I baked up a wonderfully delicious carrot cake this week for Easter but it wasn't for me. Why? Because it had eggs in it and the calorie count per slice is just way too high for my lifestyle; 211 calories per cupcake if I had made it into cupcakes. As a cake, I'm going to estimate it would serve 10 slices and totals a whopping 570 calories with just the cake alone. My modified version as a cake would come out as 168 calories per slice. That's a huge difference!!! Please note that we are talking just plain cake. Cream cheese frosting is a whole other beast.
For this recipe, I set out to not only remove the eggs, which is an easy task with all the great options out there these days, but to also cut back on those calories as much as possible. Looking at the recipe, there was a lot of sugar and oil involved. But that's fair, it's carrot cake and carrot cake is sweet and rich and moist so you need those ingredients to achieve that.
Let's Get Started!
Replacing Eggs
The original recipe calls for 6 whole eggs. That's 420 calories and 30g of fat right there. I can't digest eggs that well so that's my main motivation for taking them out. Reducing the fat calories is a happy secondary benefit. For this recipe I chose to use aquafaba. That's the liquid that you drain out of a can of chickpeas (garbonzo beans). The beans I like to use in tomato soup or you could make some delicious hummus out of them too. Sky's the limit there.
Bananas are another option I turn to but I didn't want any banana taste coming through in this cake and competing with the carrot. Applesauce is also great but I'm going to use that later as my oil replacement and it really packs moisture and I was afraid it would have made the cupcakes too dense.
If you're looking to further experiment, flax seed and chia are interesting choices or you can buy egg replacement products like Neat Egg or one from Bob's Red Mill. I find that these make baked goods a little too gummy in texture for me and things like flax and chia contain a lot of fat so if reducing fat is your goal, look to fruit or aquafaba instead.
Sugar
When first modifying a recipe, I reduce the amount of sugar used by half. Cakes and cookies and those types of baked goods are usually overly sweet anyway so it wouldn't even be noticeable to most people. Then if I'm not happy with the calorie count at that point, I swap the sugars for a zero-calorie replacement. My favorite these days is monkfruit sugar because it does not have a strong aftertaste like stevia or brands like Equal and it is a little easier on the stomach to digest.
Oil and Butter
Carrot cake typically calls for oil to keep the crumb super moist and any kind of oil carries a TON of calories. I substituted the oil by using unsweetened applesauce and a jar of baby food carrot puree to bring the moisture back to the cake and also amp up the carrot flavor in the cake at the same time. Remember how I reduced my sugar in half at the beginning? The natural sugars from the apples and carrots will bring back that sweetness in the finished cake as well.
Buttermilk
The original recipe called for buttermilk but I don't do dairy either. I went to my simple swap of unsweetened cashew milk (almond works here as well) and added some apple cider vinegar to turn it into 'buttermilk'. You want to have that acidity in there because it reacts with the baking powder and baking soda to make the cake rise and add air into it. In traditional baking, you would get the lightness from the egg, buttermilk, and powder/soda reaction so we need to keep that element in there to avoid the gummy, dense loaf it could turn into. If you don't have apple cider vinegar, regular white vinegar or lemon juice will work too.
A Huge Difference in Calories
So there you have it; I took a 211 calorie carrot cake cupcake and reduced it to 67 calories! These calculations are based off of the brands and ingredients I used at home, you're might vary slightly depending on what you have. A great resource for figuring this out yourself is My Fitness Pal. The numbers I use below are just there to show you how making some changes can make a huge different in the outcome of a sweet treat.
Regular Cupcake - 221 calories
Modified Cupcake - 67 calories
Regular Cake Slice (10 slices per cake) - 570 calories
Modified Cake Slice (10 slices per cake) - 168 calories
Whole Cake - 5704 calories
Modified Cake - 1688 calories
Remember, those numbers don't even take into account any frosting or toppings added on top. I'm going to use some dairy free Redi-Whip to fancy mine up for Easter but you could also use a dairy free cream cheese from the store or a homemade tofu cream cheese to create a frosting. Or maybe a simple powdered sugar glaze drizzled on top. You can buy sugar free powdered sugar too :) The tofu version is next on my list to play around with!
Let's Bake!
The recipe below is for cupcakes but I will give some suggestions at the end for making this into cake layers. I like cupcakes because it is easier to portion control and they are also great for grab and go snacks.
Lower Calorie Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Makes 27 cupcakes
or 4 - 6" cake layers*
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar free brown sugar (I used Swerve brand)
3/4 cup monkfruit granulated sugar (I used Lankato brand)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 4oz jar baby food carrot puree
12 T aquafaba (about 3/4 cup which is about all the liquid from one can of chickpeas)
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup non-dairy buttermilk**
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 lb of carrots, finely shredded
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F and line a muffin tin with paper or silcone cupcake liners. My cake stuck to the paper wrappers when they were warm and I couldn't wait to try one so the next time I make these, I'll spray them with a little cooking spray to see if that helps.
In a large bowl using a stand mixer or hand mixer, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, applesauce, and carrot puree until it blended together.
Add in the aquafaba and mix until fully incorporated.
Mix in the spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
Carefully add in half of the flour and mix until it is just incorporated.
Pour in the milk and vanilla and mix until it is blended in.
Add the remaining flour and mix. At this point I turned up the speed to medium high and tried to add some air to the cake. It was an experiment, see what works for you.
Carefully fold in the shredded carrot to the batter.
Distribute into cupcake tins, I put in 3 tablespoons into each one and came out with 27 cupcakes in the end.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are starting to turn golden brown.
Let these completely cool before frosting them or your topping will turn into a melty mess.
* I haven't tried making this recipe as cake layers yet so can't help you with baking times on it. I would guess you would start at adding an extra 10 minutes and then go from there. Make sure to line and grease your pans!
** you can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 1/2 tsp of apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, or lemon juice to a measuring cup and then filling with your (non-dairy) milk to the 1/2 cup mark. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes before using it in the recipe.