A carrot cake loaf that’s wholesome enough to enjoy for breakfast?! Yes please! Spiced with cinnamon, vanilla, and ginger, this beauty will fill your house with a delicious scent as it bakes. The loaf is naturally sweetened with maple syrup, and a lemon-cashew-coconut glaze gives the whole thing a fresh, zingy kick.

Growing up, I was always taking pictures. Of everything. My love affair started with a classic pink Polaroid camera and I would save up my allowance to buy new film.
Once I got my first point and shoot digital camera, I rarely left home without it. My family would always teasingly call me, ‘the little tourist’ because I took pictures of EVERYTHING…every moment…everyone…nothing could escape my wrath!
I never expected that my love for photography would blossom into a real hobby in my adult life. Eric bought a Canon DSLR back in 2007 and I was so intimidated by it, I didn’t start using it for my blog photos for over two years! Over time, he was able to convince me (and show me) the difference a professional camera (and lens) could make in a photo with the right knowledge.
So why all this camera talk? Well, after my carrot loaf shoot yesterday it really hit me how much I love food photography. Nothing is better than looking on the camera screen and getting excited by the shots.
Ok, ok, it also helped that I took a nibble of this loaf and it tasted great!

I kept telling myself, do not eat the slice, do not eat the slice…and then I was like ‘forget that’ and I took a bite! I think it gives the picture more character anyways. ;)

If your hesitant about cake for breakfast, maybe try my Heavenly Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal or my Oh Mega Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies — they won’t disappoint!

Whole-Grain Carrot Cake Loaf with Lemon Glaze

Yield
10 slices, plus 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (155 mL) glaze
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
A carrot cake loaf that’s wholesome enough to enjoy for breakfast?! Yes please! Spiced with cinnamon, vanilla, and ginger, this beauty will fill your house with a delicious scent as it bakes. The loaf is naturally sweetened with maple syrup, and a lemon-cashew-coconut glaze gives the whole thing a fresh, zingy kick. This recipe is a revamp of my 2011 carrot cake loaf, which was originally adapted from Sweet Freedom.
Ingredients
For the loaf:
- 1 1/2 cups (185 g) finely grated peeled carrot*
- 1 tablespoon (7 g) ground flax seed
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (140 mL) pure maple syrup
- 3/4 cup (185 mL) almond milk or other plant milk
- 1/3 cup (80 mL) grapeseed oil or melted coconut oil**
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups (230 g) whole-grain spelt flour***
- 1 cup (100 g) walnuts, chopped
For the glaze:
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) raw cashew butter
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) full-fat coconut cream, at room temperature****
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) pure maple syrup, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) fresh lemon zest, or to taste
- Dash fine sea salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a lightly oiled 8x4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix the grated carrot, ground flax, maple syrup, almond milk, oil, vanilla, and vinegar until thoroughly combined.
- In that same bowl, one-by-one, stir in the dry ingredients: cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour, and half of the chopped walnuts. Mix until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth evenly with a spoon. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts on top of the loaf and press them gently into the surface.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes (I bake for 45 minutes) until the loaf springs back slowly when touched and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. Combine the cashew butter, coconut cream, maple syrup, lemon zest, and salt in a blender or food processor. Blend or process until smooth. If it's too thick you can thin it with a bit of almond milk.
- After baking, place the loaf on a rack to finish cooling. The loaf is delicate so I don't suggest slicing until completely cooled.
- Once cool, slice the loaf, drizzling the lemon glaze on individual portions just before serving.
Tip:
* Please use the finest grate hole on the grater box.
** You can use any light-tasting oil you prefer. I’ve used light olive oil with success as well. If you use melted coconut oil, be sure that the rest of your wet ingredients are at room temperature to avoid seizing the oil.
*** I expect all-purpose spelt flour will work just fine here too. Whole wheat pastry flour or sifted whole wheat flour should also work fine, but they may require extra baking time.
**** Please use the thick, full-fat white cream found at the top of the can.
Make it nut-free: Omit the walnuts to make this loaf nut-free. For a super-fast, nut-free lemon glaze you can whisk 1/2 cup powdered icing sugar with 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or more to taste).
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)The original recipe is below:
Whole-Grain Vegan Carrot Cake Loaf with Lemon Glaze
Lightly adapted from Sweet Freedom. Glaze from Blissfully Vegan.
Yield: 1 small loaf, eight 1-inch slices
Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups finely grated carrot, unpacked
- 1 tbsp ground flax seed
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 3/4 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- 1/3 cup light extra virgin olive oil (or oil of choice)
- 1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
- 1.5 cups whole grain spelt flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup raisins, soaked for 10 minutes & drained
- 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
Lemon glaze: 1/2 cup icing sugar whisked with 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (or to taste)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a small loaf pan (20cm x11cm x 6cm) with parchment. Lightly grease the parchment and sides of pan with oil and set aside. Note that the original recipe used an 8”x8” square pan so that would also work.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the grated carrot, ground flax, pure maple syrup, almond milk, oil, vanilla, vinegar, and lemon zest. Set aside for at least two minutes while you gather the dry ingredients.
- In another large sized bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder & soda, and salt. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (a few dry spots may remain). Fold in the raisins and chopped walnuts. Be careful not to overmix as spelt is a very delicate flour.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, and then transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle on lemon glaze just before serving. Serves eight 1” slices. May be frozen.
I made this loaf for our family Easter get together this weekend. I froze the loaf (just until the glaze froze), and then wrapped it tightly two times with plastic wrap and placed it into an air-tight container. It should keep nice and fresh for Saturday!

I was also amazed at how much impact something as simple as a glaze could make in a photo.


The glaze just makes the loaf look so much more interesting, doesn’t it? I also love how it drips through the rack onto the parchment.

This is quite a dense loaf because spelt doesn’t rise much, but the nutty flavour really makes up for its short stature.
Once I drizzled the glaze over this loaf, the lemon really stole the show and I found myself almost forgetting that I was eating a carrot loaf! If you are not a lemon fan, I’m sure you can sub almond milk (or any milk) for the lemon juice and create a traditional glaze. I’m sure the glaze would also be very good with a pinch of cinnamon in it too!

This was absolutely AMAZING! Thanks for sharing.
You truly rock. I am going to make this as soon as I get home from my vacation! Love that it’s whole grain and not overly sweetened.
Awesomeness in a loaf! I made this last night and it went down a treat. I really love the lemon zest in the mixture.
Thanks for such a wonderful and inspiring site, Angela :)
Absolutely delicious recipe. I just baked a loaf and I’m eating it while it’s still steaming (don’t think it even needs the glaze, though that would probably take it to an even higher level of deliciousness). I’m definitely going to be making this again! Love how moist and dense the bread is. Pairs really well with non-fat greek yogurt as a spread btw. :)
So I’m just going to skip ahead to the recipe part. This was absolutely delicious. It came together so fast and disappeared in less than a day. You cannot break this recipe. Maple syrup is ridiculously expensive where I am (Australia) so I used 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/4 brown sugar – I might try it with all brown sugar next time. I didn’t have flax so added a teaspoon of commercial egg replacer (just a mix of potato starch, some other starches and xanthan gum), used soy milk and very fine whole wheat flour, and skipped the walnuts and glaze. Crazily moist and rich tasting. I think the walnut would have added a little something though, I’m buying some today to give this another go.
glad to hear that!
I love the ingredients in this recipe. It is difficult to find a wholesome recipe for carrot cake. Your photo with the glaze dripping down the sides of the bread is making my mouth water. I cannot wait to make this recipe. It will be on my list for the weekend and I know it will get eaten fast, I can tell!
I hope you like it, it’s a fav of mine
Can I substitute all purpose flour or whole wheat flour for the spelt flour?
Hey Lindsay,
Sorry for the delay in reply – I missed your comment somehow. I havent tried subbing a different flour, but I would assume it works. I suggest reading the comments to see if anyone else tried it out. Goodluck!
So I attempted to make this tonight…:( it was burnt on the outside and gooey in the inside :( I give up on cooking lol
Sorry to hear that! Have you tested your true oven temp recently? Sometimes that causes huge issues. You can pick up oven ther. in most kitchen stores.
I made this and it was soooo good! The only thing is that it did not raise llike shown in the pic. It kind of sunk a bit in the middle. Any suggestions? I didnt forget anything.
Hey Jenna, Sorry that it didn’t rise for you! I would check your baking soda to make sure it’s active (just combine a bit with vinegar and if it fizzes, it’s active). You might want to also check your oven temp. Pick up a thermometer and just made sure it’s heating at the temp it says it is. Many ovens are off by quite a bit. Hope this helps & better luck next time!
going to try this TODAY! Can I use honey instead of the maple syrup?
Hey Joy, Im not too sure! Honey is thicker than maple syrup so it could impact the overall result. Let me know if you do try it out!
Hi Angela, I did try it. it tastes fine to me. I don’t know what the one with the maple syrup is like so i have nothing to compare. Just eating another piece now and even cold it still tastes nice. Thanks!
glad to hear that it worked for you!
I love your recipes. I have been enjoying them for several months. I find your site is the one I keep coming back too. I made these with my 2.5 year old. He wanted to make muffins, so we put them in a muffin tin. They came out great. It was the first muffin/cake item that I gave my 10 month old too. I found them plenty sweet, so the next time we make them, I will cut back to 1/4 cup maple syrup. We try to keep the sugars low in our family. I would love any ideas you have for vegan kids snacks and kid-friendly family meals.
ANGELA, seriously, you are my hero. I wanted to cut down on the oil (ended up using about 2TB), so I added some extra almond milk and flax, and replaced some of the maple syrup with sucanat. LET ME TELL YOU, my partner, who is by no means vegan, proclaimed this as the Best Thing Ever and practically ordered me to make it again as soon as we devoured the first loaf. And I even left off the glaze. A year ago, he would have probably choked at the idea of a vegan, spelt flour, no-real-sugar carrot cake, but today he’s gobbling up every last bit! Thanks for always providing such healthy, interesting, delicious recipes that don’t make me feel like my diet is “missing” something.
I just made this cake and it tastes SO good! can’t wait to have another piece for supper. :)
Mmm! Thank you for the AMAZING RECIPE! I saw this and I knew it is the carrot cake of my dreams! I subbed apple sauce for oil, but everything else I made exactly as in the recipe. The result is soooo tasty! I already ate more than 1/4 the cake myself! The glaze is also delicious. Thank you so much! I just discovered the OSG blog last week, and I am thrilled for all of these fabulously creative vegan recipes! Thank you Angela!
I was wondering if you might do a post about flour? There are so many different kinds- oat flour, almond flour, all purpose, spelt flour… Are any of them interchangeable?
Wow!… Thank you so much, man are we Gloowing!
It’s cooking in the oven right now! I’m new at cooking let alone baking but your blog is making my transition to vegan so much easier! I’ve been cooking and eating your recipes and other vegan food. And just after 1month I was able to get off of my anxiety meds so thank you for your help! :)
Absolutely delicious! Perfectly moist and just the right amount of sweetness (even without the glaze). Subbed an egg for the flax as I had run out. Everyone in the house loved it – even my husband, who is normally anti-carrot cake. Hard to believe it’s healthy! Thank-you for a great recipe :-)
What’s the best way for storing this if I don’t want to freeze it? How long should I expect it to last?