This delicious Carrot Cake Bread is made with plenty of fresh carrot, warming spices, and brown sugar, then covered in a delicious cinnamon cream cheese frosting. This delicious bread is one of a kind and perfect for Easter or any time of year.

Why You Will LOVE This Carrot Cake Bread

It’s everything you love about carrot cake in an easy to make loaf!
CREAM. CHEESE. FROSTING. (need I say more?!)
It’s filled with plenty of warming carrot cake spices. Yummy!
It’s easy to customize! Add a handful of raisins, use your favorite, nuts or add in some orange zest.

Watch How to Make This Recipe

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Get all of our favorite reader favorite carrot cake recipes!

Carrot Cake Quick Bread Ingredients

This is an overview of the main ingredients in this recipe. See the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions, below.

Butter: melted butter gives the bread a delicious flavor while also giving it a great texture.

Greek yogurt: to keep this bread nice and moist we’re using a bit of Greek yogurt.

Applesauce: the addition of unsweetened applesauce adds a tender moistness to the bread without adding any additional sweetener.

Shredded carrot: for the best results, use a box grater to grate your carrot. If you use store-bought shredded carrots they can be a bit too tough and crunchy for the bread.

Chopped walnuts: nuts are always optional, of course, but a delicious addition!

Brown sugar: this recipe uses dark brown sugar for that delicious flavor.

Flour: we’re using two cups of all purpose flour.

Vanilla extract: you cannot have a carrot cake without a heavy dose of delicious vanilla extract.

Spices: various spices like warm cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg all come together to give the bread that classic carrot cake flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use Almond Flour or Coconut Flour?

No, this recipe will not work if you use almond flour or coconut flour as a one-to-one replacement for the gluten-free flour.

Can I Use Gluten Free Flour?

Yes! If you would like to use gluten free flour instead of all purpose flour that will work fine.

Can I Use Coconut Sugar?

Yes! If you would like, you can substitute the dark brown sugar in this recipe for coconut sugar.

Can I Use Honey or Maple Syrup Instead of Brown Sugar?

No. Using a liquid sweetener like honey or maple syrup will change the texture of this bread.

Can I Use Coconut Oil?

Yes. However, unless you use refined coconut oil, it will give the bread a coconut flavor. If you do choose to use coconut oil in this recipe, be sure to measure the coconut oil when it is solid and then melt for use in the recipe.

What Can I Use Instead of Applesauce?

If for some reason you do not want to use applesauce, I would recommend using mashed banana instead.

Helpful Kitchen Tools

The Best Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese: use full-fat cream cheese for the best and tastiest results.

Vanilla Extract: adds that delicious vanilla flavor to the frosting.

Cinnamon: a little cinnamon adds even more warming spice to the bread and plays off the flavor of the spices in the bread.

Powdered sugar: this adds sweetness to the frosting.

Orange Juice: this helps thin out the frosting a bit and gives the cream cheese frosting the BEST flavor. If you really love that orange flavor you can add in a bit of fresh orange zest as well.

How to Make This Carrot Cake Bread Recipe

See the recipe card for full ingredients and instructions, below.

Step One: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Step Two: To a large mixing bowl add the melted butter, Greek yogurt, applesauce, dark brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Stir all of the ingredients together until well combined.

Step Three: Next, add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, and salt to the wet mixture. Stir until everything is well combined.

Step Four: Once well combined, fold the shredded carrots and walnuts into the batter.

Step Five: Transfer the carrot cake bread batter to a 9×5 pan that has been lined with parchment paper. Bake the bread at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out mostly clean with no raw batter. Cover the bread loosely with foil, halfway through, to prevent it from becoming too brown if necessary. Let the bread cool in the pan before transferring it to a wire rack.

Step Six: While the bread is cooling make the cream cheese frosting. Add the room temperature cream cheese, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer to whip until well combined and smooth. Next, add a tablespoon of orange juice and continue to whip until fluffy. You can add another tablespoon of juice if you want a thinner consistency.

Step Seven: Once the bread has cooled completely, spread the cream cheese frosting on top of the bread. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Ways to Top Your Bread

While the cream cheese frosting is a delicious topping all on it’s own, feel free to add an extra sprinkle of chopped nuts, cinnamon, or even finely shredded carrots to the top of your bread.

Tips and Tricks for the Best Bread

Be sure to use fresh baking soda to ensure that your bread rises properly.
If you like raisins in your carrot cake, feel free to add in a handful of raisins to the bread as well.
To prevent sticking, line your loaf pan with parchment paper before adding the batter. You can use a bit of oil to help the parchment paper stick to the loaf pan. Using parchment will also make it easier to remove the bread from the pan.
I like to turn the bread halfway through cooking to ensure that it cooks evenly.
You can insert a wooden skewer into the center of the bread to check on its doneness. Once it comes out clean the bread should be done.
When making the cream cheese frosting be sure that the cream cheese and almond milk are room temperaturebefore mixing. This will help to avoid any lumps in your frosting.

How to Store

You can store your carrot cake bread on the counter, tightly wrapped, for 3-4 days. If you need it to keep for a bit longer, I recommend storing the bread in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week.

How to Freeze

Yes! If you want to freeze your carrot cake bread, here are a few of my favorite tips.

Wait to frost the entire loaf if you know you will be freezing some or all of the bread. You can make the cream cheese frosting and serve it drizzled over a slice instead of the entire bread.
I recommend slicing the bread before freezing unless you know you are going to serve and eat the entire loaf at one time.
To freeze the bread, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place the wrapped bread in a freezer safe storage bag. When you are ready to eat, remove a slice of bread, or the entire loaf, from the freezer and let it thaw on the counter top.
If you would like, you can reheat a slice of carrot cake bread in the oven at 350 degrees, wrapped in foil, for a few minutes.

More Delicious Quick Bread Recipes

I hope you give this Carrot Cake Bread a try! The cinnamon cream cheese frosting is out of this world good.

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