Lighter Carrot Cake - Cooks Illustrated

Published April 2, 2007.

Carrot cake is often thought of as a healthy alternative to other cakes—but names can be deceiving.

The Problem

Although carrot cake sounds healthy—for its use of vegetable oil in place of butter and use of carrots as a natural sweetener—most versions of carrot cake tip the scales at 500 calories and 31 grams of fat per slice.

The Goal

We wanted to create a truly great carrot cake, one where the natural sweetness of the carrots take center stage. Most important, it had to be moist and rich without being soggy and greasy from an overabundance of fat.

The Solution

We made four significant changes to satisfy our goal of a a tasty dessert we could feel good about. We reduced the amount of oil from 1 1/2 cups to 1/2 cup and also reduced the number of eggs from 5 to 3. We whipped air into the eggs to keep the cake from being too dense and leaden. And, finally, we replaced the cream cheese and butter in the frosting with Neufchåtel reduced-fat cream cheese and mixed it by hand to prevent it from being runny.

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