A delicious and unbelievably moist Carrot Cake Loaf with a cream cheese frosting.
This is such a quick and easy recipe that yields incredible results. You won't believe how simple it is, it'll make you want to bake this Carrot Cake Loaf again and again!
Fancy a bundt cake version? Check out my Carrot Cake Bundt with an orange flavoured cream cheese frosting. If moist cakes are your thing, you should also check out my hugely popular Date and Walnut Cake too!
This carrot cake loaf is absolutely bursting with flavour and it's so soft and moist. If you ask me, the only frosting that belongs on a carrot cake is a cream cheese frosting.
The tang of the cream cheese works perfectly with the carrot cake. It's a match made in heaven.
At the time of making this recipe, I made two other loaf cakes on the same day. This Red Velvet Loaf and also this Courgette Cake. All three cakes were amazing, but this Carrot Loaf Cake really stood out as my overall favourite.
It's probably my number one favourite of all the loaf cakes I've ever made. You'll see for yourself when you taste it ;-)
The key ingredients
- Carrots - use a food processor or grate them by hand but don't squeeze out any of the excess water. It's not necessary.
- Sunflower oil - the oil is what gives the loaf cake its unbeatable moistness. You need to use a flavourless oil, so something like olive oil would be too strong here.
- Spices - ground cinnamon and ginger give the cake an overall lightly spiced flavour.
A lot of recipes for carrot cake will include walnuts, which I personally love but I left them out of this recipe. Mainly because I give most of my bakes away and you never know who has a nut allergy.
If you want to add walnuts then 100g of chopped walnuts can be added to the cake batter plus an extra 50g or so to decorate the top with.
You could also add 100g raisins if you wish.
I used my Kitchen Aid to make this Carrot Cake Loaf but if you don't have a free standing mixer you can use a handheld electric whisk or even whisk by hand. You should get perfect results!
Cream cheese frosting
The perfect cream cheese frosting will have around double the amount of icing sugar to cream cheese.
If you use too much cream cheese the frosting can become soupy and runny so be sure to weigh your ingredients.
When you make the frosting you might notice that there are still some tiny lumps of butter before the icing sugar is added. These will soon disappear as the sugar dissolves and you'll be left with a silky smooth frosting that you can easily slather over the top of the cake.
I hope you really enjoy this lovely loaf cake. As always, if you have any questions leave me a comment and I'll get back to you. Enjoy!
More loaf cake recipes you'll love
- Date and Walnut Cake
- Strawberry Loaf Cake
- Vanilla Loaf Cake
- Malteser Loaf Cake
- Biscoff Loaf Cake
- Orange Drizzle Loaf Cake
- Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
- Red Velvet Loaf Cake
- Courgette Loaf Cake
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Carrot Cake Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting
A delicious and unbelievably moist Carrot Cake Loaf with a cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Loaf
- 200g (1 cup) soft light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 200ml (0.75 cup) sunflower oil
- 200g (1.25 cups) plain flour
- 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 0.5 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 0.5 tsp ground ginger
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 0.25 tsp vanilla extract
- 200g (approx 4 carrots) carrots, grated
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 100g (0.25 cup) full-fat cream cheese, I use Philadelphia
- 50g (3 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, or vanilla extract
- 225g (1.5 cups) icing sugar, (powdered sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160º fan/Gas 4/350ºF Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
- Add the brown sugar, eggs and oil to a large bowl (if using a free-standing mixer fit the paddle attachment). Beat until all ingredients are fully combined. Gradually add the flour, bicarb of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla extract. Beat for 2-3 minutes until all the ingredients have been incorporated.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add the grated carrots. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to fold the carrots evenly through the mixture.
- Transfer the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 60 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden brown. When you touch it with your finger it should spring back. A toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean. Once baked, leave the carrot cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn it out onto a wire rack.
- To make the cream cheese frosting: Add the butter and cream cheese to the bowl of a freestanding electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) beat for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Don't worry if there are still some lumps of butter.
- Swap the paddle attachment for the balloon whisk. Add the salt, vanilla and ⅓ of the icing sugar. Whisk on a low speed until the icing sugar has incorporated then add another ⅓ of icing sugar and repeat. When all the icing sugar has been added, turn the speed up to high and whisk for 2-3 minutes.
- When the loaf cake has completely cooled, spoon the cream cheese frosting on top of it and use an offset palette knife or similar to smooth it over the top. For decoration, add some tiny fondant carrots, walnuts or a light sprinkling of cinnamon.
Notes
- This recipe can be made in a freestanding electric mixer with the paddle attachment fitted, with a hand-held electric whisk or a hand-held whisk.
- You can add 75g chopped walnuts and 75g raisins to the cake mixture if you wish.
- Don't squeeze any excess water from the grated carrots.
- If after 60 minutes of baking the carrot cake is not golden brown, doesn't spring back, an inserted toothpick isn't clean; add some tin foil to the top of the cake and bake in 10-minute increments until the cake is fully baked.
Cream cheese frosting
- The consistency should be smooth, creamy and spreadable. It should not be runny or it will slide off the top of the cake. You are aiming for the consistency of easily spreadable butter. If you need to thicken the frosting you can add icing sugar 25g at a time. If it's too thick add a splash of milk or cream.
- When making the cream cheese frosting has some lumps of batter in, as the icing sugar is added the lumps will disperse.
- To make frosting easier you can put the loaf cake back into the tin before you add the frosting.
- The tiny carrot decorations were bought from the cake decorating section in Asda.
Storage
- Wrap in clingfilm and store in the fridge where the Carrot Cake will stay fresh for 3-4 days. Bring to room temperature before eating. An undecorated Carrot Cake can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 99Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 187mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 3g
Nutrition is an estimate.
Linda Cray
Can you make a round cake by adding an extra third of ingredients like the courgette cake?
Amy Treasure
Hi Linda, yes you can do that!