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Lemon Glazed Carrot Cake. Better than any bakery, this carrot cake is tender and light yet perfectly sweet and delicious! This simple carrot cake is made all in one bowl with grated carrots. It’s sweetened lightly with brown sugar and made soft and fluffy with a mix of sour cream (or Greek yogurt), butter, and eggs. The batter is then swirled with sweet cinnamon and glazed with a light lemony icing, and topped with a sprinkle of lemon sugar! Each soft slice has a little cinnamon swirl and tangy lemon icing. Such a very yummy carrot cake!
Carrot cake has always been a dessert that’s confused me. Why carrots in cake? I mean, who originally thought that up? It seemed so bizarre to me. And since carrot cake wasn’t something I grew up eating, I never dabbled with it until very recently. But once I began creating a carrot cake recipe, I understood just how delicious it can be.
I still need to make a layered carrot cake, as that’s something I haven’t tried. But a loaf cake always seems so much easier to me! And goodness, how I love this carrot loaf cake I’m sharing today.
It’s rich, yet not too sweet, and the texture is just so perfect. I think of this as better than the bakery-style carrot cake!
I was chatting with my sister-in-law, Lyndsie, while she was in town. She mentioned that she’d love a classic carrot cake loaf recipe. It’s one of her favorite desserts! My cousin’s wife, Caroline, who was also visiting, seconded that.
Of course I love to create recipes for the people around me, it’s one of my favorite things to get to do! It took me a couple of days to get this recipe just right, but I’m really excited to share it!
Let’s talk about the details
Ingredients
- Salted butter, melted
- Sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- Dark brown sugar
- Large eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Grated carrots
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
Cinnamon Swirl
- dark brown sugar
- cinnamon
- flour
- salted butter
Lemon Icing
- Cream cheese
- Lemon zest and lemon juice
- Granulated sugar
Special Tools
For this carrot cake, you’ll need a mixing bowl and loaf/bread pan.
Steps
Step 1: mix the better.
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 butter mixed with brown sugar, sour cream (or use Greek yogurt), and eggs. Add lots of vanilla for a super yummy flavor.
And then the carrots! I used a good amount of freshly grated carrots. The carrots also contribute to the bread’s sweetness and provide a soft/moist texture and pretty color too.
Once you have the above all mixed up, mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Give this a good beating to really combine the batter.
Step 2: to make the cinnamon swirl
Mix brown sugar with flour, cinnamon, and melted butter.
Step 3: layer the cake and bake
Spoon half the batter into a loaf/cake pan, sprinkle the cinnamon swirl over the batter. Now, add the remaining batter on top.
This cake will take about an hour to bake. As the cake bakes, the cinnamon melts into the center of the cake, becoming nice and gooey.
It is DELICIOUS! And a bit unexpected too!
Step 4: the icing
While the cake is baking, make the tangy lemon cream cheese icing.
Mix a small amount of melted cream cheese with lemon juice and powdered sugar. Once the cake has cooled, spoon or pour the icing over the cake. It’s so pretty!
The final step is to mix the lemon zest with granulated sugar and sprinkle it over the cake. I prefer to blend the lemon and sugar together in the food processor to make the sugar crystals a little finer.
And that’s it – a simple cake that’s fun to make and beyond delicious. Have fun and enjoy some sweet carrot cake!
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 Lemon Glazed Carrot Cake, 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!
Lemon Glazed Carrot Cake
Servings: 10
Calories Per Serving: 344 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup plain whole milk Greek Yogurt, or sour cream
- 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Cinnamon Swirl
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon salted butter, melted
Lemon Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 ounces cream cheese melted
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a (9×5 inch) bread pan – line with parchment paper.2. In a large bowl, stir together the butter, brown sugar, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Stir in the grated carrots. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until combined.3. To make the cinnamon swirl. Mix the butter, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon.4. Spoon half the batter into the prepared bread pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon swirl over the top. Evenly spoon the remaining batter over the cinnamon. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until the center is just set. Remove the bread and let cool.5. To make the icing. In a medium bowl, beat together the powdered sugar, cream cheese, lemon juice, and 1-3 tablespoons of water until smooth and drizzly. Spoon over the cake. 6. Mix the sugar and lemon zest. Sprinkle the lemon sugar over the cake. Let the icing set for 30 minutes. Slice and enjoy!
This post was originally published on February 21, 2025
Could I make this in a cake pan as opposed to a loaf pan?
Hi Sara! Yes, that should work just fine! Let me know how it turns out! 🙂 xT
Definitely bake less time. I baked mine 40 minutes and should have probably taken out at 38 . This bread does have a lot less flour than most breads so I’m sure that is why it needs to bake less time.
Hi Gail,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback. I hope it was delish! xx
This recipe didn’t work for me. The loaf came out dry and I only had baked it for 50 minutes, which is the same amount of time I bake all my breads. I let it sit for 4 hours to cool and then when I did the icing, it was way too runny as if I was drizzling it on a hot loaf. I am not sure what I could have done, possibly not melting the cream cheese before mixing the sugar and lemon juice?
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback. So sorry to hear this came out dry. For the icing, it sounds like you just needed some more powdered sugar. Again, so sorry! xx
SO good!! Don’t skip any of the components, the lemon sugar on top of the glaze was to die for! Only note is mine was done in about 45 minutes.
Hey Sarah,
Happy Sunday!! Love to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for making it and your comment! XxT
Hi! How many days in advance can I make this?
xx
Hi Jennifer,
This is good for 5 days in an airtight container. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
Amazing!!! This is a delicious loaf! Moist and not overly sweet. Perfect!!!! My family loves it!
Hey Claudia,
Fantastic!! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, thank you so much for making it and your comment! xx
The cake was really nice and no issues with the recipe. Really enjoyed both the cinnamon and lemon kicks – two flavours I would not have put together. The flavour was just simply a bit sweet for me, but it was still really good and would happily have it again
Hey Maire,
Happy Sunday!! Thank you so much for making this recipe and your comment, love to hear it was enjoyed:) x
I made this recipe, but didn’t think the actual cake was sweet enough. How much more sugar could I add to sweeten it up a bit? That being said, the icing gave it a sweeter taste and was excellent, but I would have liked the cake to be a bit sweeter. Thank you.
Hi Sheri,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! You could try adding an additional 1/4 cup of sugar if you wanted. I hope this helps! xx
Thanks Tieghan!
How would you store this? Refrigerator for 2 days or do you think it could sit out?
Hey Sima,
You can store in an airtight container on the counter for 1 week. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
Very tasty but ours turned out dry. Followed recipe exactly, more butter or sour cream?
Hey Riley,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe! Sorry to hear it was dry…any chance it just needed a few less minutes of baking? xx
Why is the icing runny, even without the water? (I made this recipe two times.) I also noticed on your instagram post there is no mention of the cream cheese and you added vanilla. The inconsistency is confusing. Please confirm the correct recipe for the icing. Thank you.
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for sharing your feedback. I don’t always mention each ingredient on IG videos for the sake of time, but you can follow the ingredients and instructions as written. If you need to thicken your icing, just add some more powdered sugar. I hope this helps! xx