The most epically moist and delicious Healthy Chai-Spiced Carrot Banana Bread loaded with warming spices and topped with the most amazing cream cheese frosting. 100% whole grain and vegan!
If I come back in another life as a baked good I WILL BE THIS BREAD OF ALL BREADS.
Sweet, sassy, fun, unique…you picking up what I’m throwing down? I’m twinning with this dream loaf! I legitimately think that a) this is my favorite blog recipe ever and b) these are my favorite photos ever.
And even though this may look like just another recipe to you, it feels really, really symbolic to me. Like the universe blessed me with this high vibin’ frequency to produce something so epically luscious and drop dead gorgeous for your face.
I MEAN CAN YOU EVEN WITH THIS?
You bet your hiney that I took my Vegan Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread recipe and modified it to make this chai-spiced carrot banana bread version packed with pecans and fun chai spices and cream cheese frosting (I used my homemade Vegan Cashew Cream Cheese) because…life is too short to not put cardamom in your carrot cake.
Lettuce rewind and chat about why this bread was meant to be. The last couple months have been kiiiiinda tough. I’ve been working pretty much every day, bopping from Hummusapien duties to Alchemy obligations and basically doing some kind of work (social media, menu planning, restaurant stuff, cooking, writing, photographing, emails) during most waking hours.
Owning a business(es) is hard in every sense of the word. There’s no sugar-coating it. And like any business, the blog and Alchemy don’t sleep. Lately my days look something like this: wake up around 7am. Work on blog stuff until 830am. Get ready, eat, and go to Alchemy or a meeting around 9am. Do restaurant stuff all day. Maybe work out around 6:30pm, maybe not. Make dinner or reheat leftovers (god-willingly) around 8pm. Shower and probably not wash my hair. Grab my computer and work on the blog and/or Alchemy until 10 or 10:30pm. Sleep. Repeat.
And then last week I got that chest tightness I get a couple times a year, like my body is ahead of my brain and it wants to have a panic attack but my mind’s not on board. I didn’t feel super stressed mentally, but my body sure did. I’ve worked harder these past few months than I have in my entire life. Has it been difficult? Without a doubt. Have I made sacrifices? Sure. But there’s so much amazingness weaved into the day to day grind. It’s those lovely moments that make it worth it a hundred times over.
I know it won’t be this past-faced forever. At least I have the best ever carrot banana bread to fuel with, right? And a new assistant! Mad love to Jeremy.
I want you to know the joy I felt when I took a bite of this chai-spiced carrot banana bread, when I drooled over the photographs, when I actually felt enamored writing these words to you at 10:29pm on a Sunday. The excitement for the future that both businesses hold is what wakes me up every morning. I’m so proud to have built a business out of this blog that’s so insanely closely tied to my heart.
SO! The reason this recipe is meant to be is because despite working wild hours and wondering if I’m going insane, I felt better today staring at this carrot cake than I’ve felt in a long time. It was that feeling that keeps me inspired. Simple but so strong. It all felt full circle—the past, the present, and the future.
I know what I was put on this earth to do and I’m doing it.
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Healthy Chai-Spiced Carrot Banana Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 70 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
- Yield: 10 1x
Description
The most epically moist and delicious Healthy Chai-Spiced Carrot Banana Bread loaded with warming spices and topped with the most amazing cream cheese frosting. 100% whole grain and vegan!
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 2 tbsp ground flax + 6 tbsp water
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 cup grated carrots (2 large carrots)
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour*
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups mashed banana (3 medium, very over-ripe bananas)
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or cane sugar or 1/3 cup maple syrup)
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans, plus more for topping
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 1/3 cup cream cheese of choice, softened (I used homemade vegan cashew cream cheese)
- 1/3 cup organic powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 5x9inch loaf pan.
- In a small bowl, stir together flax and water. Set aside to thicken. Melt coconut oil in a small bowl and set aside to cool. Grate carrots and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, stir together mashed banana, grated carrot, sugar, coconut oil, milk, vanilla extract, and flax mixture.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined, being careful not to over-mix. Gently fold in pecans. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, covering with foil after 50 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make frosting by beating together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla (I used a hand mixer) in a medium bowl until smooth.
- Remove bread from oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on wire rack. When bread has cooled, spread with frosting and top with a sprinkling of pecans. Slice and serve!
Notes
*For a gluten-free version, readers have had success with substituting 2 cups 1:1 GF baking flour OR 1 1/2 cups GF baking flour + 1/2 cup almond meal.
Wow, you’re amazing! I can feel you so much rigth now, keep up your good work! 😉
I want to try this bread RIGHT NOW but do you have a gluten-free substitute for the flour or is it important for the texture?
Thanks so much!
Yours, Isabella
★★★★★
Bobs GF 1 for 1 is amazing!
I always have great success with Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1 all purpose GF flour! My husband has Celiac, and we both enjoy baked goods made with this blend.
All your bread recipes lately have me SWOONING.
All your bread recipes lately have me SWOONING.
Thanks for the recipes as always ! I am such a fan. Quick question- have you posted the recipe for the cashew cream cheese, and if so where can I find it?
Thanks so much!
Hey! I’ll do a full post about the cashew cream recipe soon but in the mean time, I laid out the recipe method in this post: https://www.hummusapien.com/what-i-ate-this-week-15/ Enjoy!
Thanks for the recipes as always ! I am such a fan. Quick question- have you posted the recipe for the cashew cream cheese, and if so where can I find it?
Thanks so much!
Hey! I’ll do a full post about the cashew cream recipe soon but in the mean time, I laid out the recipe method in this post: https://www.hummusapien.com/what-i-ate-this-week-15/ Enjoy!
You’re a force to be reckon with , and you inspire me to be one too!! Thanks for sharing your authentic story and so OBSESSED with this recipe! Cannot wait to make it! I think I’ll make it in honor of RD day!
★★★★★
You’re a force to be reckon with , and you inspire me to be one too!! Thanks for sharing your authentic story and so OBSESSED with this recipe! Cannot wait to make it! I think I’ll make it in honor of RD day!
★★★★★
That cream cheese icing is EVERYTHING. Proud of you, girl! #BossLady 🙂
★★★★★
That cream cheese icing is EVERYTHING. Proud of you, girl! #BossLady 🙂
★★★★★
Reading about how happy you are with this recipe and overall stuff makes me so happy for you 😀
Someone (Kylie/immaeatthat, I think) posted a chai bread recipe last week sometime and I was thinking of trying that, but this looks good on a whole nother level! The spice of chai plus the solidity of carbs just sounds like such a good comfort food to me.
Reading about how happy you are with this recipe and overall stuff makes me so happy for you 😀
Someone (Kylie/immaeatthat, I think) posted a chai bread recipe last week sometime and I was thinking of trying that, but this looks good on a whole nother level! The spice of chai plus the solidity of carbs just sounds like such a good comfort food to me.
Thank you so much for sharing what it takes to run your businesses! I’m in awe of your work ethic. I’m also in awe of this bread. Matt & I are do excited to enjoy this on Easter!
Thank you so much for sharing what it takes to run your businesses! I’m in awe of your work ethic. I’m also in awe of this bread. Matt & I are do excited to enjoy this on Easter!
You go, girl! Seems like you’re really running the business world lately. Tiring but worth it, I’m sure! 🙂
Thank you for the banana bread recipe. It sounds delicious, as always. 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
You go, girl! Seems like you’re really running the business world lately. Tiring but worth it, I’m sure! 🙂
Thank you for the banana bread recipe. It sounds delicious, as always. 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com