Tasty Tuesday - Carrot Cake

I love carrot cake so much that we had it for our wedding cake. So when I saw Heidi's recipe for a healthy and nutritious carrot cake, I was sure I had found my perfect dessert. The dessert is perfect except for two things. One, it needs raisins. Severely. So my recipe below includes raisins. Two, I hate to say it, but it needs "real" cream cheese frosting. I appreciate Heidi's take on a healthier version of a cream cheese frosting which is just cream cheese and maple syrup, but when I make this cake again, I might splurge and go for a more traditional frosting.

This cake is quite dense, which I personally love. It is sweetened with only bananas and dates, making it sort of a banana bread carrot cake. There is really nothing unhealthy about the dish except the stick of butter, and it is a lot of carbs, but hey, its dessert. If you make it with a more traditional frosting you will be adding a lot of sugar and another 1/2 to 1 stick of butter.. but that's up to you.

Carrot Cake

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup raisins
4 ounces unsalted butter, heated until just melted
1/2 cup dried dates, seeded and finely chopped into a paste
3 ripe bananas (1 1/4 cups), mashed well
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 3 medium)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 eggs, lightly whisked

For Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup (or to taste)
I added a tsp of vanilla extract

Or a more traditional cream cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9x5x3 / 8-cup loaf pan (or 8x8 cake pan) and line it with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the walnuts and set aside.
Stir the dates into the melted butter, breaking up the dates a bit, and stir in the raisins.
In a separate bowl combine the bananas and carrots. Stir in the date-butter mixture, breaking up any date clumps as you go. Whisk in the yogurt and the eggs. Add the flour mixture and stir until everything just comes together. Spoon into the prepared pan. Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick tests clean in the center of the cake - it'll be less if you are using a standard cake pan. Remove from oven and let cool.
While the cake is baking, whip together the cream cheese and agave nectar. Taste. If you like your frosting sweeter adjust to your liking. When the cake has completely cooled frost the top of the cake with an offset spatula.