Kitchen Experiment

I started thinking about making the beloved carrot cake in a lower-fat, lower-sugar version that we could enjoy more often and without guilt. So tonight I went to the store and picked up a few essentials for low-fat baking: unsweetened apple sauce, fat-free cream cheese, and low-fat butter (Land O Lakes).

The cake has been baked into 2 loaves and is cooling on the counter. Of course, I wasn't going to wait until it cooled to test it. In my inexpert opinion, the cake tastes pretty yummy, especially with all the substitutions I made. It's more of a bread-type cake, you know, like banana bread or zucchini bread, than a cakey cake.

I'm still working on the icing. I mixed up the fat-free cream cheese and low-fat butter with some powdered sugar, but I didn't have enough powdered sugar so it turned out too thin. I added some corn starch, but it still isn't the right consistency and the corn starch gave the icing a slightly starchy taste. For now the icing is hardening up in the fridge, but I'm not sure we'll use it. The official taste-tester is at work tonight so we won't have the official results until tomorrow.

Of course you could always enjoy the cake sans icing or with a little plain fat-free cream cheese or low-fat butter spread. As Rachael Ray would say, "Yum-O."

Here's the new low-fat, low-sugar recipe:

Almost Guilt-Free Carrot Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup Splenda for baking
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
3 cups shredded/grated carrots
1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (optional)

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add oil and applesauce and mix well. Add beaten eggs and mix well. Add carrots and pecans and mix well. Pour into well-greased & floured pans. Bake at 325 degrees (the regular version bakes at 350) for about 30 to 50 minutes depending on what type of pan you use. I used two loaf pans. You could also use a 9X13 sheet pan, 3 8-inch layer cake pans, or even muffin tins (these would make great muffins).

Check back for icing updates...and the official taste-tester results.