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Dessert

Reduced-fat Carrot Cake

A moist carrot cake with walnuts, pineapple, and prune puree, topped with cream cheese frosting.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Walnut and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,147 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Reduced-fat Carrot Cake

Oven350°F
Time30–35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Coat the inside of three 9‑inch layer cake pans with vegetable oil cooking spray.

  3. Line the bottoms of the pans with wax paper and set aside.

  4. Spread walnuts in a pie plate and bake 8–10 minutes, or until fragrant.

  5. Let the walnuts cool and chop coarsely.

Make the batter

  1. In a medium bowl, stir together cake flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

  2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and egg whites.

  3. Add sugar, prune puree, and vegetable oil to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth.

  4. Add the dry flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until blended.

  5. Stir in grated carrots, crushed pineapple, and toasted walnuts.

  6. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake 30–35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

  2. Let the cakes cool for 5 minutes in the pans on a rack.

  3. Loosen the edges of the cakes and invert them onto racks.

  4. Peel off the wax paper and let the cakes cool completely.

Frost and assemble

  1. To make the cream cheese frosting, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.

  2. To make the prune puree, combine 6 oz (1 cup) pitted prunes with 6 tbsp hot water in a food processor and process until smooth.

  3. Place one cake layer on a serving plate and spread a scant ½ cup cream‑cheese frosting over it.

  4. Top with a second layer and spread another scant ½ cup frosting.

  5. Place the third layer on top and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

951Calories
23 gProtein
33 gFat
141 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 13 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cream Cheese1 oz (28g)99
Pineapple1 cup chunks (165g)82
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Prunenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Cinnamon + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together981 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Walnut + carrottop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cake flour
Provides the structure that holds the light crumb of the cake.
Eggs and egg whites
Provide structure and lift, setting the crumb as the cake bakes.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown and stay moist.
Vegetable oil
Adds moisture and keeps the cake tender after cooling.
Grated carrots
Add moisture and body, plus natural sweetness to the crumb.
Cream cheese
Gives the frosting its creamy body and tangy flavor.

The step that matters

Bake until a cake tester comes out clean. Carrot cake batter is moist, so underbaking leaves a gummy, sunken center, while overbaking dries the crumb. Testing the center avoids both.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, flour, cinnamon, egg, sugar, pineapple, cream cheese):

  1. Sweet potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, flour, cinnamon, egg, sugar, pineapple, cream cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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