Recipe Makeover #3: Carrot cake


Dear Howard, I have a sweet tooth. One of my favorite sweets is carrot cake. Can you tell me how I can lower the calories of this food and make it healthier? Especially the icing (my favorite part).
—Lauren G.

Carrot Cake is a very high calorie food and you are right about the icing on the cake. But there is a way to make a much healthier version.

Original

¾ cup grated carrots
1 cup pureed pineapple
2 cups flour or cake flour
1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cups of brown sugar
1 tsp. Of baking powder
1/4 tsp of baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground clove

Icing
16 oz. Cream cheese
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla extract

Makeover

2 Cups of whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup chopped dates
1 1/3 cups of water
¼ cup of applesauce
¼ cup of brown sugar
1 tsp. of baking powder
.75 cup grated carrots
1 tsp. clove
1 tsp. of allspice
1 cup raisins
Cooking spray

Icing
2 cups of non-fat vanilla yogurt

Alternate icing option:
1/2 cup fat-free margarine
8 ounces of non-fat cream cheese
1.5 cups of sifted powdered sugar
2 tsp. of vanilla extract


Preparation:
Place the carrots, dates, raisins, water, applesauce, cinnamon, cloves & allspice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil & simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Cool. Sift together flour, baking powder, & soda. Add cooled carrot mixture to flour mixture. Blend well. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

Icing preparation:
Combine margarine and cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. (Frosting will be thin.) Add powdered sugar as needed to make frosting spreadable. Mix with an electric mixer after each addition


This makeover lowers the calories and fats while increasing the nutrients. The whole-wheat flour and dried fruits have helped bring the fiber content up from 1.5 grams per serving to 5 grams. The fat % has gone down from 41 % to 29 % and the calories have gone down remarkably from 725 per slice to 240. The nutrient increase is thanks to the whole-wheat flour, dates, applesauce and raisins, in place the of sugar and white flour. This still tastes great and is a much healthier choice. So you can have your cake and eat it too.


One thing to remember: as healthy as this recipe is, two pieces still make for a very big dessert. Don’t compensate for the lowered calories by eating twice as much!


Got a favorite dish you’d like me to makeover? E-mail me and I’ll have a go at it!