For those Lovers of Carrot Cake :)

Archived from April 18, 2011

This isn't just for any lover of cake or carrots or a combination of the two; this is a true delicacy made with the thought of healthiness without losing the true taste of carrot cake.

I found this recipe in, again, my Cooking Light magazine that I had such success with last month; this month's looks just as promising! :) Now I've made some slight changes to make it healthier and find more commonly used ingredients (which you'll see below).

Yield is 20 servings: 1 piece is 284 calories with 9.7 g fat and 3.6 g protein. That is with the original recipe. Total prep time and cooking time is approximately 1 hour and 53 minutes (that doesn't include clean up time).

Cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used wheat flour with flaxseed and other grains to make it more whole grain)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups grated carrots (for convenience, you could buy the shredded carrots, but I like to buy the regular sized carrots, not the baby carrots, and use my grater to shred the orange vegetable)

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

6 Tbsp. butter (softened) (here I used unsweetened applesauce)

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

Cooking spray

Frosting

6 oz cream cheese, softened (because you can't find packaging with 6 oz, I bought and used 8 oz.)

1 ounce fromage blanc (it's a soft cheese in case you were wondering (I used an ounce or two of vanilla-flavored Greek yogurt- AE Dairy now makes it really reasonable!)

2 Tbsp. butter, softened (I just took this out completely)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 chopped pecans, toasted (I didn't find the need to toast them, but I bought the already chopped up pecans for convenience)

1. Preheat oven at 350.

2. To prepare cake, combine flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl with whisk. Add carrots, tossing to combine.

3. Place granulated sugar, brown sugar, and applesauce in a (different) large bowl. Beat with mixer at medium speed until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Then add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

4. Spread batter into 9x13 metal baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 28 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cook cake completely on wire rack.

5. To prepare frosting, place softened cream cheese, Greek yogurt, vanilla extract, and salt in a medium bowl; beat with mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at medium speed until combined (don't overbeat it!). Spread frosting evenly over top of cake; sprinkle evenly with toasted pecans.

A side note: If you want to add a different flavor or texture, boil a cup of raisins in a cup of water; add boiled raisins to mixture of cake once combined. It will add a little pizazz to your carrot cake. :)

People, namely co-workers, raved about this wonderfully simple and semi-healthy (minus the cream cheese frosting with 3 cups of powdered sugar) dessert! They even asked when I would make another one again! :)

Happy Baking!