Pumpkin Carrot Spice Loaf w/ Cream Cheese Icing

 Even though there is plenty of snow on the ground here, fall baking is still on my mind.     I've been making this recipe for as long as I can remember, usually in the form of dozen muffins instead.  This time however, I doubled the recipe and made 2 dozen  mini muffins (at the bottom of this post) and the above loaf.
The yogurt in the batter makes this loaf really moist, with a nice cake-like texture without being too heavy.  The cream cheese icing is light and fluffy with an understated sweetness. This loaf is great when paired with a steaming hot mug of coffee or tea.  It made the perfect Sunday breakfast this morning.      Ingredients - 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour - 1/2 cup sugar - 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice - 2 tsp baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp baking soda - 1/2 tsp salt - 3/4 cup greek yogurt - 4 tbsp melted butter - 1 egg - 2 cups shredded carrot
For cream cheese icing - 1/2 brick (4 oz) cream cheese, softened - 2 tbsp butter, room temperature - 1 cup icing sugar

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.   Combine flour, sugar, spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.    In a separate bowl, mix in yogurt, butter, and egg until just mixed.  Be careful not to over-mix.  The batter will be dryer than your average batter, but this is because the carrots have so much moisture.    Gently fold shredded carrots into dough.  You'll notice the consistency because more typical to muffin batter after this step.   Scrape batter into a buttered bread pan.  Bake in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Let cool completely before icing.  Whip icing ingredients together and spread over loaf.   *For mini muffins raise the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 25 minutes. 
Enjoy!