Fat Free Carrot Cake!

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That's right ladies and gentlemen, I am suggesting that there is a way to have your cake and eat it too. Fat Free Vegan is one of my favorite resources to find new vegan recipes.When I needed a cake recipe a couple of weeks ago, it was my first stop. I found a carrot cake recipe that is absolutely out of this world. It doesn't use any fat or butter, and incorporated unsweetened apple sauce and fresh grated carrots. It is the densest, richest, moistest cake that I've ever baked, and no one can believe that it's vegan or fat free. It does use a bit of sugar, but I'm not really sure that you can ever have a completely healthy baked good. However, if any of my readers know anything about that, I would very much like to be clued in.
Now, the reason why I love carrot cake so much is because of the cream cheese icing. The original recipe recommends a lemon glaze, but that would be total bullshit. Everyone knows that the best part of carrot cake is that delectable cream cheese icing. I would eat bowls and bowls of it if I could. So I consulted several different frosting and vegan frosting recipes online, and finally settled on my own combination of soy cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla soy milk, and earth balance.
I've made this cake three times now. The first was for a birthday and was a huge success. The second time I tried to make cupcakes for work, but I got lazy and bought this weird, sticky vanilla frosting from Whole Foods. That was a disaster. The third time I went back to basics, but made a double batch so that I could put together a layer cake for my tea party. That was a win as well. This cake keeps great in the refrigerator, and doesn't lose any of its moisture or deliciousness. In fact, I think that I like it better slightly chilled.

Fat Free Vegan Carrot Cake (from fatfreevegan.com)

• egg replacer for 2 eggs
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 c. grated carrot (I buy the shreds from the grocery store)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/3 c. raisins (my addition)

Combine egg replacer, sugar, and applesauce and beat together until light in color.
Stir in cinnamon, salt, and carrot.
Sift together the baking powder and flour, then mix both of them in until nicely blended.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Since there are no eggs, I usually take it out at around 40 minutes. Under baking it a little bit just adds to that dense, rich carrot-cake experience.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting (my own recipe)

• 1 container of vegan cream cheese (about 7 oz. works nicely)
• 1/4 c. soy milk
• 2 tbsp. earth balance
• 3/4 c. powdered sugar

While you're waiting on your cake to cool, take the cream cheese and earth balance out of the fridge and let them get to room temperature.
Just before frosting, mix together cream cheese and earth balance until smooth in a medium-sized bowl.
Beat in powdered sugar and soy milk until the entire mixture is creamy and a little fluffy. If you like, you can add 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract.