Courtesy of Elaine Magee

Question: I am making frosted carrot cupcakes for a baby shower and really need your help. It’s a Recipe Doctor emergency! The person I am throwing the shower for is a Martha Stewart fan, but she also is quite picky about recipes that have too much sugar, white flour, and fat. I have picked out two recipes from Martha Stewart’s Web site, Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing, but instead of the icing, I want to use Divvies Vanilla Frosting. Can you help?

Answer: Great choice for a baby shower dessert! For the cupcakes, I used 2/3 cup sugar instead of 1 cup. I decreased the vegetable oil from 1/3 cup to 3 tablespoons, switched to canola oil (which contributes plant omega-3s and is high in monounsaturated fat), and increased the orange juice from 2 tablespoons to 1/3 cup. Instead of 2 eggs, I added a single higher-omega-3 egg and 1/4 cup egg substitute. I also used mostly whole wheat flour instead of all white flour.

For the frosting, I cut the recipe in half because that’s an easy way to bring down the calories and fat and it’s usually too much frosting anyway. To trim the calories even further, I used a whipped butter or spreadable butter with canola oil (Country Crock), both of which contain about a third fewer fat grams than regular stick butter or margarine. These were incredibly delicious and beautiful cupcakes, worthy of a baby shower, and yet they had 39% fewer calories, half the total fat, and more than double the fiber.

The original recipe contains 380 calories, 19 grams fat, 3.5 grams saturated fat, 43 mg cholesterol, and 1 gram fiber per cupcake (if 10 per recipe).

Ingredients
(makes 10–12 cupcakes)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/3 cup great-tasting or freshly squeezed orange juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg, omega-3 if available

1/4 cup egg substitute

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup unbleached white flour

1½ cups finely shredded carrots

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or walnut pieces (optional)

1/3 cup shredded or flaked coconut

Whipped Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup whipped butter or Country Crock Spreadable Butter (with canola oil)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon fat-free half-and-half (or low fat milk or vanilla coffee creamer)

5 tablespoons shredded or flaked coconut (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper or
   foil liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, canola oil, orange
   juice, vanilla extract, egg, and egg substitute by beating on medium speed.
3. In medium bowl, combine the baking powder, cinnamon,
   salt, whole wheat, and unbleached white flour with whisk or fork. Add dry
   ingredient mixture all at once to orange juice mixture in mixing bowl and beat
   on low just to combine. Stir in the shredded carrots, walnuts (if desired), and
   coconut.
4. Divide batter evenly among the 10 muffin cups. Bake until
   toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 25 min). Let the
   cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine powdered sugar, whipped butter or Spreadable Butter margarine, vanilla extract, and fat-free half-and-half by beating on medium-low speed and scraping down sides of the bowl after about 10 seconds. When the mixture is fluffy, turn off mixer and frost the cooled cupcakes or store frosting in airtight container in refrigerator until needed (up to a week).
2. Garnish the tops of the cupcakes with an extra sprinkle of shredded or flaked coconut if desired.

Nutrition analysis per serving (if 10 per recipe): 220 cal, 3 g protein, 35 g carbohydrate, 8 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 3 g monounsaturated fat, 1.5 g polyunsaturated fat, 29 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 298 mg sodium. Calories from fat = 32%. Omega-3 fatty acids = 0.5 g, omega-6 fatty acids = 1 g. Weight Watchers POINTS = 4.