Carrot Cake Coffee Cake

Baking is my therapy.

{So is exercise, but that's another story.}

Sometimes I just feel like crap about whatever is going on and I realize it's been awhile since I've been in the kitchen. I go to my oven like a moth to a flame and begin to create and I feel better.

My favorite kind of therapy is when I'm creating something that's in my head. Not just following a recipe, but changing it. Making it mine. Or making it fit my mood. The thinking, the figuring, the measuring. It's soothing and relaxing. It's perfect for those days you need a little therapy.

Like when I realize Andy Cohen is on a book tour and not making new episodes of Watch What Happens: Live.

Or when the season finale of Grey's Anatomy is just so...wrong...that you almost want to scream and shout and yell nasty things.

Or when your daughter is so upset about what happens on the playground at school that her body reacts by making her sick.

Or when other parents try to parent your child at school, without you present, causing more of said sickness.

Baking is a great release for times when my kid isn't perfect.

And especially for times when I wish other parents would realize the same things about their own children.

And for times when I really, really wish no one knew who I was and that I blogged anonymously, so that I could really blog, if you get my drift.

It's times like these, when Andy Cohen is not here to make me laugh and when Shondra Rhimes makes me angry and when playground politics make me feel like I want to go all 80s Bunco Night, that I bake and create things like this Carrot Cake Coffee Cake.

It's a coffee cake. With carrots. So it's healthy.

Which is perfect for breakfast. Because it's the most important meal of the day.

Behind dessert, anyway.

And after I create things like these, and hear things like, "wow that's really good" or "I didn't know carrot cake coffee cake existed!" I feel better.

Because baking is my therapy.

Carrot Cake Coffee Cake

by Crazy for Crust (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients

For the Cake

• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• ½ cup milk
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups shredded carrots

For the Streusel

• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• ¾ cup chopped walnuts, if desired

For the icing

• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9” round pan with cooking spray.
2. Whisk flower, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl.
3. Stir sugar, oil, and egg in a large bowl. Stir in milk. Stir dry ingredients into wet and stir until just combined. Stir in shredded carrots.
4. Make the crumb topping: stir together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter. Add walnuts, if desired.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Top with streusel. Bake for 25-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Make icing: Mix powdered sugar and milk. Drizzle over cooled cake.

Powered by Recipage

I link up to all of these fabulous parties each week!

Talent Show Tuesday at Chef in Training, Trick or Treat Tuesday at Inside BruCrew Life, Cast Party Wednesday at Lady Behind the Curtain, Sweet Treats Thursday at Something Swanky, Chic-and-Crafty at the Frugal Girls, Tastetastic Thursday at A Little Nosh, Sweet Tooth Friday at Alli-n-sons, I'm Lovin' it Fridays at TidyMom, Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies, A Well-Seasoned Life, Strut your Stuff Saturday at Six Sisters' Stuff, and all of these too!