Low-Fat Carrot Cake Pleases Sweet Tooth

Holidays play havoc with your best intentions to eat well. Who can resist the rich and delicious desserts of the season?

Well, be of good cheer, because with light carrot cake you can satisfy a sweet tooth without loading up on fat and calories. Light carrot cake has just 204 calories per slice and only 4 grams of fat. When you add the light cream cheese frosting, the damage increases a little - 353 calories and 9 grams of fat.

But compare that to the original recipe, with 630 calories and 37 fat grams per slice. With just one piece, you could consume more than half a day’s total fat allotment.

The secret to taming this killer cake is drastically reducing the amount of oil, eggs and sugar. Baby food apricots took the place of all but 1/4 cup of oil. The baby food adds moisture and flavor - but not fat, sugar or salt - to the batter. And instead of four eggs, the revamped recipe uses just one whole egg and three egg whites. The new recipe also contains less sugar. The cake is still sweet, moist and delicious, but it’s no longer deadly.

The light cream cheese frosting is made with fat-free cream cheese instead of regular cream cheese. Fat-free cream cheese has a slightly different consistency than regular, but it makes a smooth, velvety frosting.

With a sprinkling of nuts on top, light carrot cake is a holiday indulgence you can afford.

Light Carrot Cake

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup canola oil

2 (6-ounce) jars baby food apricots with tapioca

1 whole egg

3 egg whites

3 cups grated carrots (about 6 medium carrots)

Light Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Dust the bottom and sides with a small amount of flour. Set pan aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir to mix.

In a separate bowl, combine the canola oil, baby food apricots, whole egg and egg whites. Beat the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients on low speed, just until the flour is moistened. Stir in the grated carrots by hand.

Spoon into the prepared pan and bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Frost top and sides with Light Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows) when cooled, and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Yield: 16 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 204 calories, 4 grams fat (18 percent fat calories), 3 grams protein, 40 grams carbohydrate, 13 milligrams cholesterol, 345 milligrams sodium.

Light Cream Frosting

2 ounces butter or margarine

1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Beat the butter or margarine in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed. When the butter is soft and fluffy, add the fat-free cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and continue to beat until very smooth. If the frosting is too soft, chill for 10 to 15 minutes in the freezer before frosting the cake.

Yield: 16 servings.

Note: Fat-free cream cheese has a thinner consistency than full-fat cream cheese. The frosting sticks to the cake, but you can expect a little “pooling” of some frosting around the base of the cake. You can decrease the pooling by chilling the frosting before you apply it to the cake.

Nutrition information per serving: 149 calories, 5 grams fat (30 percent fat calories), 2 grams protein, 24 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, 119 milligrams sodium.

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