Carrot Cake loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting

⏱️ Prep: 20 mins | 🔥 Cook: 1 hr 5 mins | 🥞 Servings: 8–10 | 🥗 Calories: 450 kcal | ⌛ Total: 2 hrs 25 mins

Hi everyone! Welcome to YumsJunction. In this post, I’ll show you how to make an amazing carrot cake loaf. It’s super moist and topped with the perfect cream cheese frosting. Seriously, you’re going to love it!

Why You’ll Love This

This isn’t just another dry cake; it’s a “snack cake” masterpiece. We use oil instead of butter in the batter to keep it incredibly moist for days, and we bake it in a loaf tin so you get that nice, thick slice.

Plus, I have a specific “research-backed” secret for the frosting that stops it from ever getting runny. It’s chunky, it’s cozy, and it’s literally the best.

And if you fall in love with this loaf, you’ll be obsessed with my other cozy bakes too: Seriously the Best Mini Carrot Cakes You’ll Ever Make (And They’re SO Easy!), Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies: A Beautiful Sweet Treat, and this ultra-soft Small‑Batch Red Velvet Cake.

What You’ll Need

Special Equipment

• 2-pound (1kg) loaf tin
• Box grater (fine side!)
• Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
• Wire cooling rack

The Wet Mix

• Neutral Oil (vegetable or canola): ¾ cup (180ml)
• Light Brown Sugar: ½ cup (100g), packed
• Dark Brown Sugar: ½ cup (100g), packed
• Large Eggs: 2 (room temperature)
• Vanilla Extract: 1½ tsp

The Dry Mix

• All-Purpose Flour: 1½ cups (190g)
• Baking Soda: 1 tsp
• Baking Powder: ½ tsp
• Ground Cinnamon: 1½ tsp
• Ground Nutmeg: ½ tsp (freshly grated is best)
• Salt: ½ tsp

The Mix-ins

• Carrots: 2 cups (200g), peeled and finely grated
• Walnuts: ½ cup (50g), chopped (optional—less is more!)

The “Secret Method” Frosting

• Unsalted Butter: ½ cup (115g), softened to room temp
• Powdered Sugar: 2 cups (240g), sifted
• Cream Cheese: 8 oz (225g), full-fat block, cold or slightly cool
• Vanilla Extract: 1 tsp

Love easy bakes that use simple gear like this? You’ll also enjoy my mini carrot cakes and carrot cake whoopie pies for when you want individual little treats instead of a full loaf.

Let’s Get Baking!

1. Prep

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease 2-pound loaf tin and line with parchment paper.

2. Whisk the Sugars & Oil

First up, the wet stuff. In a large bowl, toss in the light brown sugar, dark brown sugar, oil, and eggs.
Note: You could absolutely replace this completely with only light brown or only dark brown sugar—it will affect the flavor though—but using both gives it this amazing depth. Just whisk those lightly until combined and smooth

3. Add Dry Ingredients

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and the spices directly to the wet mix.
I choose to only use ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg in my carrot cake because those are like two wonderful spices. But if you prefer to use cardamom, that is also ok!
Whisk gently until the batter is just formed. The batter will be actually quite thick—don’t panic!

4. Fold in Carrots (No Chunks Allowed!)

Switch to a spatula (put the whisk away!). Add the finely grated carrots and walnuts.
we need to finely grating carrot because we don’t want large chunks of carrot in carrot cake. Nobody wants that. Also, before we mix the carrot through, it’s best to just do this with a spatula, not a whisk. Do not overmix.

5. Bake

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Test it with a toothpick; it should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

6. Cooling Strategy

Take the cake out of the tin within like five minutes of taking it out of the oven. This ensures it doesn’t get too much moisture/sweat in the pan. Set it aside on a cooling rack to cool completely.

7. Make the Frosting (Research-Backed Way)

I’ve done a lot of research on this. Most people mix the butter and cream cheese, then add sugar. No. We want to coat the sugar in fat first so it doesn’t draw moisture out of the cheese. Using a mixer, beat the butter alone until super, super fine and fluffy.
Add the powdered sugar to the butter and beat until it forms a homogeneous, creamy mixture.
Finally, add the cream cheese and vanilla. Beat just until combined and fluffy—like the texture of lightly whipped cream.

8. Serve

Spread thickly over the cooled loaf. The perfect snack cake.

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FAQs

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Perfect Carrot Cake Loaf with Stable Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe by Sana ReiCourse: Dessert / SnackCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8–10

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

5

minutes

Calories (kcal per slice (approximate))

450

kcal

Chill time

1

hour 

Total time

2

hours 

25

minutes

 A moist, chunky carrot snack cake baked in a loaf tin, featuring a special “reverse” creaming frosting technique that guarantees a fluffy, non-runny topping.

Ingredients

• Equipment Needed

• 2lb Loaf Tin

• Electric Mixer

• Box Grater

• Mixing Bowls

• Ingredients

• ¾ cup (180ml) Neutral Oil

• ½ cup (100g) Light Brown Sugar

• ½ cup (100g) Dark Brown Sugar

• 2 Large Eggs

• 1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract

• 1 ½ cups (190g) All-Purpose Flour

• 1 tsp Baking Soda

• ½ tsp Baking Powder

• ½ tsp Salt

• 1 ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon

• ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg

• 2 cups (200g) Finely Grated Carrots

• ½ cup (50g) Chopped Walnuts (Optional)

• Frosting:

• ½ cup (115g) Unsalted Butter, softened

• 2 cups (240g) Powdered Sugar

• 8 oz (225g) Cream Cheese, block style

• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a loaf tin with parchment.
• Whisk oil, both sugars, eggs, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.
• Add flour, soda, powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix until just combined; batter will be thick.
• Fold in grated carrots and walnuts with a spatula.
• Pour into tin and bake for 65 minutes (1 hr 5 min).
• Remove from tin after 5 minutes and cool on a rack completely.
• Frosting: Beat butter until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until homogeneous. Add cream cheese last and beat until fluffy.
• Frost the cooled cake generously.

Notes

• Storage: Because of the cream cheese, store this in the fridge. It tastes amazing cold!
• Grating Tip: Use the fine side of the grater. We want the carrot to melt into the cake, not be crunchy chunks.
• Spice Swap: If you love cardamom, go to town and swap it for the nutmeg!
• Frosting Science: By mixing butter and sugar first, you coat the sugar crystals in fat. This prevents the sugar from drawing water out of the cream cheese, which is the main reason frostings turn runny.