Carrot Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Nothing beats a rich moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, unless of course it’s a rich moist carrot bread with cream cheese frosting ~ so much easier (all the benefits with half the work!) Plus permission to have carrot cake with your morning coffee. Win.

carrot bread ingredient notes

• carrots ~ 2 or 3 to make 1 1/2 cups grated. Do not buy pre-grated carrots, grate them yourself.
• walnuts ~ sub pecans if you prefer.
• shredded coconut ~ I use sweetened shredded coconut which is moist. Unsweetened shredded coconut is very dry and can dry out your cake.
• flour ~ all purpose
• sugar ~ white
• vegetable oil ~ your choice
• eggs ~ large
• cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves ~ this combination of spices gives the cake its nice rich color.
• vanilla ~ don’t skip this, it brings all the flavors together.
• baking soda ~ a little needed lift for a heavy batter.
• cream cheese ~ brick style. With my revolutionary technique for making the frosting you won’t even need to bring the cheese to room temperature.
• butter
• powdered sugar
• salt

the (cream cheese) icing on the cake

It’s what pulls it all together and makes this carrot bread, well, almost a cake! An irresistible cake if I do say so myself.

Shhhhh! My cream cheese frosting secret…

I don’t want everyone to know my secret to perfect cream cheese frosting so lean in…it’s the food processor!

• Pile the cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt into your food processor and pulse/process until everything is combined.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then process briefly until smooth and silky.
• With this method you can even start with cold ingredients! The food processor blasts any potential lumps even from fridge-cold cream cheese ~ score!
• If you don’t have a food processor, check out these handy tips for bringing cold ingredients to room temperature in a jiffy.

Customize your carrot bread

• Leave out the walnuts, or substitute pecans. If you have the time, roast them for 15 minutes in a 350F oven, the flavor is amazing.
• Leave out the coconut, or double down and also sprinkle it on top of the frosting.
• Add raisins, I love golden.
• Simplify the spices and just use a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Storing and freezing carrot bread

• Store any leftovers in the fridge. Cream cheese frosting shouldn’t be left at room temperature for more than a couple of hours for safety. 
• To freeze carrot bread, wrap the baked but unfrosted bread tightly and freeze it.  Thaw and then frost when ready to serve.

Making carrot bread ahead of time

• if you want to make this bread ahead of time, bake the bread, let it fully cool, then wrap in foil and refrigerate for up to a couple of days. Frost when ready to serve.

put these quick breads on your to do list

• Paleo Fruit and Nut Bread 
• Maple Oat Nut Banana Bread
• Easy One Bowl Pumpkin Bread
• Amish Cinnamon Bread
• Lemon Poppy Seed Zucchini Bread
• Rhubarb Bread

Carrot Bread

5 from 27 votes

Carrot Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting is packed with shredded carrots, nuts, and coconut, then iced with a thick layer of everybody's favorite frosting!

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Prep Time:15 minutes minutes

Cook Time:1 hour hour

Total Time:1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 10 slices

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Equipment

• 9×5 loaf pan
• parchment paper

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
• 3/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Cream cheese frosting

• 4 ounces cream cheese, brick style
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350F and line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper.
  
• Whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, spices, and salt.
  
• Add the flour and mix to combine.
  
• Fold in the carrots, walnuts, and coconut.
  
• Mix until everything is evenly combined, but don't over mix.
  
• Spread the batter into your prepared baking pan and even out the top.
  
• Bake for about 60-70 minutes until risen and fully cooked.
  
• Allow the cake to cool before frosting.
• To make the cream cheese frosting, add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a food processor.
  
• Process briefly until smooth. Scrape down the sides if necessary to get all the dry sugar incorporated.
  
• Frost the cooled loaf cake generously.
  

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Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Author: Sue Moran

Keyword: carrot cake, easter, loaf cake, quick bread, spring

Nutrition

Calories: 505 kcal · Carbohydrates: 55 g · Protein: 5 g · Fat: 33 g · Saturated Fat: 21 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 54 mg · Sodium: 307 mg · Potassium: 171 mg · Fiber: 2 g · Sugar: 42 g · Vitamin A: 3515 IU · Vitamin C: 1 mg · Calcium: 40 mg · Iron: 1 mg

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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