TASTE
Lightened carrot-walnut Bundt cake still fabulous
| • | Seasoned by the South |
By Elaine Magee
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Q. I saw this recipe in Bon Appetit magazine for a wonderful carrot-walnut cake from the Metropolitan Bakery in Philadelphia, complete with a recipe for its lemon cream-cheese icing. Can you Recipe-Doctor-ize it?
A. Have I mentioned how much I love lightening signature restaurant recipes? I couldn't wait to take on this yummy dessert. I used half whole-wheat flour instead of using all white flour. And I substituted 1/2 cup Splenda for part of the sugar (don't worry, there's still 3/4 cup of granulated sugar). The original recipe called for 3/4 cup olive oil, and I cut this down to 6 tablespoons and added 6 tablespoons of low-fat buttermilk. And instead of 3 eggs, I used 2 higher omega-3 eggs plus 2 egg whites or 1/4 cup egg substitute.
For the lemon cream-cheese icing, I kept the lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon peel and switched to light cream cheese. Then I added enough powdered sugar until I got the consistency I wanted. This ended up being one-third less sugar than called for, and I was able to do without the 1/4 cup of liquid whipping cream, too.
The Metropolitan Bakery in Philadelphia was kind enough to share this recipe with Bon Appetit in its February 2000 issue. I hope this lighter rendition does the bakery proud!
The original recipe contains 395 calories, 24 grams fat, 5 grams saturated fat, 67 milligrams cholesterol, 1 gram fiber per serving (when 12 servings per cake).
LEMON-GLAZED CARROT-WALNUT BUNDT CAKE
For the cake:
For the icing:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 12-cup bundt pan with canola cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cinnamon, baking soda and salt until blended.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together granulated sugar, Splenda, olive oil, buttermilk, eggs, and egg substitute on medium speed until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed, beating just until blended and scraping sides of bowl often. Fold in carrots and walnuts.
Pour batter into prepared bundt pan and bake in center of oven until fork inserted near the center comes out clean (about 50 minutes). Cool cake in pan on rack for 1 hour. Invert the cake onto serving plate and cool completely.
Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, combine sugar, cream cheese, lemon juice, lemon peel, and vanilla and beat on low speed until nicely blended. Drizzle icing over the top of the cooled cake, allowing the icing to cover the sides as much as possible as it flows down the sides (you can help this along with a spoon). Cover and chill the cake until ready to serve.
Makes 12 servings.
Elaine Magee is a registered dietitian whose latest book is "Comfort Food Makeovers." Learn more at www.recipedoctor.com.
