Healthy Carrot Cake

By Sunday, things were pretty much back to running like normal.  We are still being very, very careful about what ingredients we are using and how much is being eaten at once. However, I was up for some baking.  Fat is no good right now so it was important to find something extremely healthy yet delicious for our Sunday night dessert.


I googled "Healthy Carrot Cake" and came up with quite a few recipes.  None of them were what I was thinking in terms of healthy substitutes so I decided to take a chance and just wig it.  


Mr. J was a bit more nervous when I suggested making something for dessert that was healthy.  His one request was that they would still taste like carrot cake.  Clearly he was a bit skeptical about my wigging it abilities. 

Healthy Carrot Cake

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 ¼ C whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups grated carrot
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons applesauce
• 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup walnuts, pieces
• Cooking spray

Frosting:

• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ground cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add 2 cups grated carrot, tossing to combine.

3. Place granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and applesauce. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add flour mixture and yogurt alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in walnut pieces.

4. Spread batter into a 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake completely on a wire rack.

5. To prepare frosting, place softened cream cheese and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Beat with a mixer starting on low and working up to medium speed until fluffy.  Spread frosting evenly over top of cake. 

I guess I was pretty good at wigging it because they came out marvelous.These little babies were good.  Super good.  I ended up making cupcakes but the directions were exactly the same.  You would never guess all of the healthy ingredients.  I even bet you could cut out a bit more of the sugar.  Mr. J was given strict instructions that only one cupcake a day was allowed when I am gone.