In the last few years, carrot cakes have become a rage among cake lovers all over the world. My favorite healthy carrot cake recipe is one that contains lots of fruits. Carrots themselves are very rich in vitamin A and the fruits add a lot of flavor to them. Do try out the following carrot cake recipe at home.

Ingredients:

– 2 cups flour

– 1 medium-sized orange

– 2 teaspoons baking soda

– 1 teaspoon baking powder

– 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

– 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

– 1 pinch salt

– 1 cup low fat mayonnaise

– 1 1/2 cups sugar

– 3 eggs

– 2 teaspoons vanilla

– 2 cups fresh grated carrots

– 1 can crushed pineapple with juice (if you are using fresh pineapples then take about 30 grams)

– 1/2 cup toasted pecans

– 3/4 cup dried cranberries

– 100 grams dried raisins

Instructions:

– Preheat the oven to 350F.

– Use a fine grater to grate the orange zest and take about 3 tablespoons of juice.

– Soak the raisins and half of the zest in the orange juice.

– Separate the egg white of one egg and add a pinch of baking powder to it.

– Beat well until you get soft peaks. Set aside.

– In a separate bowl, take the egg yolk and break in the other two eggs.

– Add the sugar and beat well to get a fluffy mix.

– Add the mayonnaise and vanilla.

– Use an electric blender at high speed to mix all the ingredients.

– In a dry bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, roasted pecans and dried cranberries.

– Add the dry ingredients to the egg-mayonnaise mix to get a stiff mixture.

– Now add the grated carrots and crushed pineapples along with the juice.

– Add the ginger.

– Fold in the orange soaked raisins.

– Add the egg white mix in last and gently fold it in.

– Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, or you can use one 20-inch big cake pan.

– Pour the batter in the greased cake pans.

– Bake at 350F for about 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a wooden stick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

– Take the cake out of the oven and gently remove from the pan.

– Let it cool on a wire rack before serving.

To serve the cake

Frosting ingredients:

– 250 grams soft cheese

– 1/4 cup melted butter

– 2 cups icing sugar

– 1 teaspoon lemon juice

– The rest of the orange zest from the cake recipe

Instructions:

– Blend the cheese and butter together until well blended.

– Slowly add the icing sugar and blend well after each addition.

– Stir in the lemon juice and orange zest.

– Spread the frosting on the top of the cake (if you have one large cake); or you can stack the smaller cakes on top of each other with a layer of frosting in between.

– Cut up in little squares to serve.