Carrot Cake Loaf
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Nothing says fall holiday baking quite like a deliciously moist carrot cake loaf loaded down with the spices of the season and topped with a generous portion of cream cheese icing.
I’m so excited to share this carrot cake loaf recipe with you today. This recipe came from my friend, Amanda, who is a kitchen genius. Everything Amanda makes is good, so I know you’ll love this decadent carrot cake loaf as much as we do.
I personally love that this loaf has the same delicious flavors and texture as a traditional carrot cake, just in a smaller, more portable version. It’s perfect for traveling, as who wants to travel with a traditional three-layer cake? (Not me!). It’s also a great idea for gift-giving. Take it as a hostess gift for the holidays or a special gift for friends, family, or coworkers.
As mentioned, this carrot cake loaf recipe is loaded with the exact same ingredients as a carrot cake and the same fall spices you’d also find in pumpkin bread, like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Studded with raisins and pecans, the only difference is you bake it in a loaf pan rather than a cake pan. Then you get to top it with scrumptious cream cheese icing.
This carrot cake loaf is easy to make with simple ingredients, so let’s get baking! And if you love this recipe be sure to check out some of our other delicious carrot recipes like Carrot Cake Bars, Carrot Cake Blondies, and Skillet Carrot Cake from Southern Cast Iron.
Recipe Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Grated carrot
- Raisins
- Chopped pecans
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Salt
Cream Cheese Icing
- Cream cheese (here’s our homemade cream cheese recipe)
- Butter
- Powdered sugar
- Heavy cream or milk
- Vanilla extract
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Carrot Cake Loaf
In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt until combined.
In another large bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar until combined. Then, add in the oil and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until fully incorporated.
You can use an electric mixer or a spoon to mix your carrot cake batter.
With a spatula, fold in the carrots, raisins, and pecans.
Pour this into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the carrot cake loaf from the oven when done and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan to cool completely.
Now we need to make our carrot cake loaf frosting!
Mix all of the frosting ingredients together, using additional milk if you’d like your icing a bit thinner.
Frost the cooled loaf and top with a few extra pecans if you like.
Enjoy this wonderful treat!
Storage
- Cover and store leftover carrot bread in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- This bread also freezes well and extra pecans on top help keep the icing pretty once you wrap it to freeze. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months and thaw in the fridge before serving.
Recipe Notes
- You can substitute granulated sugar for light or dark brown sugar or coconut sugar.
- I definitely recommend shredding the carrot at home and not using pre-shredded carrot, as it can be hard and dry.
- Instead of raisins, add in chocolate chips, sweetened shredded coconut, or dried cranberries. You can also substitute the pecans for walnuts.
- For cinnamon cream cheese icing, add 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the frosting ingredients. Another option is to add a tablespoon of maple syrup to make maple cream cheese icing.
- Because it can last in the fridge for up to a week, this carrot cake loaf is a great recipe to make ahead of time.
- This unfrosted carrot loaf recipe is naturally dairy-free.
You may also like these other carrot cake recipes:
Skillet Carrot Cake from Southern Cast Iron
Carrot Cake Recipe from Southern Cakes!
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 carrots, grated about 1 cup
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Icing
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 cup butter, unsalted if you have it but salted is fine
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon heavy cream or milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt until combined.1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- In another large bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar until combined. Then, add in the oil and vanilla.3 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup vegetable oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until fully incorporated. With a spatula, fold in the carrots, raisins, and pecans.3 carrots, grated, 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 1/2 cup raisins
- Pour this into a greased 9×5 loaf pan and bake at 350 for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven when done and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan to cool completely.
- Mix all of the frosting ingredients together, using additional milk if you’d like your icing a bit thinner. Frost the cooled loaf and top with a few extra pecans if you like. Enjoy!4 oz cream cheese, 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon heavy cream or milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 cup butter, unsalted if you have it but salted is fine
Nutrition
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Can You Add Pineapple
(Crushed) To This Recipe
To Add Some Extra Flavor?
That sounds fun! Let me know how it goes!
Hello from Australia 🙂 First time commenter and first time trying your recipes from your site. No regrets and definitely coming back for more. I baked this a few days ago for playgroup morning tea. Did not even frost and it was a hit!! Kids loved it and even the mums went back for more. It was SO EASY to make —the hardest part was grating the carrots really— and the loaf turned out very moist and delicious. (Had to omit pecans as we are in nut-free zone. Might replace with sunflower and pumpkin seeds the next time I bake this again). Bookmarking this for all future carrot cake bakes. Thank youuuu 🙂
G’day! 🙂 Really glad you loved it!! And thank you for the rating and the comment.
Made this cake yesterday. Good flavor but it was too dry. May try again and reduce Baking time some.
Sorry to hear it was dry. Good idea about reducing the baking time. All ovens are a bit different.
I like this as I live by my self. It’s not too much.
Can this recipe be done as Gluten Free?
Yes! I have used almond flour successfully with this recipe. And here is another gluten free recipe for you using almond flour. I will be adding more gluten free recipes to the site over the next few months so stay tuned! https://www.wellplated.com/gluten-free-carrot-cake/
I was curious why you used so much oil. My cake was so greasy and I had to pour oil off.
Debbie
I’m sorry you had that happen. I’m afraid my experience is different so I can’t speak directly to this. This is a recipe from my dear friend, Amanda, and I just follow it exactly as written. It turns out great each time I make it. Having said that, though, I encourage you to modify it and make it your own. If you decide to reduce the oil, I wouldn’t go much less than 3/4 cup just to make sure it stays close to the original.
Christy, several people have asked you to provide the actual cup measurement for three carrots since they come in different sizes but you’ve failed to respond to each inquiry. I find that very disappointing.
Hey Becky, I responded to your email saying this earlier and just saw it in the comments as well so I’m copying and pasting my response here also.
Thanks for pointing that out. In the busyness of life I had missed it. I’ll add the details in when I get home, out with my husband right now. It’s about a cup of carrots though.
I’m sorry you were disappointed in me but hang on because I’m sure I’ll disappoint you further as I’m a most fallible human. I do my best but at the end of the day I must rely solely on the grace of God and kindness of other fallible humans.
Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!
Gratefully,
Christy
Could you add pineapple to this recipe?
I think that would be a great addition! I would just drain it well so it doesn’t add too much extra moisture.
Nasty comment! I read above where she DID answer another persons same question with “about 1 cup”