Carrot Cake Quick Bread

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Serve up a slice of carrot cake bread in the morning.

Carrot Cake Quick Bread
Photo: Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Rishon Hanners; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis
Active Time:
10 mins
Bake Time:
1 hrs
Cool Time:
1 hrs 10 mins
Total Time:
2 hrs 20 mins
Yield:
2 loaves

Get ready for a morning of indulgence: Our Carrot Cake Quick Bread is the sweetest thing to wake up to. This recipe gives you all the flavors of carrot cake, served up for breakfast in a delicious quick bread.

This tender, moist, and flavorful loaf gains lots of depth of flavor from the brown sugar and familiar warming spices. The light drizzle of tangy buttermilk glaze complements the sweetness of this cake. The toasted pecans add a nice crunch and become semi-soft when baking, allowing for easy slicing. This bread is super tender, with a moist interior and pops of bright orange color from the grated carrots.

How To Make the Best Carrot Cake Quick Bread

Our Test Kitchen has a few tips to guarantee success in baking this Carrot Cake Quick Bread.

  • Make sure you drain you crushed pineapple well; too much pineapple juice incorporated into the batter and this bread will quickly go from moist to wet.
  • With a quick bread you don't want to over stir your ingredients: Be sure just to mix until incorporated to keep it nice and tender.
  • Due to the longer bake time, you'll want to tent the tops with aluminum foil toward the end to prevent over-browning.

Make the night before and serve for breakfast with coffee, or anytime you're in need of a sweet treat. This recipe yields two loaves, leaving one for you and one for the neighbor. Or you can always save bread for later: Cover an unglazed loaf in plastic wrap and aluminum foil, and freeze. Glaze after thawing.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 

  • 1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar 

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda 

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt 

  • 3 large eggs

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, melted, plus softened butter for greasing 

  • 2 cups grated carrots (from 2 large peeled carrots) 

  • 1 (8-oz.) can crushed pineapple in juice, drained 

  • 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut 

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

  • ½ cup plus 2 Tbsp. whole buttermilk, divided

  • 1 cup chopped toasted pecans 

  • 1 cup powdered sugar 

Directions

  1. Mix dry ingredients:

    Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.

  2. Add wet ingredients:

    Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add melted butter, grated carrots, pineapple, coconut, vanilla, and ½ cup of the buttermilk; continue whisking until combined. Gently stir flour mixture into egg mixture just until incorporated. Gently fold in toasted pecans.

  3. Add batter to pans:

    Spoon mixture evenly into 2 greased (with softened butter) and floured 8- x 4-inch loaf pans. Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Tent with aluminum foil, if needed, after 50 minutes to prevent overbrowning.

  4. Cool bread loaves:

    Cool loaves in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove loaves from pans. Cool completely on rack, about 1 hour.

  5. Make glaze:

    Whisk together powdered sugar and remaining 2 tablespoons buttermilk in a small bowl; pour or drizzle over cooled loaves.

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