This Carrot Cake Bread is insanely easy, super moist and loaded with the classic carrot cake flavors you love – without all of the work! The best breakfast, snack or dessert and perfect for Easter!
This recipe was originally published in April 2020 – I’ve since updated the blog content and added new photos!
Happy Wednesday to you! So excited to be sharing this delicious sweet bread recipe with you today.
If you didn’t know, I’m pretty obsessed with carrot cake in general. It’s my all time favorite dessert and I’ve made many carrot cake variation recipes here on the blog!
So how could I not make it into a sweet bread?! It’s so simple, easy to whip up and SO delicious.
It would be perfect for an Easter brunch – warm, cozy, soft and moist, this Carrot Cake Bread is my new favorite thing.
Why You’re Gonna Love This Bread
Where to even begin? It’s an incredibly thick loaf cake/bread. Think of the texture/thickness of a big slice of banana bread – minus the bananas of course.
This bread gets all of the moistness it needs from the shredded carrots + shredded coconut! Oh, and not to mention the delicious glaze that tops it off. The glaze makes the top slightly crunchy with a sugary crust and oh my word – it’s to die for!
Another reason this bread stands out? It has cinnamon sugar drizzled throughout the middle! Yes – cinnamon sugar, aka the coziest, warmest spice known to man! It created a semi-swirl and an extra caramelized punch of sweetness throughout the bread.
But, for me, the one thing that I love most about this carrot cake bread is the fact that it truly delivers on all fronts when it comes to carrot cake – without all of the trouble of making a 3 layer cake with buttercream frosting!
Because really, who has the time for that?!? Okay, maybe I technically do have the time at this point in my life…but this bread is so much easier! Trust me! Alright…so let’s get into what you need for this!
What Ingredients Do You Need?
- Freshly shredded carrots (or see my pro tip below!)
- Pecans OR walnuts
- All purpose flour
- Cinnamon + ginger + nutmeg + all spice
- Granulated sugar + brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Whole milk
- Baking powder + baking soda
- Eggs
- Shredded unsweetened coconut
- powdered sugar
Best Tips for Making Carrot Cake Bread
If you have a food processor, I would recommend you just run your carrots through there until they are pulverized into small pieces that look something like this:
This prevents your arms from having to do a lot of work not to mention I love having little bite size pieces of carrots throughout instead of big shreds! It keeps the bread incredibly moist. See recipe notes below for the best way to do this!
Most of my baking recipes usually called for melted butter – but this one calls for softened butter! Make sure to beat (with a mixer) the softened butter and the sugars until creamy.
If you want the cinnamon sugar in the middle – all you have to do is put about ½ of the batter inside the greased (or parchment paper-ed) loaf pan. Generously sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the batter.
Then top it with the rest of the batter. Bake it up!
It creates a caramely, yummy cinnamony surprise in the middle of the bread that’s so delicious!
Don’t skip out on the glaze for the top! Due to the super soft texture of the bread, the glaze creates a type of delicious crunch/crust on top that is necessary! Not to mention, it’s insanely easy! Win win!
I hope y’all love this Carrot Cake Bread – it’s definitely on the list of my new favorites and I can’t wait to eat some while celebrating Easter! Thinking of you all. XO – Haylie
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few other carrot cake recipes you might like:
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Carrot Cake Bread
This Carrot Cake Bread is insanely easy, super moist and loaded with the classic carrot cake flavors you love - without all of the work! The best breakfast, snack or dessert!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup salted, softened butter
- 1 and 1/2 cups shredded carrots (about 3 medium carrots)
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark works)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp all spice
- 1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
Cinnamon Sugar Swirl
- 2 tbsp white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Powdered Sugar Glaze
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- splash of milk or water to thin it out
- sprinkle of cinnamon if desired
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Using either your food processor (see note below) or a grater, shred about 3-4 carrots until you get about 1 and 1/2 cups of shredded carrots. If you use your food processor, cut the tops off and slice the carrot into smaller pieces. Add to the processor and pulse them until they are very small bite size pieces (see photo above for reference)
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In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the softened butter and the 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup white granulated sugar until combined.
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To this, add in an egg one at a time, beating them in until combined. Add in the whole milk and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Lastly, gently stir in the shredded carrots with a wooden spoon.
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Using a sifter, add in the all purpose flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, all spice, baking powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt. Mix gently to combine with the wooden spoon, making sure you don't overmix!
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Lastly, gently fold in the shredded coconut and pecans with the wooden spoon until combined.
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Mix 2 tbsp of white granulated sugar with 1 tsp of cinnamon.
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Grease a 9x5 loaf tin or use parchment paper. Add about 1/2 of the carrot cake bread batter to the loaf tin. Generously sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the batter and then gently top with the other half of the batter.
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Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean. Let it cool in the pan for 3-5 minutes. Remove and place on a wire cooling rack.
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Once the bread has fully cooled down, mix 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and a tsp of milk (or more if needed) to make your powdered sugar glaze. If it's too thick, add more milk. Too thin? Add more powdered sugar! If desired, add a sprinkle of cinnamon to the glaze for extra coziness.
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Generously drizzle the glaze on top of the bread and serve! Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Pulsing the carrots in the food processor makes them very small, bite size pieces that are all throughout the bread - making sure it's incredibly moist - and not to mention, saves you a lot of arm work! See photo above for reference on how they look 🙂
Sounds like you and Ben will have a lovely weekend all the same! Hubby and I are going to make the most of it too, making a special meal and enjoying each other’s company….and I’m sure a glass of wine 😉 This carrot cake bread would be a wonderful addition to this weekend’s eats, Haylie. I can only imagine how good it would be with a pot of coffee! Have a good one, my friend! XO
Must have the wine, my friend! And yes…this is absolutely perfect with a hot cup of coffee! So good! Hope you and the hubs and pup are staying safe and well 🙂
This recipe was so easy and delicious! The finely pulsed carrots made it so moist, and I loved tasting carrot in every bite! And that glaze was just icing on the cake 😉
Thank you Haylie, for sharing your recipes with us! I always have such a good time making them!
Thank you so so much for your sweet review, Malitta! Makes my day 🙂 You’re so kind!! So glad that you enjoyed the bread! PS: love the food pun 😉
The texture of this bread looks amazing Haylie! Love the glaze and the cinnamon swirl. A delicious treat to be enjoyed year round. Hope you had a lovely Easter!
Thank you so much Leanne!! Hope you had a lovely Easter as well 🙂
Hi I just made this bread. It’s moist and yummy. I will he making it again. I used half the amount of sugar.it came out great. Thanks for sharing your recipe.😊
Hi Esther! Thank you so much for making the bread! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂 Warm regards – Haylie
This came out nice! I used whole wheat flour and allulose sugar free blend.
Yay! So glad to hear it 🙂 Thank you for letting me know what substitutions worked too!!
That was the best bread I’ve ever made. I didn’t have coconut so I threw in a handful of raisins. Sooo good. Definitely will be making it again. Perfect for Easter Dinner.
Woohoooo! So so glad to hear that you enjoyed it, Deanna! 🙂
I made this delicious carrot cake bread for the first time yesterday. It was so good that I have now made 2 more today. I love to bake gifts for friends, family, and neighbors. I’m in my happy place when I’m in the kitchen baking! My tip is to check the timer based on your oven. My oven must cook super hot because I reduced the cook time to 48 min on the first one. Today I reduced the cook time to 40 min and it was perfect.
Ahh! Thank you so very much, Debbie. So glad you enjoyed this recipe and I love that you were able to bless others with it as well. 🙂
Looks amazing. Anyone try using 2% milk? I never buy whole milk. Curious.
I think you could definitely try 2% milk, Paula! 🙂 I’ve done non-dairy milk for this recipe before and it has worked fine. Happy baking!