Carrot coffee cake

Spiced cake with brown sugar crumble & cream cheese icing

I'm not big into carrot cake. I usually think it has too much stuff going on — carrots, nuts, raisins. I just can't with raisins! But then one day I was desperate for breakfast and was staring at a selection of muffins, and the bakery tricked me by calling this one muffin something like "Morning Glory" when what they really meant was CARROT. But I ate it (again, desperate) and I didn't die. In fact, I didn't even mind it. So when I needed something festive for Easter brunch, I thought bunnies = carrots = carrot coffee cake. 

- - - - - - - 

CARROT COFFEE CAKE

WHAT YOU'LL NEED: 
CAKE
1 and 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups shredded carrots (you can buy them pre-shredded!)

CRUMBLE TOPPING
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 TBS flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 TBS butter, melted
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional, but not really)

ICING
1 TBS butter, softened
2 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla 

WHAT YOU'LL DO: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch round or square baking pan. 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

3. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, oil, egg, vanilla, and milk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined. Stir in shredded carrots (if using pre-shredded carrots, I would first chop them up a bit — they're kind of stringy otherwise). Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. To make the crumble topping: Stir together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and melted butter. If desired, add nuts (they add such  great flavor — do it!). Evenly distribute the topping over the batter in the pan. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely.

5. To make the icing: Use a hand mixer to beat butter and cream cheese together. Slowly mix in powdered sugar, then beat in vanilla. To pipe on the icing, pour into a plastic baggie and trim one of the bottom corners. Pipe away!

- - - - - - - 

This cake received absolutely rave reviews from everyone (my humble self included — now I'm a carrot cake believer!) — except my brother. I guess some people will just never be carrot cake converts. Which sounds like a shame, but really isn't — it just means more deliciousness for the rest of us!