If you’re a Carrot Cake fan, you’re going to love this Carrot Cake Loaf Recipe. Adapted from my regular Carrot Cake but using butter instead of oil for a lighter texture. This cake is full of spiced flavour, dense and a little light at the same time. It’s topped off with a thick and rich cream cheese frosting and chopped walnuts.

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I’m back again with another loaf cake. I only recently posted my Coconut Lemon Loaf Cake which had great reviews. And if you follow along, you might remember me talking about how loaf cakes are my absolute favourite to make. Have you seen my Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake yet? One the kids will love.

This Carrot Cake Loaf is perfect for spring time baking and would be a great additions to an Easter brunch this weekend.

What Makes This Cake Great

• Delicious flavour and texture
• Easy to make
• Stays moist for days

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Ingredients

For the Cake

• Dry ingredients – all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Spices – I used cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Dairy and eggs – This cake uses three eggs and butter
• Sugar – I used granulated white sugar.
• Flavourings and additional ingredients – Vanilla extract and freshly grated carrots.

For the frosting and topping

• Cream cheese – any kind of plain cream cheese will work. I used Philadelphia.
• Butter – just a small amount of unsalted butter
• Sugar – This icing uses powdered sugar or confectioners’ sugar.
• Flavourings – Just a little vanilla extract.
• Nuts – I chose to top the cake with chopped walnuts.

REMEMBER, The full recipe and instructions is always found at the end of the post in the recipe card.

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Instructions

• Preheat oven and prepare baking pan – Preheat oven to 375 degrees f/190 degrees c. Grease and line with parchment paper a 9 x 5 inch loaf tin.
• Combine dry ingredients – In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk to combine and set aside.
• Mix butter, sugar and eggs – In the bowl of you electric mixer combine the butter and sugar. Mix on high speed for about 3 minutes until light. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract.
• Finish the cake batter – Fold the flour mixture into the batter and stir until just combined. Fold in the grated carrots.
• Bake the cake – Pour evenly into the prepared loaf tin. Bake between 45 – 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Leave cake to cool – Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack to completely cool. Leave the cake in the baking pan to cool.
• Make icing – In the bowl of your electric mixer combine the cream cheese and the butter. Mix on high speed until combined well, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Mix on high until light and fluffy, about 2 – 3 minutes.
• Assemble cake – Remove the cooled cake from the baking pan and place on a serving platter. Using a spatula spread the cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake. Top with chopped nuts if using. Cake can be served as soon as it’s frosted or kept in the fridge in an airtight container

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Recipe Tips

• Pan size is important – This cake was baked in a 9 x 5 inch loaf tin. If you use a larger/smaller pan, baking time will vary as well as the shape of the cake.
• Prevent the cake from browning too fast – if you notice your cake is browning too quickly, just place a loose sheet of tin foil over the top.
• Allow cake to cool completely – this cake cools best in the tin after being removed from the oven. If are planning to frost the cake, please allow about 4 hours for the cake to cool. If you attempt to icing the cake before it has cooled completely, the icing will melt on the cake.
• Use fresh shredded carrots – I know it’s tempting to purchase the pre shredded carrots, but they are drier. Fresh carrots grated at home work much better.
• Make it into muffins – this recipe is easily adapted into muffins. Just use paper liners or grease the muffin tin well. You will get between 12 – 14 muffins. Baking time will be about 20 minutes. That time is approximate, so make sure to check a few minutes before this time to see if they are done.

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Substitutions

• Granulated white sugar – you can use light packed brown sugar as well. Or you can use a mix of both.
• Butter – I chose to use butter in this recipe but the cake will adapt well to using vegetable oil. If using vegetable oil, you will only need to mix it for about a minute with the sugar and eggs.
• Cream cheese frosting – I think cream cheese frosting is the best for carrot cake. However, you can be more exotic and use Mascarpone cheese. Just use exactly the same amount and process it the same way as the recipe states below.
• Walnuts – These are optional for the topping. You can leave out the nuts all together to make it nut free or choose to use pecans if you prefer.

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How To Store The Carrot Loaf Cake

• In the fridge – Cream cheese frosted cakes have to be kept in the refrigerator. If you keep them out of the fridge too long, the frosting will spoil. However, you can remove it from the fridge up to two hours before serving so you don’t have to eat cold cake. This cake will keep for about 4 days in the fridge in an airtight container.
• In the freezer – If you are planning to freeze this cake, I recommend freezing it without the icing. Simply wrap the cooled cake and it will keep in the freezer up to three months. To defrost, just take it out of the freezer and keep it in the fridge overnight. Then you can frost the cake.

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Serving Suggestions

This cake makes a delicious dessert, snack or brunch cake. You can make it the day before serving no problem at all. I think the cake is perfect just as it is, but you can serve it with vanilla ice cream to be extra!

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Frequently Asked Questions

Thanks For Stopping by & Hope To See You Soon!