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Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread. Better than you could get at any bakery, this quick and flavorful bread melts in your mouth. Soft carrot cake made with shredded carrots, sweetened with maple syrup, and swirled with cream cheese and cinnamon sugar. Top this quick carrot cake loaf with a ginger-cinnamon crunch topping and bake away. Enjoy just as is, or serve with salted sweet cream butter. Each soft slice has a little ginger crunch with every bite. Everyone loves this soft yet crunchy bread.
After all the chocolate we’ve consumed this week, I thought a nice carrot recipe would be just right for today. Spring is on the horizon, Easter is coming up, and it’s about that time of year anyway!
I haven’t always loved carrot cake, but I made the most delicious carrot cake muffins last spring, and now I can’t get enough. Today’s bread, however, might even be better.
It’s the ginger CRUNCH. It really makes this cream cheese-swirled carrot cake that much more special.
Since Easter is so early this year (it falls on Sunday, March 31st), I’m already looking ahead to those holiday-themed recipes. Slow-cooked meats, vegetable sides, coconut cupcakes, and carrot cake are all top of mind!
Around here, we love our winter holidays the most, but Easter is always fun too!
And with this carrot cake on the menu, we can make delicious food as well! No boring Easter menus this year!
Here are the details
Step 1: mix the better. Start with the wet ingredients
This is all made in one bowl. Simply mix the wet ingredients with the dry, and that’s it. For the wet ingredients, it’s just melted coconut oil mixed with maple syrup as the sweetener. I used maple syrup mostly because I LOVE the warming flavor that it adds to baked goods. Now mix in the eggs and lots of vanilla for super yummy flavor.
And then the carrots! I used a good amount of freshly shredded carrots. The carrots also contribute to the bread’s sweetness and provide a soft/moist texture and pretty color too.
Step 2: now the dry ingredients
For the dry ingredients, you’ll need whole wheat pastry flour (or use all purpose flour), baking soda, and then cinnamon and salt.
You’ll also need crystalized ginger pieces and cinnamon sugar.
Step 3: mix and swirl
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Then spoon half the batter into a bread pan, spread the melted cream cheese evenly over the batter, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar and crystalized ginger pieces over the cream cheese. Now, add the remaining batter on top.
If you don’t love cream cheese, you can omit it, but I think it works well with the flavors in the carrot cake.
Step 4: the ginger crunch
The secret to this quick carrot bread is a sprinkle of cinnamon ginger crunch over the entire loaf.
This mixture was inspired by the cinnamon crunch bagels Panera bread sells. I love them so much, but the addition of crystalized ginger pieces makes the cinnamon crunch mix so much better. The crystalized ginger pieces are my secret to everything delicious right now. I’m really loving them so much.
The crunch is a mix of brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger pieces, and butter. Mix everything together until clumps form. Now sprinkle the clumps overtop of the loaf before baking.
Step 5: bake
And then you bake. This quick bread will take about an hour in the oven. As the bread bakes, the cinnamon and ginger melt into the sugar and butter, becoming nice and gooey. At the same time, the ginger topping begins to caramelize, becoming crunchy.
It is DELICIOUS!
As the carrot cake bread bakes, your kitchen will smell incredible. It’s going to make you excited for springtime baking recipes.
This is a very easy quick bread, totally no-fuss. Enjoy a slice or two with soft, salted butter. Such a wonderful treat to enjoy!
Looking for other sweet recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Maple Banana Bread with Cinnamon Spice Butter
Blender Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
Giant Double Blueberry Muffin Cookies
Bakery Blueberry Vanilla Crunch Muffins
Blueberry Swirl Coffee Cake Muffins
Baked Chocolate Fudge Glazed Doughnuts
Cream Cheese Swirled Cinnamon Carrot Cake Muffins
Lastly, if you make this Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread
Servings: 1 loaf
Calories Per Serving: 355 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups grated carrots
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 ounces cream cheese, melted
- 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons crystallized ginger pieces
Ginger CRUNCH
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2-3 tablespoons crystallized ginger pieces
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a (9×5 inch) bread pan.2. In a large bowl, stir together the oil, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Stir in the shredded carrots. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until just combined.3. Spoon half the batter into the prepared bread pan. Dollop the cream cheese over the batter, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar and crystallized ginger pieces. Evenly spoon the remaining batter over the sugar/ginger. 4. To make the crunch. Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, crystallized ginger pieces, and butter. Sprinkle the brown sugar mix over the loaf.5. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until the center is just set. Remove the bread and let cool. Or enjoy warm slathered with salted butter. YUMMMM!
This bread was a perfect dessert! Love everything about this recipe, and I don’t like carrot cake, but this? I’ll definitely make again!
Hi Debbie,
Love to hear this! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe and your comment:) Happy Sunday! Xx
Can you freeze these cupcakes?
Hi Lexi,
Sure, that will work well for you! Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this recipe! xT
Delicious. Perfect melding of flavors—the coconut oil is the key. I also doubled the crunchy topping ☺️ So yummy!
Thanks so much Lauren!! Love to hear this recipe turned out well for you:) Have a great week! xT
I made this for the first time yesterday and it will become a regular in our home. It was delicious, the topping added a special yum to the bread.
Hey Carol,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and your comment, love to hear that it turned out well for you! Have a great Monday! xT
This was yummy and liked the variation with crystallized ginger. I would have given it a higher rating but it didn’t rise as much as I’d hoped. It was a bit more dense than expected. Any suggestions on what to do to increase the rise or fluffiness?
Hi Liane,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! I would check your baking soda! I hope this helps! xx
Just Wow! I made these a week ago and forgot to comment, but the carrot cake muffins in today’s 9 Favorite Things reminded me to do so. Fabulous bread/cake with so many surprising layers of flavor. I often change things around a bit, but followed this recipe exactly. It is PERFECTLY delicious.
Hey Dee Dee,
Happy Sunday! I am thrilled to hear this recipe turned out well for you, thanks a lot for trying it out! Xx
My family found inedible. Normally a fan of your recipes and I love carrot cake, but this was a bummer
Hi Mike,
Thanks for trying this recipe and your feedback, so sorry to hear it wasn’t enjoyed. Was there anything you adjusted or anything that I can help with? Le the know! xT
Crystallized ginger adds such sophistication and flavor interest to this recipe! It was a hit! However, next time I’ll leave out the cream cheese- it was totally indistinguishable within the cake- if my eyes were closed I wouldn’t have noticed it was there.
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks a lot for making this bread and sharing your feedback, so glad it turned out well for you:) xT
355 calories a slice or the loaf ?
Hi Ashley,
I believe it’s per slice! I always recommend that if the nutritional information is important to you, you use your own personal calculator. Ours is automatic and controlled by google. It’s not something we’d prefer to be using. We are required to. I’m sorry for the trouble, we do our best! Hope you enjoy the recipe! xT
This was so good. I’ve been having a piece all week. Very flavourful! I didn’t have crystallized ginger at home when I got the craving to make this at midnight but i did a bag have these ginger chews and that worked just as well
Hey Charna,
Amazing!! So glad to hear this recipe turned out well for you, thanks for making it and your comment:) Xx
This bread was unbelievably delicious! My family absolutely loved it. It was just the right amount of sweetness. The only change I made was using coconut sugar and it did not compromise the flavor at all. Thank you for all the delicious recipes!
Hey Kendra,
Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your comment, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xT
Made mini loafs and they turned out great! Baked for 28 mins and were a hit! They are definitely more a bread than cake but appreciated the less sweet nature as carrot cake can be too sweet. Made more work for myself making mini loafs but individual ones were much loved. Will pipe the cream cheese next time for ease.
Thanks!!
Hi Eleonora,
Love this! Great idea to do mini loafs, so glad to hear they turned out well for you! Thanks for trying the recipe! xT
I made this with all purpose flour but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. This takes a bit of time, but is well worth it!! There are so many layers of flavor and textures in this bread. The top is sweet and crunchy and the cream cheese in the middle provides a rich contrast to the mildly sweet bread. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about the candied ginger, but it compliments the flavors perfectly. My partner and our 3 teens all loved this bread!!
Hi Angela,
Wonderful!! I appreciate you trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear the cake was enjoyed! xT
After reading others’ comments that this recipe lacked flavor, I made this recipe with a few modifications. I thought it was absolutely delicious:
-Added about a half cup sweetened shredded coconut
-Used chopped UNCRYSTALLIZED candied ginger from Trader Joe’s and added about two more tablespoons
-Added about two tablespoons powdered sugar and a splash of vanilla to softened cream cheese for the swirl
-Added an additional tablespoon of maple syrup
-Only had one egg, so used a “flax egg” for the second egg and it turned out fine (one tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with three tablespoons warm water, left to sit for about 5-10 minutes)
-Used regular whole wheat flour, not pastry flour, and it turned out fine
-Accidentally used three tablespoons salted butter in the crunch topping, but that just made it more melty and dribbled down the sides a bit to spread sweetness/crunch to the loaf!
Hey Suzanne,
So glad to hear this recipe turned out well for you, thanks a lot for making it! Thanks for sharing all of your notes on what worked well for you! Xx
This recipe looks amazing! I was curious to if I could add coconut sugar as the sweetener instead and if so how much would you recommend adding? Thank you so much!
Hi Alison,
So sorry, I am honestly not sure as I have never tested this recipe with coconut sugar. Let me know if you give it a try! Xx