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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.

Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com

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!

Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com

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.

Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com

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.

Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com

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.

Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com

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.

Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com

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.

Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com

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!

Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com

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!

Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com

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

Double Strawberry Cupcakes

Baked Chocolate Fudge Glazed Doughnuts

Cream Cheese Swirled Cinnamon Carrot Cake Muffins

Cinnamon Crunch Quick Bread

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

Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
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

Ginger CRUNCH

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!
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Swirled Ginger Crunch Carrot Cake Bread | halfbakedharvest.com
4.63 from 40 votes (20 ratings without comment)

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    This is SO good! I made it exactly as described except I substituted brown sugar for the maple syrup and increased it to 3/4 cup. This, along with your pumpkin cream cheese muffins with the candied ginger on top, are my favorite treats I’ve ever made!!

    1. Hey Andrea,
      Happy Friday! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe and your comment, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT

  2. 5 stars
    We made this recipe this weekend and it was fantastic!! The crystalized ginger was an amazing flavor addition! Not sure how anyone can say this doesn’t have flavor? Are your spices old?? And it was the perfect sweetness as it is a bread, not a cake! Loved it & can’t wait to make it again!

    1. Thanks so much Jennifer:) I appreciate you making this recipe and your feedback! So glad it was tasty for you! xT

    1. Hi Katie,
      Yes, that should work nicely for you! I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xT

  3. 5 stars
    This was so delicious! My husband, who claims to not like ginger, loved it and is already asking for me to make it again. Great for breakfast!

    1. Thanks so much Roseanne!! I love to hear that this recipe turned out nicely for you, thanks for making it! xT

    1. Hi Lindsey,
      Yes, that should work well for you! I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xT

  4. 5 stars
    Huge hit! Even my non-ginger loving family members were asking for seconds. Fantastic recipe, Tieghan!

    1. Hi Julie,
      Thanks so much for trying this recipe and your feedback, so glad to hear that it turned out well for you! Xx

    1. Hi Julie,
      If you are referring to fractionated coconut oil, no you do not want to use that for cooking/baking. Please let me know if I can help in any other way! xT

      1. 5 stars
        Sooo delicious. Instead of a loaf though, I did cupcakes as it’s too much at once for just my hubby and I. The first pan of muffins I used the cream cheese, and the second I did not but instead mixed in the ginger pieces directly into the batter. Baked them for 20 min still on 350 and they came out perfect. They are soo good. The cream cheese wasn’t bad, there was just too much of it in a small muffin. Otherwise so yummy. I am going to freeze my extra muffins and eat them as we please. Next time I make this recipe, which of course I will, I might try a little fresh ginger in the muffin batter instead of the crystallized pieces, but still use them for the topping. Thansk for another killer recipe!

        1. Hi Jillian,
          I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing what worked nicely for you! So glad to hear this was enjoyed! xT