Carrot Cake Loaf

Get ready to indulge in this moist and delicious Carrot Cake Loaf - made with fresh carrots and warm spices, this recipe is perfect for any occasion! This easy-to-make recipe features a light and fluffy dairy-free cake made, topped with a thick cream cheese frosting.

So let’s get down to favorites, if you could only choose one cake that is better than all the others, which of all the ones out there would you choose? Chocolate? Vanilla? Let me know in the comments below!

Without a millisecond of thought carrot will always have my heart. It’s full of flavors that are both comforting and tender but also sweetly topped with lasshings of cream cheese fosting that I cannot resist. This carrot cake in a loaf tin makes this a really rustic dish.

Ingredients and substitutions for Carrot Cake Loaf

Sunflower Oil: Light sunflower oil lends a beautiful texture to this loaf cake without adding additional flavor, though you could substitute with olive oil for a more earthy flavor.
Eggs: The eggs helps to bind the ingredients and gives the loaf structure whilst also being light.
Sugar: The brown sugars helps add a light complimentary flavor to the spices and helps activate the baking soda, they also add the beautiful color that we know and love in a carrot cake or carrot loaf. The confectioner’s or icing sugar helps our cream cheese frosting be light.
Flour: Plain or all purpose flour is best to create a nice light crumb to our cake.
Baking soda: This is the key to the our cake lightly rising thanks to the brown sugar (the acid that baking soda needs to work with to rise) so don't leave it out, unless you are using self raising flour. You cannot sub baking powder like for like for this recipe as baking soda is 3-4 times stronger so you would need plenty more which would leave an after taste!
Ground spices: Ground cinnamon and nutmeg work to add depth to the loaf and compliment the carrot flavor and brown sugars.
Carrots: Raw orange carrots that are nice and crisp were used for a full and fresh flavor.
Walnuts: For some people walnuts are controversial in carrot cake, but honestly, walnuts add a little crunch and the flavor compliments the carrots and ground spices.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make Carrot Cake Loaf:

Place the sugars, oil and eggs and whisk until well combined, approximately 2 minutes.

In a separate bowl place the flour, baking soda, baking powder and ground spices and stir to combine.

Toss the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold until your cake batter is formed and no dry portions remain on the edges of your bowl.

Really fold here because the wet ingredients will sneakily puddle up in spots and the batter will be quite thick by the time you have finished incorporating.

Add the grated carrot and roughly chopped walnuts and fold until well combined.

Pour into your loaf tin and smooth out on top.

Bake until golden and a skewer comes out clean, approximately 1 hour 5 minutes

Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes before placing on a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, place the butter into a bowl and whip until pale, approximately 3 minutes.

Toss in the sugar and whip until it's well combined and smooth, at least 1 minute.

Add the cream cheese and whip a further 30 seconds before adding in the vanilla extract and combine.

Spoon on the top of your loaf and smear out over the entire loaf.

Slice and serve.

Dig in!

FAQ's for the best Carrot Cake Loaf

What causes a carrot cake to be dry?

Freshness of your carrots factor in here, you’ll want whole fresh carrots that snap when you bend them. They hold more moisture which will result in a moist texture to your baked cake. Grating your carrots on the finest setting of your grater works best here and helps ensure the carrots are strewn more easily throughout the entire cake batter. Using oil also works best here because it will hold the moisture best and is liquid at room temperature unlike butter.