Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Loaf (Quick Bread)

This whole wheat carrot cake loaf is a delicious quick bread made with fresh carrots and warm spices. Moist, lightly sweet, and topped with creamy frosting and chopped walnuts, this easy homemade bread is perfect for spring baking or Easter brunch!

This whole wheat carrot cake loaf is a delicious quick bread made with fresh carrots and warm spices. Moist, lightly sweet, and topped with creamy frosting and chopped walnuts, this easy homemade bread is perfect for spring baking or Easter brunch!

Pin It For Later!

Every season, I like to focus on delicious, from-scratch treats to make for my family to enjoy.

This Easter I finally made sourdough hot cross buns and, with that, I baked a delicious sourdough chocolate bread.

Carrot cake has forever been one of my family’s favorite treats around Easter time. My husband’s (and my own) birthday also fall around Easter, so carrot cake also wins for the spring birthday cakes at our house every year.

But this year I wanted to focus more on quick breads. I was so inspired when I made cranberry orange bread last Christmas, that I thought this carrot cake loaf would be the perfect cake-but-also-bread treat.

Quick breads are fun because you don’t need to long-ferment them like a regular sourdough boule. And, you can introduce some fun ingredients, like walnuts, cranberries, carrots, etc.

And the cream cheese frosting on top is perfect, especially for the kids!

I know you and your family will love this bread as much as we do 🙂

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission off items you buy at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon associate, I earn on qualifying purchases. See my full disclosure here.

Why We Love This Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Loaf Quick Bread

Perfect for spring & Easter baking! Carrot cake is a seasonal favorite, and baking it as a loaf makes it perfect for serving to friends and family, or brining to church on Sunday. And it’s slightly less sugar than an actual cake, making it a little easier to enjoy as breakfast or a snack instead of dessert 🙂

Easy to make in one day. If you’ve been around my blog long enough you know I usually only make sourdough breads, but I’m loving diving into the world of quick breads recently. This carrot cake loaf is a quick bread, so you don’t ferment it. Just mix all the ingredients and bake!

Made with fresh milled whole grains. Because this isn’t a sourdough recipe, it helps that the grains are at least whole and freshly milled. That way, you’re getting the full nutrition from the grain, which makes this a much more nutrient-dense snack as opposed to a store-bought alternative.

Tips for Making Homemade Carrot Cake Bread

Use farm fresh eggs if possible. One of my favorite parts of spring is the chickens laying so many eggs. If you have a local farmer or chickens of your own, this is a great recipe to use those eggs!

Mill the flour right before making the carrot cake loaf. Milling flour immediately before use ensures maximum nutritional value, better flavor, and the best baking performance. Freshly milled flour contains nutrients and oils that start to degrade within hours of grinding, which is why fresh milled flour is so far superior to store bought commercial flour.

To mill the wheat berries directly into the bowl, you want to mill about 1 1/2 cups hard white wheat berries. You can also use hard red wheat berries, but we prefer hard white. I find that about 1 cup of wheat berries equals about 1 1/4 cup flour. So you should have just under 2 cups of freshly milled flour total.

More Easter Recipes from the Homestead

Chocolate Sourdough Bread

Whole Grain Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Einkorn Sourdough Dinner Rolls

How to Dye Easter Eggs Naturally

Chocolate Chip Sourdough Brioche Rolls

How are freshly milled grains healthier for you?

Freshly milled grain is healthier for you because it keeps the entire grain intact, including the bran, germ, and endosperm. Today, most store-bought flour has stripped away the bran and germ and all of their nutrients in order to maintain a longer shelf life.

That means you’re getting more fiber, B vitamins, healthy fats, and antioxidants in every bite, which can support digestion, heart health, and stable blood sugar. Yes please!

And if you think about it, whole grain is also the original form of wheat that God gave us from the beginning. I don’t know about you, but I am always thinking about how we can enjoy the original Earth God created and use it to nourish our bodies, which can be hard in today’s world of modern advances and technologies. But I believe God created grain to be eaten in its whole form, and that our bodies actually thrive when eaten this way!

This is why many people today are tolerating whole grains that are freshly milled, or even ancient grains like Einkorn, much better than the highly processed white all purpose flour we see sold at stores today.

I have the Nutrimill grain mill, and really love it! We get our wheat berries from Azure standard. 

Tools Needed

Measuring cups and spoons

Large mixing bowl or stand up mixer

9×5 inch loaf pan

grain mill (optional – if freshly milling the grains)

Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Loaf Quick Bread Ingredients

Batter:

6 tbsp butter, softened

2 eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup milk or cream

2 cups grated carrot

1 cup raisins

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 cups of whole grain flour (about 1 1/2 cup hard white wheat berries)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

2 tbsp butter at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup powdered sugar

milk, 1 tablespoon at a time (as needed)

How to Make Whole Grain Carrot Cake Loaf Quick Bread

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl or stand up mixer, beat the butter, eggs, and sugar. Then add the cream, grated carrot, raisin, and maple syrup, and lightly beat or stir until just combined. Beat slowly to avoid splashes!

Add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and mix until combined.

Next add the walnuts and gently stir together.

Pour mixture into the sandwich loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour (a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean). Cool completely before frosting.

Combine all the cream cheese frosting ingredients in a large bowl and mix to combine. Spread onto the cooled loaf.

Sprinkle with more chopped walnuts if desired.

Store in plastic wrap in the fridge for 3-5 days, and enjoy!

FAQs

Can I use all-purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour?

Yes. All-purpose flour works fine, though whole wheat flour gives the loaf a much higher nutrient profile, a delicious nutty flavor, and tasty crumby texture.

Do I have to use raisins in carrot cake loaf?

No. Raisins are optional and can be left out or replaced with chopped dates, dried cranberries, or extra walnuts.

How do you store carrot cake loaf?

Cover with plastic and store in the fridge for 3-5 days.

Save It For Later!

More Whole Grain Recipes from the Homestead

Sourdough Whole Grain Sugar Cookies

Whole Grain Apple Cider Donuts

Sourdough Whole Grain Blueberry Cobbler

Whole Grain Sourdough Banana Muffins

Sourdough Pie Crust with Freshly Milled Whole Grain

Thanks for Stopping By the Duvall Homestead!