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A delicious healthy recipe for carrot cake banana bread made with no refined sugar, plump raisins, and an easy and delish vegan cashew cream cheese frosting! Enjoy for breakfast or to bring to a holiday brunch!
If you love healthy carrot cake or vegan banana bread, well I’ve got the perfect match for you. Bet you didn’t ever really think to combine two of life’s greatest desserts into one? Well, I did.
Anytime I can get away with eating carrot cake for breakfast is a perfect day to me.
Carrot Cake Banana Bread
Something about the two of these combined just tastes like my childhood in a loaf. It’s almost like sweet, healthy banana bread made with ripe bananas and fresh carrot cake filled with plump raisins and walnuts just had a baby.
This recipe is a healthier twist on the traditional banana bread recipe and the traditional carrot cake recipe.
Carrot Cake Banana Bread Muffins
Yep! I said it, you can easily turn this carrot cake banana bread into muffins if you want! All you need to do is line a muffin tin with liners or spray it real good with nonstick spray, then pour batter into each cup until it’s 2/3 full.
You’ll want to bake for 17-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out nice and clean.
Ingredients in carrot cake banana bread
- Bananas and grated carrots, of course! Super ripe bananas and fresh grated carrots work best in this recipe.
- White whole wheat flour – you can swap this with all purpose, regular whole wheat flour, or gluten-free 1:1 flour but I prefer the fluffy texture of white whole wheat best.
- Coconut oil – more below on my tips for baking with coconut oil
- Honey – one of my favorite ways to sweeten a banana bread is with natural sugar. Bananas already have some sugar in them so you don’t need much!
- Eggs
- Spices like cinnamon and nutmeg
- Raisins
- Walnuts or pecans
Baking with coconut oil
If you haven’t realized by now, baking with coconut oil is my absolute favorite way to make anything sweet. It’s the only oil I use when baking, actually, because it can be fragrant and subtly sweet for baking. But it can also be completely flavorless!
Since most coconut oil solidifies at room temperature, you’ll want to measure it once it has been completely melted. I sometimes even buy liquid coconut oil so that it always stays liquid at room temperature and is easier to measure.
My biggest tip for working with coconut oil that isn’t always room temperature: bring all of your other ingredients to room temp. If you try to whisk eggs straight from the fridge with your coconut oil, it will solidify and clump up. I bring my eggs to room temp placing them in the oven for about 5 minutes while it starts to heat up.
This same thing is to be said with any other ingredient that you’re using straight from the fridge!
Unrefined vs. refined coconut oil
Unrefined coconut oil undergoes minimal processing, which causes there to still be a little bit of coconut flavor in the oil, whereas refined coconut oil does not have any flavor whatsoever because it has been high-heat processed, and ‘refined’ a little bit more.
Other banana bread recipes
- Healthy Banana Bread
- Peanut Butter Banana Bread
- Tahini Banana Bread
- Cinnamon roll banana bread
- Perfect Paleo Banana Bread
If you make this recipe, be sure to comment below and let me know how it was! Also tag @erinliveswhole on Instagram and use the hashtag #erinliveswhole so I can see it and feature you!
Carrot Cake Banana Bread
A delicious healthy recipe for carrot cake banana bread made with no refined sugar, plump raisins, and an easy and delish vegan cashew cream cheese frosting! Enjoy for breakfast or to bring to a holiday brunch!
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Banana Bread
- 2 medium overripe bananas, mashed
- 2 eggs, whisked
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1/2 cup raisins
Vegan Cashew Cream Cheese
- 1.5 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight or in hot water for at least 2 hours
- 1/2 cup filtered water
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare bread pan with nonstick spray or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together mashed bananas and eggs.
- Add in oil, honey, and vanilla. Stir till combined.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg.
- Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until fully combined.
- Add in grated carrots, nuts, and raisins.
- Stir in any desired mix-ins.
- Pour into prepared bread pan and bake in oven for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- While baking, combine frosting ingredients (cashews, filtered water, maple syrup, vanilla, salt) in a high powered blender, like a Vitamix.
- Blend until completely smooth, scraping along the sides as needed. This could take a couple minutes.
- Place in refrigerator to thicken.
- When loaf is COMPLETELY cooled, ice the top of the bread.
- Enjoy!
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Barbara says
I just made this. The only thing I did differently was use olive oil instead of coconut oil. This is a fantastic recipe. Personally I don’t preer (or need) the icing. This is an incredible breakfast or light lunch bar. I just had a slice with a chocolate protein drink for lunch!!! I love the banana/carrot combo!!!!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Barbara, so happy you loved the bread and made it your own! 🙂
Willow says
I made these into muffins and they are AMAZING. Sooo good as breakfast or a snack. I’m addicted.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Willow, I am so happy you enjoyed them!!
Maggie says
Turned these into breakfast bars and they were a hit!!!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Maggie, so happy you enjoyed them and great idea! 🙂
Sandra says
I really enjoyed it, I used Bobs red mill gluten free 1 to 1 . It’s really moist and delicious. I needed to cook it 8 minutes longer but that’s ok. The icing is a bit runny even though I put it in the fridge . I think next time I’ll had a bit more cashews. I love it and I’ll differently make it again .
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Sandra, so glad you liked it and made it your own!
Babita says
It’s look amazing, but what can I use instead of egg. Kindly suggest.
Erin says
Hi Babita, you could use a flax egg!
Eve says
Wow raving reviews….can’t wait to make this Carrot cake banana bread. Can I use just white flour?
Erin says
Hi Eve, thanks and yes that should be fine. Just double check the ratio in case it isn’t 1:1. Let me know how your bread comes out!
Julie says
Hello great 👍recipe. I made these into muffins and my kids couldn’t get enough of them. I used maple syrup instead of honey. Doesn’t honey loose its nutrient with heat?
Erin says
Hi Julie, thanks so much and good idea. It can, but its so minimal that I wouldn’t be concerned.
Faith says
I just topped with regular cream cheese and it made the best mid-day snack!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Faith, I am so glad you loved it!
Jeanie says
Made these as muffins. I used sorghum flour. They turned out very good.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Jeanie, so happy you liked them and made them your own!
Sheryll Q Truong says
Made muffins with this recipe. It was moist and had very good flavor. I love that it did not include refined sugars. I left out the raisins. My cashew cream did not come out thick as pictured in the recipe photos. That was my fault for not adding enough cashews. Will make again!
Erin says
HI Sheryll, so glad you loved them and made them your own!!
Meradith says
Followed the recipe to a ‘T’ and the whole family devoured it! Highly allergic to cashews, so we left off the icing and it was still delicious.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Meradith, so glad everyone liked it and you made it yur own!
Dori says
Perfect muffins. Moist and light cake crumb! Not too sweet.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Dori, I am so happy you liked it!
Erica says
This is so so good!! I’ve made it a couple of times and finally made the frosting with it this time. It goes so well with this bread! Love this recipe!!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Erica, I am so glad you enjoyed it!!
rose says
THIS IS AMAZING!
100% DESERVES 6 STARS!!!
YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS!
TIPS
MY ONLY TIPS ARE MAKE THE FROSTING BEFORE.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Rose, thanks for the kind words! So glad you love it!
Kelsey Bowen says
This is one of my absolute FAVORITE ELW recipes because it is SO diverse! I can eat it for breakfast without feeling lethargic or guilty, and I can also bake it for loved ones birthdays, feeling confident they will be satisfied (and in shock it’s not real cream cheese frosting). I made this recipe weekly for months on end and never got tired of it, and now have family members requesting it for events!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Kelsey, I am so happy you loved the bread so much!! 🙂
Marissa C. says
One of my favorite ELW recipes I’ve made! Such a fun twist on banana bread!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Marissa, I am so happy you liked it!
Morgan says
It was so easy to make and it tasted so amazing – I substituted the cashew cream cheese with the cream cheese frosting from ELW cinnamon bun recipe and it was perfect! So yummy !!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Morgan, so glad you enjoyed the bread! 🙂
Simone says
I just made these with leftover carrot pulp. I was hesitant since obviously carrot pulp is dryer, so I was afraid there wouldn’t be enough moisture with the recipe written as is, but man oh man! it worked out perfectly! I used spelt flour, 1/4C maple syrup, and made them into muffins instead bc I was really too lazy to wait an hour for a loaf, but its plenty sweet (for me) and so moist and so tender! I really think it’s the freshly grated nutmeg, as opposed to the ground in the bottle, that took it over the top for me.
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Simone, thank you so much for sharing! I am thrilled you enjoyed them as muffins!
Esther Sportello says
I turned these into muffins and they came out great!
★★★★★
Erin says
Hi Esther, I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing!
Matias says
Hi! Do you think oat flour will work for this recipe? Thank you!
Erin says
Hi Matias, yes, you can use oat flour. Before you bake just be sure to check the ratio because some flours are not a 1:1 ratio. Let me know how it comes out!