Carrot Cake

A few days after Thanksgiving, my dearly beloved announced that he wanted a piece of my carrot cake; he looked positively crestfallen when I told him that it had all been consumed by the herds of people who had been running rampant through the house.  So I made him another one (which, of course, he shared with the boys).

Given Chan's desire for the carrot cake recipe, I decided to run with this today.  I've made this cake much more pre-diabetic and cholesterol friendly, but am including the original ingredients (where I've changed them) in case you aren't concerned about cholesterol, sugar or even just plain extra calories.

CARROT CAKE

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar plus 1 cup splenda (or 2 cups sugar)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup egg beaters (or 4 eggs, or 2 eggs plus 3 egg whites)
3 cups shredded carrot (about a pound)
1 cup chopped walnuts

Put all of the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir vigorously with a wire whisk.  (This saves you from having to sift them together.  You'll be happier, trust me.)  Add the oil, egg and vanilla extract; beta about 2 minutes at low speed, until smooth.  The batter will be very dense.  Stir in the walnuts and carrot, mixing well.  Turn into a well greased 13x9 baking pan (unless you want to make a layer cake, which is, of course, your prerogative), and bake at 350F for 40 to 50 minutes, until a tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and let it cool  Frost with this cream cheese frosting:

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 pounds confectioners' sugar
heavy cream

Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together to combine.  Beat in the sugar to combine, and then beat in cream until it's smooth.  Frost the cake generously.

You will notice, of course, that all of the healthy alterations I made to the original recipe are negated by the frosting.  But I figure that a little improvement is better than none. And this is the recipe that Andrea loved at Thanksgiving, so you have her word on it.

Happy Monday, everyone!