Carrot Cake, I {Heart} You

This is by far one of the best cakes I've ever eaten, let alone, made with my own two hands.  I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but it's not mine.  I took this carrot cake recipe from my favorite foodie blog, Gina's Skinny Taste.  I'm telling you-- You need to make this cake!


I actually intended to enter it in the Fair this past September, but by the time I finished making everything else I couldn't bring myself to bake it.  Now, I'm really glad I waited because if I had entered this carrot cake in the Fair--Hubs and I wouldn't have been able to try it.  Wowsa... just typing about this cake makes me want another slice.  


From Gina:

Here's a super moist, low fat carrot cake recipe. This is made with a can of crushed pineapple which makes it very moist. I baked this in my new 8 inch round cake pan which I love because it's 3 inches deep but you can use a bundt cake pan or 2 smaller round pans for this instead (baking time will vary). I noticed other ww carrot cake recipes had much smaller serving sizes, but I think it's easiest to cut this into 16 equal slices however if you want to make this into cupcakes or 24 slices, it would be 4 points each.

Super Moist Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes

Servings: 16 • Serving Size: 1 slice • Old Points: 7 pts • Points+: 7 pts 
Calories: 301.1 • Fat: 8.1g • Protein: 4.4 g • Carb: 38.2 g • Fiber: 0.4 g

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups grated carrots, peeled
• 20 oz. can crushed pineapple in juice, drained 
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts plus 1/4 cup for topping

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz 1/3 fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, and spices; stir well with a whisk.

In a medium bowl, combine oil, eggs, and vanilla; stir well. Add grated carrots and pineapple; mix well. Fold wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, batter will be stiff and dry but keep folding it and it will all come together. Fold in 1/4 cup chopped nuts.

Spoon batter into an 8" x 3" cake pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for about 40-50 minutes, depending on pan size or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and cake is pulling away from sides of pan. Cool cake completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread frosting over top of cake. Garnish with remaining chopped walnuts.