Carrot Cake Banana Bread with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

by Jennifer // February 23, 2019 // 2162 Comments

Follow me!

We all know how banana bread typically comes about. Overripe bananas are sitting lifelessly in the fruit basket. Before the fruit flies arrive to dine, you debate between throwing them out or tossing them into a quick smoothie, pretending all the while that you’re not just going to turn them into banana bread. I’m sure you can guess which option wins the browned banana battle 99% of the time in my kitchen.

Thanks to a friend who recently has taken a liking to bringing me large bunches of bananas whenever he comes over, I have been banana breading out the wazoo lately. Chocolate chip, double chocolate, chocolate peanut butter, dark chocolate raspberry…the variations are endless and delicious and I’m trying to work my way through them all. When I was thinking about the different kinds I’ve baked before, I realized they all had something in common. It’s not a shocking revelation, coming from myself, but a provocative observation nonetheless. I don’t think I’ve ever made a single banana bread without chocolate chips in it. It’s obvious why; chocolate is my life blood. But still, this realization disturbed me. I needed to branch out from the chocolaty comfort of my quintessential recipes. I was going to attempt a bread without any chocolate. GASP.

Off to Pinterest I went, and my search for banana bread sans chocolate commenced at once. One of the first recipes I stumbled upon caught my curious eye. Carrot Cake Banana Bread, by A Latte Food. I didn’t even know such a thing existed. I investigated further. Made with bananas, yet interspersed with shredded carrots. There was cinnamon cream cheese frosting on top, sprinkled with crushed pecans which I imagined added the most perfect crunch to every bite of this carrotty creation. How could I not have thought of this before? It was just what I was looking for. A flavor pairing that intrigued me. Banana bread with all of the accouterments of carrot cake needed to be a part of my life. And now, it can too be a part of yours. Gather those overripe bananas that you “forgot” to eat during the week, and grab the bag of baby carrots that I know you have sitting in your fridge because you were planning to have them as a healthy snack with hummus when you bought them three weeks ago. Carrot Cake Banana Bread is calling you.