Vegan Carrot Cake Bread with Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Swirl

Enjoy the flavors of the season, and some indoor baking when those rainy stretches hit, with this delicious vegan carrot cake bread.

This vegan carrot cake bread was created by my good friend Hannah of Bittersweet, and shared with us a few years ago. We’ve just updated it with our newer formatting and shifted it to our recipe section so that you can find it easily!

Working her creative magic, Hannah turned a classic spring cake into a sturdy but tender yeasted loaf. It’s speckled with walnuts, raisins, and of course orange flecks of carrot, but rather than iced, it has a rich cream cheese frosting swirled right in!

Once sliced, this vegan carrot cake bread can be toasted, but I recommend doing so in the oven or a toaster oven on a piece of foil, as the filling may soften.

Special Diet Notes: Vegan Carrot Cake Bread

For nut-free vegan carrot cake bread, omit the walnuts, use a nut-free, dairy-free milk beverage (such as coconut milk beverage), and see my cream cheese alternative options below.

Vegan Carrot Cake Bread with Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Swirl

 

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Prep time

45 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

 

Hannah is an amazing vegan cookbook author who writes for us often here on Go Dairy Free. This is a recipe she shared with us straight from her blog, Bittersweet. Note that the prep time in this recipe does not include the rising time.

Author: Hannah Kaminsky

Serves: 2 8x4-inch loaves

Ingredients

Vegan Carrot Cake Bread

• 1 cup plain dairy-free milk beverage (such as So Delicious Dairy Free)
• ⅔ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2¼ teaspoons (.25-ounce package) active dry yeast
• 4 to 6 cups all-purpose flour (can sub part white-wheat flour for heartier bread)
• 1 tablespoon flax seeds, ground
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 cups shredded carrot
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• ½ cup raisins
• ⅓ cup non-GMO canola, grapeseed or rice bran oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Swirl Filling

• 1 8-ounce package dairy-free cream cheese alternative (see post above for options)
• ⅓ cup cornstarch (can sub another starch, if needed)
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. For the Vegan Carrot Cake Bread, warm the milk beverage in a medium bowl in the microwave for about 1 minute, or until it reaches between 105º and 115°F (this is quite warm, but not hot). Stir in the brown sugar, sprinkle in the yeast and let sit 5 minutes, or until it becomes bubbly.
2. Meanwhile, combine 4 cups flour and the ground flaxseed, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the carrot, walnuts, and raisins until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
3. Add the proofed yeast mixture, oil, and vanilla to your mixing bowl and either mix with a spoon or with a stand mixer starting on low. Once incorporated, add 1 more cup flour - switch over to the dough hook if using a stand mixer – and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. The dough should be tacky and elastic, not wet or sticky. If needed, add up to 1 more cup flour to get the right consistency and continue working the dough for another 5 minutes.
4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with a cloth or piece of plastic wrap, and let sit in a warm place for about 1½ hours, or until doubled in volume.
5. Once the dough is risen, lightly grease two 8 x 4-inch loaf pans.
6. Punch down the dough and cut it into two pieces. On a well-floured surface, take one piece and roll it out into a rectangle. Be sure to keep the two short sides no longer than 8 inches so that it will fit in the pan, but roll it out lengthwise as far as possible- The longer the dough, the more impressive your spiral will be in the finished loaf.
7. For the Dairy-Free Cream Cheese Filling, place the cream cheese alternative, starch, sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl, and beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer until smooth.
8. Smear half of the cream cheese filling evenly over the rolled out dough, leaving about 1 inch of one short end clear. You may want to spread a slightly thinner layer near the other edges, to prevent it from dripping out when you move the dough.
9. Starting with the short end that’s fully covered, roll the dough up as tightly as possible without squeezing out the filling. Pinch the end to the main body of the loaf to seal, and quickly but carefully transfer the rolled up dough to one of the prepared loaf pans, ends slightly folded under and seam-side down.
10. Repeat the rolling out, filling, and rolling up processes with the other piece of dough.
11. Loosely cover the loaves with a piece of plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour, until about doubled or just peeking out above the edge of the pans.
12. Preheat your oven to 375ºF
13. Bake the loaves for about 26 to 36 minutes, or until golden brown on top and hollow sounding when tapped (Yes, you can cool it, tap it, and then toss it back in the oven if it doesn’t sound right).
14. Let cool completely before slicing.

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