{Healthy Bee} Healthy-er Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is one of the classic desserts that always seem to be worth the numerous calories. However, do you ever feel like having a slice of carrot cake but without the hundreds of calories? Well here is a delicious version of the classic carrot cake with half of the calories! It is very simple to make and with one slight modification this recipe can be made to fit into a vegan diet. Give it a try and have carrot cake whenever you like...but without the guilt!

Cake ingredients:
1 medium ripe banana, frozen, then thawed
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (approximately 2 medium carrots)
1 1/4 cups flour
1T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Icing ingredients:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1T. margarine or vegan margarine
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2T. water

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease and flour an 8 inch cake pan. Mash thawed banana in a large bowl. Mix in sugar, oil, vanilla extract and carrots. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in the flour mixture into the banana mixture until no lumps remain. Fold in raisins and walnuts.

Pour cake batter into prepared baking pan. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool for approximately 10 minutes in pan. Transfer to cooling rack and let cake cool completely.

Icing recipe:
Using a fork, mix powdered sugar, melted margarine, vanilla, and 2T. of water in a large measuring cup. If icing is to thick add 1/2 tsp. of water at a time to achieve a nice drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over cake by slowing pouring from measuring cup.

Serves 15

Serve and enjoy!

Nutritional information:

Per Slice: 222 Cal; 2 Grams Protein; 8 Grams Total Fat (1 Gram Saturated Fat); 37 Grams Carbohydrates; 0 Mg. Cholesterol; 205 MG Sodium; 1 Gram Fiber; 26 Grams Sugar.