Warmly spiced and stuffed with a sweet cream cheese filling, this amazing Homemade Carrot Bread is a wonderful option for people who like their treats not overly sweet. We have a longtime love for quick breads like this here at MKL, and dare I say it … this one might just take the cake. I mean, bread.

In This Post

What is carrot bread?

Carrot bread, as the name would suggest, is a bread made largely from shredded carrots. In the same vein as zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, and banana bread, this recipe qualifies as a “quick bread,” as opposed to a yeast-risen bread. Quick breads are a type of bread that are very much like muffins (though baked in loaf pans), in that they rely on baking powder or baking soda as their primary leaveners.

Quick bread info:

Because there is no yeast involved in this bread’s baking process, the loaf/loaves come together rather fast – hence garnering the name “quick bread.” You need not worry about setting a timer so the dough can proof and double in size. In fact, there’s no dough to deal with at all with a quick bread. I’ve always thought of quick breads more as muffins in loaf form. You get an almost-cake-but-not-quite crumb, that isn’t quite as sugary sweet as cake, but still – in a pinch – could probably pass pretty well as, say, a coffee cake … Instead of creating a stretchy, glutinous dough by way of a yeast-fueled proof, in this case, we’ll actually stir together a batter (again, just like a cake). The leavening in this carrot quick bread comes from baking powder, and the eggs will give it some volume as well. So, that is another defining characteristic of a quick bread – the leavening comes not from a yeast of any sort, but rather from baking powders and baking sodas. (yep. like a cake.) This is referred to as “chemical leavening.”
My Kitchen Little

Carrot bread tips and tricks

Grate it fine. My very best tip for this recipe is all in how finely you grate the carrots. I like to do a very fine grate on them, so they really melt right into the batter, creating an even and very carroty crumb.
Aim for room temperature ingredients when you’re baking your bread. This means the eggs and cream cheese in this case. Why do we need to bake with room temperature ingredients? There are actually multiple reasons to do this. Namely though, room temperature ingredients allow for more more even textures in your bakes. They also help with better incorporation of air. When everything that goes in a batter is the same temperature (room temp!), the baking process begins in this very even, clean way. There’s no weird and wonky, uneven chemical reactions gong on at different times because of different temperatures.
Please don’t try to slice this bread while it’s hot. I mean, you can definitely do that, but it will crumble and fall to pieces on you. The bread needs to mostly cool before slicing, so it can come together and solidify it’s structural integrity (hooray!). I actually did that, because I have a patience problem, and well … let’s just say I regretted that poor decision. I suggest letting the bread cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan, and then turning out out to cool the rest of the way.

How long will carrot bread keep?

If covered or wrapped well, this carrot bread will keep nicely for you in a cool, dry place for about three days. You can wrap it up snugly in plastic/cling wrap or foil. If these products aren’t your cup of tea, there are plenty of non-toxic and eco-friendly food storage and wrapping options available now, and might be worth looking into.

Can you freeze carrot bread?

Carrot bread freezes beautifully. Similar to other home-baked quick breads like zucchini bread, apple bread, etc. carrot bread will freeze nicely for you for up to about two months. Some places might say you can go longer than that, but in my experience – things start to be less perky after that length of time. But if you are able to keep a loaf of this in your freezer for even those two months, I commend you. You’re a stronger person than I.

What you’ll need to make this Homemade Carrot Bread

I feel like this list reads a little long (sorry about that), but everything serves a good purpose. Quick breads aren’t great if they’re dry (of course). As such, the sour cream, milk, apple sauce, and oil serve to protect against that. You can use just cinnamon or even apple pie spice instead of the pumpkin pie spice to season this bread, if you like. Also, plain yogurt or even mayonnaise work just as well as sour cream. Heavy cream or half and half, along with any manner of nut milks, would work in place of the milk called for here.

INGREDIENTS

2.5 cups freshly and finely grated carrot
¾ cup vegetable or canola oil
2/3 cup apple sauce
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
Two teaspoons vanilla extract
2 heaping tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt
¼ cup milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or just cinnamon
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar
¼ cup turbinado sugar

NOTE: ⅔ cup chopped nuts can be added to the batter if you like.

How to Make Carrot Bread

This recipe follows in the great tradition of quick bread making. We’ll (happily) build the entire batter in one bowl, beginning with the wet ingredients. Once those are all combined, we can introduce the glutinous – I mean, the dry ingredients to the scene. We do it this way because once a glutinous ingredient is exposed to moisture, the proteins develop and it toughens the structure of the item more with every stir.

So, just stir it only as much as is needed to get things well-mixed, and then call it good.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Spray or butter a 9-by-4-inch loaf pan. I like to line my pans with parchment paper, creating little handles for easy removal.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the carrot, oil, apple sauce, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, sour cream, and milk. Sprinkle over the flour, baking soda, and salt. Switch to a spoon and fold/mix just until the dry ingredients are fully combined/incorporated.

Pour half of the batter into the pan. Stir together the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Drop half of this sweet cream mixture onto the batter and, using a knife or whatever tool you like, swirl it around a little bit. Add the rest of the batter, followed by more dollops of the remaining cream cheese. Swirl it again!

Shower your carrot bread with the crunch turbinado sugar and bake for 55 to 70 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let this bread cool for at least 10 minutes before turning it out to cool the rest of the way. (Needs to be fully cooled before wrapping and storing).