Cream Cheese Stuffed Carrot Bread
Warmly spiced and stuffed with a sweet cream cheese filling, this wonderful, not-too-sweet carrot bread is here to give banana and zucchini breads a run for their money.
- Yield: Makes one 9-inch loaf
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2.5 cups freshly and finely grated carrot
- 3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 2/3 cup apple sauce
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 heaping tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or just cinnamon
- 6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
Instructions
- 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 also 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. Dollop half of this sweet cream mixture onto the batter in tablespoons 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 crunchy 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).