Crumb Carrot Cake w. Cream Cheese Drizzle

Crumb Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Drizzle
(recipe source: tinaschic.com)

So, yesterday I'm prepping everything for Easter dinner and I get a call from my husband begging me to make a carrot cake because his brothers just love it. Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was add something else to do to my already long list. So.... being me (and a bit lazy) I wanted to make it as easy as possible considering I have a ton of other things to do. So, I found this amazing carrot cake. No double layers, no crazy amount of frosting; just yummy crumb carrot cake. Score! Well, I made it yesterday and they already ate it. *sigh*


Crumb Topping:
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (equivalent to 1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 and 3/4 cups cake flour

Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
4 ounces crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup canola or veggie oil
1 pound carrots - finely shredded

Cream Cheese Drizzle:
4 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese (also known as Neufchatel cheese)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk

Crumb Topping: Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl or measuring cup. In a medium bowl, mix together the white sugar, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and melted butter. Add the cake flour and nuts and stir until combined. This works best while the butter is still hot. Set the mixture aside to cool for about 10-15 minutes.

Cakereheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9 inch baking pan and set it aside.

Using a fine grater, shred the carrots. Place the shredded carrots in between paper towels and gently press down to remove some moisture. In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set the dry ingredients aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, brown sugar, and white sugar together until it turns thick and creamy. Mix in the oil and pineapple. Gradually add in the dry ingredients and mix until the dry ingredients have just moistened. Do not over mix. Gently stir in the grated carrots. (I do this by hand with a spatula to avoid over mixing.) Pour the batter into the greased pan. Using your fingers, break the crumb topping into chunks and try to form small balls with it that are about 1/2 inch in size (like plump blueberries) and drop them over the cake batter (do not mix them into the batter). The crumbs do not have to be uniform in size and will likely not completely cover the cake.Bake the cake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean. Let it cool completely. Drizzle the cream cheese frosting (see recipe below) on top just before serving.

Drizzle: Mix the cream cheese and vanilla extract together. Stir in the powdered sugar and milk until it’s smooth.