Carrot Cake with Creamy Frosting

This tasty little treat is just in time for Easter!

So my daughters 2nd birthday is this weekend and I was looking for a yummy recipe that was light on the sugar and BIG on flavor- so I combined 2 -3 different recipes and came up with this little treat. They are flavorful and filling, they are dense like a normal carrot cake and yet unusual with the addition of the lemon zest and nutmeg. You can make this in a loaf pan or cupcakes or perhaps even in a sheet cake. The frosting has no sugar and you can make it as sweet as you like by adding more or less honey.

Directions:

Super simple. Take out your cream cheese brick so it can soften while you prep. Combine your dry ingredients in a bowl, then your wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Then add your dry ingredients into your wet and mix thoroughly. Now, if you use a pan you may want to spray it first or rub some butter on it to prevent sticking, I used cupcake liners and it was fine, but if you are concerned about them sticking to the cupcake liners you can add 2 TBSP melted butter to the recipe. Bake them at 350 and keep an eye on them- cupcakes took about 15-18 minutes (use a toothpick to test them) and a loaf pan could take up to 50 minutes or more. Sorry I don't have better time estimates- I ALWAYS forget to set my timer and end up watching everything by eye!

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour, I used whole wheat but you can use white

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 TBSP cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/4 cup applesauce (I substituted apple sauce for oil)

1 1/2 TBSP Molasses

1 TBSP vanilla

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup pecans, chopped

1 1/2 tsp lemon zest

2 cups freshly grated carrots

Frosting Ingredients:

1 brick of cream cheese

1 tsp cinnamon

3-4 TBSP honey (or more to taste depending on how sweet you like it)

1 drizzle of vanilla