Lowering the fat on Honey Carrot Cake
A while ago Lisa emailed me asking how to reduce the fat in baking. One of her favourite loaf recipes calls for an entire cup of oil and she wanted to cut back. For years I’ve read that you can just replace half the oil with apple sauce, but I wondered how it would affect taste and texture. After all, fat carries flavour and apple sauce is sweeter than oil.
According to The Food Substitution Bible, instead of straight apple sauce, replace 1/2 cup vegetable oil with 1/4 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup well-drained, unsweetened applesauce or baby food prunes. Apparently, the prunes work best with dark batters like chocolate or ginger bread. Who knew?
To test the advice before passing it along as fact, I took an old classic and baked up two versions — one using oil, the other using no oil at all. My family tested the results with much diligence and care. Some braved seconds in the name of research. To our surprise — and my relief — removing the fat didn’t alter the flavour at all. The oil-free version was no sweeter, carried the spices just as well, but was moister and more dense. The oil-only version was lighter and drier.
I can’t believe I’m going to type this next sentence, but here goes: I preferred the oil-free version.
My mom and sister preferred the moister, oil-free version too, but my dad found it too dense. We all agreed that meeting in the middle by substituting half the oil would be ideal. My mom was so impressed with this healthy alternative, she’s going to experiment with the previously untouchable buttermilk bran muffin recipe she’s been making for the past 30 years.
Of course, when you mention you’re experimenting with cake you’ll get advice from the most unexpected places. My butcher says the best carrot cake he ever tasted wasn’t made with carrots at all, but parsnips. Checking the book… Yup. It’s a straight forward substitution. Hmm, maybe next month…
Anyway, before I get distracted by other suggestions, here’s the recipe with original, half-oil and no-oil variations included. Keep in mind, there’s no fat-free version of the cream cheese icing.
Honey Carrot Cake
Printable recipe
Originally published in Canadian Living
Ingredients
Cake
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup liquid honey
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil (Half-oil version: use 1/2 cup oil, 1/4 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup unsweetened, drained applesauce. No-oil version: omit oil, increase buttermilk and applesauce to 1/2 cup each)
- I tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated is best
- 3 cups grated carrots
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup raisins
Frosting
- 1 package cream cheese, plain, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 4 cups icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp vanilla
InstructionsCake
- Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and line two 8-inch round pans. (You can use a 9 X 13 if you prefer.)
- Beat eggs, gradually beating in honey.
- Beat in sugar.
- Slowly add oil (if using), constantly beating until light. (If substituting, stir in the buttermilk and applesauce at this stage)
- Stir in vanilla.
- Mix dry ingredients together. Stir into batter.
- Stir in carrots, walnuts and raisins.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes for round pans, 45-55 minutes for rectangular, or until cake tester comes out clean.
- Allow to cool before icing.
Icing
- Beat cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy.
- Slowly add sugar and beat until smooth.
- Stir in vanilla.
- Once cake is cooled, ice sides first then top.
- Cut with a fancy-schmancy cake server.
