Carrot Loaf Cake!
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An easy carrot loaf cake with cream cheese frosting – easy, delicious, and the perfect easy bake!
My favourite!
So.. carrot cake. It’s safe to say I am slightly obsessed with it?! Largely because it is probably one of my favourite cakes, if not my actual favourite.. but there we are. My favourite flavour can change frequently but put a piece of carrot cake in front of me and I will always be happy.
Anyway, with my readers love for loaf cakes rising just as much as mine, I figured it was time to make this bad boy into a carrot cake. I have oodles of carrot cake related recipes already on my blog, such as the classic carrot cake, and even my carrot cupcakes!
Carrot loaf cake
Making a carrot loaf cake is really quite similar to the rest of my other carrot themed bakes, but it’s all about the proportions. Sometimes just fitting a cake into a loaf tin doesn’t work – sometimes it does, but I’ve altered this to fit my favourite loaf tin.
Carrot cake is soft, it’s moist, and it’s delicious. You basically can’t go wrong with something such as carrot cake. Honestly, I find it so hard to over bake and ruin it – and this can often come from the ingredients.
Walnuts
This time, I used walnuts in the sponge. I didn’t put walnuts in the title, but technically this is a carrot and walnut loaf cake – but the walnuts are optional. You can switch them to a different nut, such as pecans, or switch it completely to use raisins! However, I know they are just as controversial.
One thing I love about using nuts in the sponge though is the crunch. It’s delicious. I get that some people don’t like texture changes though – and to be honest, carrot cake is just as delicious without them!
Butter free cake
Not only does the carrot itself bring incredible moisture to the sponge, but so does the oil! The cake is butter-free, and uses oil instead – and it’s amazing! It’s so incredibly easy to mix up. You definitely don’t need to use a mixer, and in all honesty, you probably shouldn’t!
Don’t over mix and bake straight away!
Even though the cake is hard to ruin, you definitely don’t want to over mix it. You also want to bake it straight away, and not let it sit for too long. Because the raising agent is different from your typical cake, it shouldn’t be left to sit – as that can ruin the sponge.
Cream cheese frosting
I decided to top this one with my all-new cream cheese frosting – and I’m so glad I did! In my other classic carrot cake I used buttercream as I made it for my dad, and mostly buttercream is easier. However, because this is a carrot cake – cream cheese frosting is an ideal combo!
Top tips!
Cream cheese frosting has to be stored in the fridge once it’s been used, as it’s a ‘fresh’ product – but the wonders of carrot cake mean it’s okay. The cake shouldn’t dry out and it works really well!
Also, because this is in loaf cake form… it’s so easy. Whack it in the loaf tin, slather the frosting on top, and decorate if you fancy! There’s nothing special to it, other than enjoy every last morsel when you eat it. Literally, every single crumb.
I, basically… am obsessed with this recipe. If you want to try out a different version, be sure to just put Carrot Cake in the search bar and you will find my obsession continues! Either way, HAPPY BAKING! x
Carrot Loaf Cake!
Ingredients
The Cake!
- 175 ml sunflower oil
- 3 large eggs
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 250 g grated carrots
- 100 g raisins/walnuts (optional)
- Zest of 1 orange
- 200 g self raising flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
Cream Cheese Frosting Glaze
- 125 g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 125 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 g full-fat cream cheese
Decoration!
- Fondant carrots
- Chopped nuts
Instructions
Cake
- Pour the sunflower oil & eggs into a large bowl and add the sugar – mix lightly and combine.
- Add the grated carrots, raisins/nuts, and orange zest and fold through to combine.
- Add the flour, bicarbonate, mixed spice, ginger, cinnamon & nutmeg and mix again – try not to over mix!
- Pour the mixture into the tin, and bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes. Sometimes it can take a little longer so test with a skewer!
- Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, and then cool on a wire rack. If your cake doesn't come out, it may not have finished baking, or you didn't line the tin well enough!
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat your butter on its own for a few minutes to loosen it.
- Add in the icing sugar, and beat again - I beat this for about 5 minutes, to make it really smooth.
- Make sure your cream cheese doesn't have any excess water - I find it best to add it to a bowl first just to make sure.
- Add in the cream cheese, and vanilla and beat. At first, it may look a little weird, but just keep on beating. I end up beating it for a few minutes - it can go through a lumpy stage first, but eventually, the lumps beat out and it's smooth and thick!
- Once beaten - it should be lovely and thick.
Decoration
- Slather your cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake!
- Decorate with chopped nuts, carrot decorations or whatever!!
- Enjoy!
Notes
- I used this loaf tin!
- This cake should be stored in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting, and will last for three days!
- You can use 100g of raisins, or 100g of nuts... this time, I used walnuts!
- If you want any more information on my cream cheese frosting, read this post!
- If you want to make a different sort of carrot cake - search my blog as I have many variations!
- The spices are optional, but they make a delicious flavour!
ENJOY!
Find my other Cupcake Recipes on my Recipes Page!
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J x
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Hi, i love every recipe I have made from your website, I made the carrot loaf cake for a friend last night, I had it in at the temp required and within half an hour it was going burnt on top, but wasn’t ready in the middle,.I left it longer and by time It was ready it was black on top I had to cut it off, going to try another attempt today. Iam using a conventional oven, would it still be 180°?
That definitely sounds too hot – some ovens naturally run hotter or colder than you think, and it definitely sounds like yours needed to be lower, or it has a burning hot spot! It would be worth lowering the temp 20°c to see if it helps!
This is my new favourite carrot cake recipe and the cream cheese frosting is delicious. I added about 60g chopped dark chocolate and 40g walnuts instead of the raisin/walnut combo and was glad I did. My cake took maybe 1 hour 10 mins to cook. A great recipe, thank you.
Is there a buttercream recipe instead of cream cheese please?
It’s baked brilliantly but nobody likes cream cheese frosting in my house!
Yep, there’s loads and loads on my blog!
Hey Jane,
Lovely carrot cake recipe but when I make the cream cheese icing it turns out very runny. What do you think I’m doing wrong? xx
Have a look into my cream cheese frosting post and YouTube video as it may help you understand why x
Could I use coconut oil instead of sunflower?
Thankyou
Cannot wait to try this !!
Looks so scrummy
I haven’t tried it with coconut oil, but I’m sure it would be fine! X
Hi Jane! Would it be ok to use 100g light brown sugar and 100g light brown muscovado sugar?
Yes that should be okay! X
What is in the mixed spice? I’m in the US and we don’t have a spice that is labeled as such. Here we have apple pie spice and pumpkin pie spice but I’d rather mix my own.
I always struggle to make carrot cake for some reason! I halved this as I have a small loaf tin and it turned out amazing. It was for a birthday tea so thank you for giving us a delicious treat. Now I get to finish off the leftover icing!
Hi hoping to make this but if I don’t use all the spices will cake still turn out nice?
It will just change the taste slightly!
Hi,
How long does the cake keep for in the fridge once baked and decorated?
I usually say 3 days! x
Hi, loved this recipe! I’m looking to make it in to cupcakes for a birthday event, do i need to adapt any of the recipe?
Have a look at my carrot cake cupcakes post! x
Absolutely gorgeous, best carrot cake I’ve ever made.
Love this recipe! Can the cake on its own be frozen and iced at a later date? And is the frosting freezable? Thankyou
Yes and yes!! x