Introducing my new favorite spring recipe, this vegan carrot cake banana bread.
Yep, I combined carrot cake and banana bread into one loaf-cake hybrid.
This moist banana carrot cake recipe is fluffy, moist, perfectly sweetened and packed with all the mix-ins (think raisins and walnuts).
Plus, it’s topped off with a luscious cream cheese frosting (yep it’s vegan) that takes this carrot cake banana bread from ‘good’ to ‘it’s actually too good’.
And to make this vegan carrot cake banana bread even better, I added orange zest, orange juice and orange extract to help amplify the carrot flavor in the bread. Plus, it makes this bread extra bright and flavorful.
Dare I say that this is the best banana carrot bread recipe?!
Enough said, let’s get into the recipe. Or feel free to skip the reading and jump right to the recipe here.
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- Jump to the recipe
- What the heck is carrot cake banana bread
- Ingredients you’ll need
- My tips and tricks
- Easily customize this recipe
What The Heck Is Carrot Cake Banana Bread
Ok, you might be wondering what the heck is carrot cake banana bread.
Essentially, it’s a cake-bread hybrid, a mix of banana bread and carrot cake. And if you’re skeptical about this combo, trust me when I say it’s better than actual carrot cake or banana bread.
Plus, the best thing about this cake is that it heavily relies on the bananas for sweetness, making this almost (but not quite haha) a no sugar banana carrot cake.
Carrot Cake Banana Bread Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need to make this healthy banana carrot cake, along with a few ingredients recommendations and subs.
As always, the full recipe with measurements and directions for this one bowl carrot cake banana bread is in the recipe card below.
- Carrots
- Bananas – make sure they’re super ripe (spotty)
- Spelt flour – love the organic and sprouted spelt flour from One Degree Organics
- Tahini – any runny/drippy nut or seed butter will work here, however tahini has a neutral flavor and works best in this cake
- Coconut sugar – the golden coconut sugar from Big Tree Farms is ideal for this cake as it won’t ruin the color of the loaf
- Almond milk – any plant milk works, but linking my almond milk recipe here
- Walnuts
- Raisins
- Leaveners – like baking powder and baking soda
- Kosher salt – if you’re using table salt, use less as it has a finer grain and will be much more salty as opposed to kosher salt
- Spices – like cinnamon, nutmeg and turmeric
- Orange zest
- Orange juice
- Orange extract
My Tips And Tricks
- Use a smaller bread pan for the perfectly domed carrot cake banana bread. This is a personal trick of mine, but instead of using a standard 9×5 loaf pan, I like to use a slightly smaller loaf pan that is 8×4. This will help your loaf become taller, plus you’ll get that lovely domed crack top on the bread as well.
- I prefer grating the carrots super fine, to the point that you won’t see them in the bread. Reason being that the larger carrot pieces (ie. if you grated them on the larger part of the box grated) tend to ruin the carrot cake banana bread texture. Making it crumbly and too moist.
- Speaking of carrots, squeeze out the excess water (or is it carrot juice) with a paper towel. It might seem like an unnecessary extra step, but squeezing out any excess water from the grated carrots will help the bread be springy and luffy, instead of mushy and dense.
- Use turmeric to give your cake a golden hue. The turmeric in this recipe serves no other purpose than to give this carrot bread a beautiful color. Don’t worry, you can’t taste it!
- Don’t overmix the batter. I sound like a broken record saying this, but the more you mix the batter, the more dense and gummy your cake will be. Because gluten-strands will develop and strengthen every time you mix.
- Sprinkle the loaf with extra coconut sugar. This will get you that classic caramelized and crunchy crust texture that is reminiscent of a bakery.
- Let the carrot cake banana bread cool down for a minimum of 2 hours. This is quite possibly the hardest part of the recipe, but trust me, let that bread cool down. With most vegan recipes, a lot of the structure, strength and crumb texture happens while the loaf is cooling down.
- And speaking of cooling down, let the loaf rest on its side when cooling. This way the hottest part of the bread (the bottom) is exposed to the air and will prevent the bottom of the loaf from getting soggy.
Customize This Recipe
- Easily turn this recipe into carrot cake banana bread muffins. Simply make the recipe as directed, but spoon about 2-3 tbsp of the batter into a lined muffin pan. Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes until puffed and golden brown. You’re welcome!
- Add extra mix-in’s to the bread, like coconut shreds.
- Bake this recipe in a bundt pan and glaze with cream cheese icing. And just like that you’ll have a minimal effort carrot cake that also happens to be super healthy!
Even More Spring Desserts
Print
Vegan Carrot Cake Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
- Category: Breakfast, Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
Introducing my new favorite spring recipe, this vegan carrot cake banana bread. This moist banana carrot cake recipe is fluffy, moist and perfectly sweetened!
Ingredients
- 3 medium Overripe bananas
- ⅓ cup Tahini
- ⅓ cup Golden coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup Almond milk
- 1 tbsp Orange juice
- 2 tbsp Orange zest
- ½ tsp Orange extract ((optional))
- 1 ½ tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tsp Cinnamon ((ceylon cinnamon tastes best))
- ½ tsp Nutmeg
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- 1 cup Shredded carrots, finely packed ((squeeze out the excess water with a paper towel))
- 1 ½ cups Spelt flour
- 1 cup Walnuts, roughly chopped
- ½ cup Raisins, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray an 8×4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the overripe bananas and mash into a pulp. I personally like using a potato masher to get the bananas to an applesauce consistency, but a fork also works well.
- Next, pour in the tahini, golden coconut sugar, almond milk, orange juice, orange zest and orange extract. Whisk the mixture together really well. Finally, add in the baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and turmeric. Whisk well again — the mixture should slightly lighten in color and become a little frothy thanks to the baking soda.
- At this point, add in the shredded carrots, and using a flexible spatula, fold into the wet mixture.
- Finally, sprinkle in the spelt flour, along with the walnuts and raisins. Fold to combine with the wet ingredients until the batter well combined and there are no flour streaks. Remember, don't overmix!
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top with your spatula. Sprinkle with extra coconut sugar for a crunchy crust and pop in the oven to bake for 50 minutes. While it bakes, I'd recommend rotating it halfway through to ensure the loaf bakes evenly.
- Once the loaf is done baking, let it cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Then remove from the pan, and let the loaf cool on a wire rack or cutting, on it's side, for two hours or more.
- When you're ready to have a slice, just drizzle with the cream cheese glaze (recipe in notes) and enjoy!
Notes
Cream Cheese Glaze
- 1/4 cup Vegan cream cheese
- 1 tbsp Honey or Maple syrup
- 1 tbsp Orange juice
- Pinch of salt
- Almond milk (or any plant milk) to thin the frosting
Simply combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add milk as needed to thin the frosting to the consistency that you like.
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