Moist and Easy Carrot Cake Loaf
This carrot cake loaf is thick yet super fluffy and stays moist for days (yes days!). You can make it plain or add in goodies like raisins, nuts, or coconut- whatever your family likes. It comes together really easily in one bowl! While its baking, make the tangy cream cheese frosting to slather all over the top when it’s cooled.
I dont really know if this carrot cake loaf is classified as cake or bread. It’s not light like a layer cake or incredibly dense like quickbreads. It’s somewhere in the middle!
What I do know though, is that it is delicious.
This recipe started as my carrot cake cupcake recipe, but I tweaked a few ingredients and ratios to create a loaf that’s thicker, slightly more dense, yet still really soft and moist. The result is a loaf that slices beautifully, holds its structure (and a large amount of frosting), and somehow tastes even better the next day.
I used melted butter to help keep it on the denser side, but then used brown sugar, sour cream, and an extra egg yolk to add richness and keep the moisture locked in tight!
All these things together help bake it into a thick, bakery-style loaf cake/bread while keeping it soft and moist instead of dense or gummy. As a professional baker, I wanna make sure that it holds up to my standards!
Prep the ingredients
To make this the best carrot cake loaf you ever had you must must must shred your own carrots. The shredded carrots from the grocery store are too hard and dry and will give you a weird crunchy texture when you bite into a piece.
You only need 2 medium to large carrots for this loaf, so it’s not a lot of work to grate them on a box grater. I have a mini food processor that I use if I REALLY dont want to grate anything.
If you want to add in raisins, nuts, or coconut, thats totally fine! I would add in 1/4 cup each if you want to do all 3, or stick to 1/3 of two. Want only one? Add in 1/2 cup. Make sure to add them in at the last step and mix just until combined.
A note on pineapple- I know a lot of people love to add pineapple to their carrot cake. This recipe doesnt include pineapple, but if thats something you want check out my pineapple carrot cake.
Recipe step by step
While the loaf is cooling, make the cream cheese frosting. Slather it all over the cooled loaf and enjoy!
Moist and Easy Carrot Cake Loaf
Ingredients
- 1 cup melted butter, unsalted 227g
- 1 cup brown sugar, 200g
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk , white discarded
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 cups all purpose flour, 250g
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup shredded carrots
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a loaf pan with parchment paper or spray generously with baking spray.
- In a medium sized bowl, melt the 1 cup butter in the microwave 30 seconds at a time until fully melted.
- Add the 1 cup brown sugar, 1 egg, and 1 egg yolk (no whites). Mix will until combined.
- Add in the 2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 cup sour cream and mix again.
- In another bowl combine the 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Whisk to combine.
- Slowly add the flour to the wet batter and mix just until combined, do not over mix.
- Add in the 1 cup shredded carrots and mix lightly, again, just until combined.
- Pour the batter into the lined loaf pan. With the back of a knife, draw a line down the center.
- Bake for 55-60 mins.
- Make the cream cheese frosting, then slather all over the loaf when cool.
