This Carrot Cake Loaf recipe is super easy. It comes together quickly, is great to make ahead, and is perfectly moist and light. The Carrot Loaf Cake itself is dairy free, or there is an option to finish it with a silky maple cream cheese frosting.
Thank you to Filippo Berio for sponsoring this post! All opinions are my own. Thank you so much for supporting the businesses who support Cloudy Kitchen!
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Carrot Loaf Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Hi hi! Happy Spring! I am just popping in here to share this recipe for Carrot Loaf Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting. This is a super easy recipe that is great to have as a back pocket staple. It comes together fast, and keeps extremely well, so is great to make in advance. The Carrot Loaf Cake is light and moist, and the maple cream cheese frosting isn't too sweet and pairs perfectly. I hope that you love this one as much as I do!
How to make Carrot Loaf Cake
This recipe is super, super easy. The Carrot Loaf Cake doesn't require a mixer of any sort - you just stir it all together and then pop it in the oven.
- Combine the wet ingredients - We are counting sugar as a wet ingredient here. Brown sugar, granulated sugar, Filippo Berio Delicato Extra Virgin Olive Oil, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until well combined.
- Mix together the dry ingredients - This carrot loaf cake has flour, leavener (baking powder and soda), salt, and then a few warming spices. I used cinnamon, ginger and cardamom, but feel free to mix it up a little if you like.
- Combine it all together - Dump the wet into the dry, and mix until incorporated. Easy easy.
- Add the carrot - Carrot goes in last. I like to fold it in with a rubber spatula or a whisk.
- Bake - The Carrot Loaf Cake bakes for about an hour until perfectly golden brown and cooked throughout. Once it is done, remove it from the oven and leave to cool until you are ready to frost it!
- Make the Cream Cheese Maple Frosting - The Maple cream cheese frosting is super easy to make - either combine everything by hand or use an electric mixer. Spread it on the top and you are good to go!
Dairy Free Carrot Loaf Cake Recipe
Carrot Cake is often sneakily dairy free, as it relies on Oil as the fat rather than butter. Instead of a neutral oil I went for something a little more flavourful and used Filippo Berio's Delicato Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which is light in flavour but still has that lovely olive oil flavour. I love using it in baking where I want the oil flavour to come through but not be the main character. Alternatively, their extra light olive oil is another favourite of mine and what I use whenever a neutral oil is called for in a recipe.
Can this Loaf Cake be made ahead of time?
This Carrot Cake Loaf is super moist, so is perfect for making ahead of time. You can make the loaf cake, and store it either wrapped or in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days ahead. You can make the frosting ahead of time if you like too and just give it a quick re-whip when needed. I made carrot loaf cake to take to a friend during testing and just popped the frosting in a wee container so she could add it herself once she got home. She mentioned it was still soft about 5 days after, so the loaf cake keeps extremely well thanks to the oil in the recipe.
Carrot Loaf Cake with no Frosting
If you wanted to keep the whole carrot loaf cake recipe dairy free there are two options. The first is to finish the carrot cake with a little turbinado sugar before baking, and leave off the frosting. This will make it beautiful and crunchy on the top. The other is to make a glaze with a little powdered sugar and either lemon or orange juice, and use that instead! The Maple Cream Cheese frosting is super good though!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add nuts?
If you want to, go for it! I would add about 80 grams of chopped toasted walnuts to the mix at the same time as the carrot.
What loaf do you use?
I used a 1 lb Loaf tin for this carrot loaf cake (8"x4"). You can use a slightly larger one if that is all you have, but the cake will bake up a bit wider and shorter.
Can this be made as muffins?
Yes, it should be great as muffins too, although I haven't tried it. Muffins are mini versions of quick breads, which is what this loaf cake is (same as banana bread etc), whereas cupcakes are mini versions of cakes. Fun fact! The leavening is usually different in a quick bread and a cake, but for the most part a quick bread recipe can be turned into muffins easily.
For more Quick Bread and Loaf Cake recipes, check out:
❤️ Made this recipe and love it? ❤️
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Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
Carrot Cake Loaf
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf cake 1x
- Category: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Carrot Cake Loaf recipe is super easy. It comes together quickly, is great to make ahead, and is perfectly moist and light. The Carrot Loaf Cake itself is dairy free, or there is an option to finish it with a silky maple cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
Carrot Loaf Cake
- 130g light or dark brown sugar
- 65g granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 125g Filippo Berio Delicato Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 210g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¾ tsp cardamom
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 180g freshly grated carrot
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- 225 full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
- 35g powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- pinch of salt
- 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
Instructions
CARROT CAKE LOAF
- Preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c. Grease and line a 1 lb (8"x4") loaf pan with a piece of parchment paper that extends over the sides.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, Filippo Berio Delicato Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and vanilla until well combined.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Add the grated carrot and switch to a rubber spatula, and mix until incorporated.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf pan.
- Bake for 60 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer or tester inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container until ready to frost.
MAPLE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- In a medium bowl using a spatula or electric mixer, combine together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth and incorporated.
- Add the maple syrup and mix to combine.
- Spread the frosting over the surface of the cooled carrot loaf cake. Slice into pieces using a serrated or sharp knife.
Store leftovers in an airtight container either covered at room temperature or in the fridge.
Keywords: Carrot Cake, Carrot Loaf Cake, Loaf Cake, Dairy Free, Maple Cream Cheese
Comments
can't wait to try this!
★★★★★
Made this with grated apple instead of carrot and a strusel topping. Turned out beautifully!
Ahhh yayyyy! That sounds so good!
All your olive oil recipes are so delish!! This one looks as good as your others!!
★★★★★
I made this last night in two 6in baking pans because my loaf pan was in use and they baked in 35 minutes and were delicious!! I love all the spices and it's so moist!
★★★★★
Ahhh so happy you love!
Hi! My loaf is baking now and it smells delicious. QUESTION...grams of powdered sugar for frosting is 30gm....is this accurate? Seems like very little powdered sugar compared to any other frosting recipe I've made. Would love to know if this is accurate? I'm making it now, so I will probably add a bit more powdered sugar, yet I value your opinion. Thank you! Love your recipes and website!
★★★★★
Hi! Yep that's the correct amount - I wanted a very cream cheese forward icing and then the maple means you don't need much. Make it first and see how you go before adding extra!
Thank you. I added more powdered sugar before I saw your response. It’s a fantastic recipe. Next time I will try your frosting recommendations. This is definitely a make again recipe.
★★★★★
Yay so happy you loved! 🙂
My daughter made this for my birthday a few days ago. It was delicious, so soft and light. Spices were lovely and the frosting is our new favourite 😍
★★★★★
Yay so happy it went well! Happy Happy birthday x
I made this for our family get together and it was absolutely delicious! I did swap the sugar for coconut sugar and I didn't have ground ginger. I used pumpkin spice instead which does have ground ginger. So while it wasn't followed exactly, it was absolutely delicious. You have converted me to a scale-using baker and am now so bothered when recipes do not list gram measurements. This is my new go-to carrot cake recipe! I never liked the busy nuts and fruit often found in carrot cake so this one is perfect!
★★★★★
Yummmm! SO happy you love and even MORE happy to hear you're a convert to grams baking! It really is the best! x
I needed something quick and dairy free to take to a friends and this was perfect! It came together so quickly and made the entire house smell amazing. I finished it off with lemon glaze which was delicious.
I love all your recipes and they have never failed me. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
Yay so happy you loved!
Made this recipe today as muffins and it turned out great! It made 8 pretty big muffins, baked for 24-25 minutes, also used sunflower oil instead of olive oil. The carrot cake was super moist plus the frosting is perfection!
★★★★★
This recipe was absolutely delicious! Probably my favorite carrot cake recipe to date. The cake itself was remarkably light and the frosting was perfectly balanced.
★★★★★
Ah yayyyy so happy you enjoyed! I need to make it again - it keeps so so well too!
Hello, why do you have to add salt to this? Does it make a difference? Thanks!
Hi! You have to add salt to the cake (and all other baked goods) to give the cake flavour. Salt helps cut through the sweetness. It makes a big difference - that is why I included it in the recipe 🙂
Doubled the recipe to make a 2 layer 9” cake and it was the hit of the party! Perfect carrot cake, not too moist and the maple syrup adds a nice flavor in the frosting. As always, great recipe Erin!
★★★★★
Yummm! So so happy you loved! x
Omg this is delicious and not to mention super easy! I’m loving trying out all you’re recipes!!
★★★★★
Yay so happy you loved!
I love the exactness of cooking with scales! This loaf has a perfect texture and delicious flavour, even without adding the tempting topping. Definitely a winner which will be on “repeat” at my place.
★★★★★
I am so happy to hear this! It's such an easy recipe which is one of my favourites too! x
This is delicious and easy to make, Erin, thanks for the recipe! My carrot cake loving co-worker, who is newly pregnant and throwing food restrictions to the wind, is going to faint tomorrow when I bring this in for her to nibble on. 😁
★★★★★
Erin, you have a knack for getting the texture of things just right. This turned out moist without feeling sticky. I want to play with olive oils because I have a feeling the one I used was a bit too heavy and overpowered the subtler flavors of the cake. It didn't taste as out of the park amazing as the rest of your recipes do. So clearly experimentation is in order. The frosting on the other hand continues to be one of my all time favorites. Love the simplicity and ease of this cake and will definitely try it again.
★★★★
Husband is a self proclaimed carrot cake connoisseur and he told me that this is the recipe I should always make for him. Thank you!
★★★★★
Beautifully moist loaf - a def crowd pleaser, perfect with a cup of tea.
Very straight forward recipe and ingredients you’ll generally have in your pantry.
Will certainly make this again.
★★★★★
Thank you so much for the lovely review - so happy you loved!
I feel funny asking this because everyone seemed to know the answer but how do I measure the oil? By weight? By measurement on a measuring cup? How much is it in cups?
Hi! I don't provide cup measurements as they are not accurate. You measure the oil in weight same as you would the dry ingredients, so put your bowl on the scale, zero it, then add the oil to the weight in the recipe 🙂
Cloudy kitchen is my first go to all to recipes. This loaf was perfect for Easter but I think carrot flavor should be year round. I did use whole wheat flour but it was still a hit. I’m sure it will have a slightly different texture/softer with regular flour. Super easy and well earned
★★★★★
I can't believe how delicious this carrot cake loaf is. The star of the show is definitely the cream cheese icing - while often overly sweet, Erin has got the balance just perfect here - and I love how it forms such a thick layer on top. The whole recipe comes together quickly with minimal fuss - this is my new go-to carrot cake. Thanks Erin for blowing it out of the park again! 🙂
★★★★★
I'm a big fan of carrot cake but never tried to bake one due to the fear of failing my favourite cake. However, I tried this one and it turned out even better than all the other carrot cakes I've ever eaten! Amazing recipe 🙂
★★★★★
Hi! Should I be squeezing some of the moisture out of my grated carrots before adding them to the mixture? Just a bit worried I’m going to make my cake soggy if I don’t. Thank you in advance! 🤗
Nope just pop them in there!
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. I did just that and it came out perfectly.
I used dark brown sugar and think that was probably not the best option- I’ll use a light brown next time as the cake was a bit dark when it had baked.
Tastes amazing, though! Thank you for sharing this recipe. 🤗
★★★★★
Super quick and absolutely delicious! Kids aren’t fans of carrot cake, but I had a hankering and this was perfect! Cannot wait to have a slice with coffee in the morning. Thanks for another winner!
★★★★★
I don't even like carrot cake but I trust all recipes on this site with my life, so I made this for a party last week! And it was so good! Topped it with a simple powdered sugar glaze and we were loving it
★★★★★