I know that’s a lot to say: one bowl zucchini carrot bread with cream cheese frosting, so you don’t have to take anymore deep breaths in between, just call it that delicious zucchini carrot bread. Or whatever you choose to call this yourself, because it’s way easy to make all in one bowl (the bread part that is) and you could also make the frosting separately and keep in the fridge for frosting the bread when it’s ready.
I made this based on my vegan carrot cake recipe but added tons more zucchini and carrots just to see what would happen. It was an experiment! And it worked.
This recipe is great to whip up quickly when you have extra amounts of zucchini and carrots leftover from your overzealous farmers’ market shopping, and you don’t want to waste your precious veggies. Once you make this, you’ll find that everyone likes it, including the kids, which means you’ll be secretly filling their adorable little bellies with more veggies than they will ever suspect. It looks like cake, takes sweet, and has a whole lotta fiber. This zucchini carrot bread is gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and refined sugar-free, and yes, somehow it’s totally delicious.
Since I just made this up and didn’t quite take notes, I’d recommend you gather together about five large zucchini and three big carrots and shred them up into a wide bowl. It may look like too much, but trust that this will all work out. Really trust that the zucchini and carrot shreds will be the fiber holding together your bread/cake/loaf, or whatever you want to call it.
It’s good for serving up for breakfast with berries, or a coffee and cake sort of snack time treat. You could even call it dessert.
zucchini carrot bread with cream cheese frosting
VEGAN / GLUTEN-FREE / REFINED SUGAR-FREE
INGREDIENTS – BREAD
3 flax eggs (3 tbsp flaxseed + 6 tbsp water)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup organic raw coconut sugar (or granulated monk fruit)
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup plant-based milk
5 grated zucchini
3 grated carrots
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour
3/4 cup chopped raw walnuts or pecans (optional)
INGREDIENTS – FROSTING
½ cup raw macadamia nuts (soaked and drained)
½ cup raw cashews (soaked and drained)
¼ cup plant-based milk
¼ cup maple syrup (or monk fruit “maple syrup”)
1 8-oz container vegan cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 probiotic capsule (optional)
DIRECTIONS – BREAD
Heat oven to 350°.
Butter pans with coconut oil or vegan butter, then lightly flour 1 medium loaf pan with gluten-free flour.
Set aside.
Prepare flax eggs in large bowl: mix flaxseed with water ratios.
Add coconut oil and maple syrup to the flax eggs, whisk to combine.
Add applesauce, coconut sugar, sea salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
Whisk to combine.
Add a small amount of oatmilk and stir.
Add grated zucchini carrot and fold into the mixture.
Add flour and stir. Batter should be thick.
Add remaining milk. Add nuts (optional) and stir.
Pour into loaf pan.
Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes clean.
Allow to cool in pan.
DIRECTIONS – FROSTING
Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth and creamy, 1-2 minutes.
Taste and add more plant-based milk if too thick.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes before frosting.
If too thin, add extra soaked nuts or vegan cream cheese.
*A high-speed blender is recommended.
