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Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake
Serving: 16
Prep Time:
Cooking Time: 1 hour 10 minutes (plus 1 hour cooling time)
Carrots give carrot cake a health-halo effect—people think it’s health food, but it’s usually very high in fat and calories. But our version has about 40 percent less calories and 50 percent less fat than most. First, we use less oil in our batter. Then we skip the butter in the frosting (don’t worry, it’s still light and smooth). To ensure the cake is moist, we add nonfat buttermilk and crushed pineapple.
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Ingredients

Directions

Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Drain pineapple in a sieve set over a bowl, pressing on the solids. Reserve the drained pineapple and ¼ cup of the juice.
3. Whisk flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk eggs, sugar, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and the ¼ cup pineapple juice in a large bowl until blended. Stir in pineapple, carrots, and ¼ cup coconut. Add the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula just until blended. Stir in the nuts. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly.
4. Bake the cake until the top springs back when touched lightly and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting:
1. Beat cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake. Sprinkle with toasted coconut.