Carrot Cake Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting

Published June 15, 2020

I love to finish dinner with dessert and a cappuccino. As seen from my restaurant reviews, carrot cake is one dessert that I like to order.

However, carrot cake can be hit-or-miss. Sometimes it’s choked with too much nutmeg or over-baked. I always wondered how challenging it was to bake a fluffy and flavorful carrot cake, so this week, I decided to make one for the first time.

Rather than use a circular cake pan, I used my banana bread pan to make a simple carrot cake loaf with cream cheese frosting.

Carrot Cake Loaf Ingredients

I used the leftover brown-sugared pecans from my strawberry and mandarin salad, so I didn’t have to go to the store to buy ingredients. If you don’t have pecans on hand, you can also use walnuts or exclude them altogether.

I’ve had carrot cake recipes that include raisins. At first I planned to add 1/4 cup of raisins to my batter, but decided against it. Since this was my first time baking a carrot cake loaf, I wanted to see the texture with just the carrots and pecans.

How to Make a Carrot Cake Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting

Do I need to use parchment paper for my carrot cake loaf?

When I make banana bread, I don’t bother with parchment paper. I grease the pan with butter to prevent sticking, and cut slices directly in the pan.

Since I was icing this carrot cake loaf, I decided to use parchment paper so I could easily lift the loaf from the pan without it crumbling. This worked out perfectly and I recommend that you try it.

Ingredient Order

As you see in my recipe video, I didn’t follow a traditional format of dry-to-wet ingredients. While researching carrot cake recipes, I saw that bloggers creamed the sugar and oil together before adding the dry ingredients.

I followed these instructions and — at first — was concerned that I had ruined the batter. However, once the carrots and eggs were added, the batter thins into a loaf texture. Just remember to fold your ingredients so they are incorporated well.

Making the Cream Cheese Frosting

As you might’ve read in my pumpkin spice cookie recipe — this frosting is customizable based on your taste.

Powdered sugar can be overpowering and sickeningly sweet if you use too much. I prefer that my cream cheese frosting has more of the savory cream cheese flavor, with a hint of sweetness. So I use a small amount of powdered sugar and gradually beat it into the cream cheese to form a frosting.

I taste a little spoonful of frosting as I work, to make sure that I don’t add too much. If you find that you’ve used the full 1/4 cup, but the frosting is not sweet enough, continue adding 1 tablespoon until you reach your desired sweetness.

The Final Product

My carrot cake loaf with cream cheese frosting turned out even better than I expected!

The cake was moist and had a nice texture with the pecans. The dash of cinnamon hinted at the traditional carrot cake flavor, without being overpowering. The icing is what makes this carrot cake loaf. Savory cream cheese with a subtle sweetness adds a creamy topping to this dessert.

I iced my cake while it was a little bit warm, and served some slices. I loved the lukewarm texture and fluffy cake.

When storing, I placed the cake on a plate and wrapped it in plastic wrap, since the icing contains butter. When serving from the fridge I let the slice soften at room temperature before eating, so that the icing was smoother.

Recipe Score

I would give my carrot cake loaf with cream cheese frosting a 10/10 for the following:

• Recipe Level

  • Easy: All you need are two large mixing bowls, an electric mixer, and a baking pan. Add your ingredients and incorporate well. Bake until the center, when poked, comes away clean.
    
    Since this recipe uses common pantry ingredients, with the opportunity to substitute, you’ll be able to whip this up without a trip to the store.

• Ingredients

  • You may already have these ingredients on-hand. You can use any carrots and shred them for this recipe, or buy a bag/container of pre-shredded to save you some time.
    
    If you don’t have pecans, you can substitute walnuts for texture. Or if you need to make a nut-free loaf, add raisins.

• Prep

  • There’s hardly any prep for this recipe. Make sure that your cream cheese and butter are softened at room temperature before you make the icing.

• Flavor

  • 10/10: This carrot cake loaf turned out amazing! A fluffy, moist cake texture with a bit of crunch from the pecans, creamy icing, and rich flavors makes for a great treat.
    
    

K. Martinelli Makes Carrot Cake Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting

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