then use the leftover batter for a few muffins/cupcakes on the side. Bake time will be shorter.
This recipe is a winner. I used greek yogurt instead of applesauce and added golden raisens
Hi Sally. This is an excellent recipe. Thank you so much for sharing. I used yogurt and 150g of brown sugar and added 75g of raisins and 60g of pecans. I put most of the pecans in the batter but reserved some for sprinkling on the top of the loaf, then sprinkled the top with a bit of Sugar in the Raw. I did alter the cream cheese frosting recipe: I reduced the sugar to 50g, skipped the vanilla extract, and added 1 tsp of lemon zest (still used the butter and a pinch of salt). I measured 450g of batter into the tin, then spread the cream cheese mixture on it, avoiding the edges by 1″, then spooned the remaining batter on top. Outside In.