Ingredients
- BROWN SUGAR CREAM CHEESE FROSTING INGREDIENTS:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup greek yogurt (fat-free works fine)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar (zero calorie sugar substitutes work fine for this cake)
- 4 eggs (I used 1 cup egg substitute)
- 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained of most its juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (I used more than this cause I love walnuts in carrot cake)
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 3 cups grated carrots (I finely grate mine to a pulp)
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature ( I used fat-free)
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature (I used light)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)
- 3 cups powdered sugar (add more as needed)
Preparation
Step 1
1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Preheat your oven to 350F degrees. Grease 1 9x13 inch pan or 2 8x8 cake pans with butter and flour.
3. Mix together greek yogurt and sugars until fully combined. Mix in egg substitute until incorporated (if using real eggs, beat in one at a time), and then proceed to mix in the crushed pineapple and vanilla extract.
4. Gently fold in walnuts, raisins and carrots, being careful not to overmix.
5. Pour into prepared cake pans and bake at 350F for about 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean and the cake is a slightly dark golden brown.
6. While cake is cooling, make the frosting. Blend together the cream cheese, butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon until smooth. Add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you've reached a stiff, smooth frosting. In other words, if you use a spatula to pick up the frosting from the bowl and the frosting is dripping off your spatula, you need more powdered sugar. Set the frosting aside or put in covered container in the fridge until cake is cooled and ready.
7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to frost (this is also helpful for cooling the cake down quicker so the frosting does not melt). Once cake is cooled, frost with brown sugar cream cheese frosting any way you'd like.