Carrot Cake

I was all set to make Cook's Illustrated Best Light Recipe Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. But first, we had to get parchment paper.

While at the store, I saw ready made carrot cakes in the cooler. For fun, I checked the calories.  600 per slice. I laughed and walked on.

While searching for the parchment paper, I saw a box of Duncan Hines Decadent Carrot Cake mix, and decided to see what the calories on that looked like, too.  260 for a prepared slice.  Well!  That was even less than the CI version. Note: the CI version calls for a 9x13 pan to be divided into 16 pieces. I'm sorry, but less than 12th of a pan that size just isn't a serving. So in the interest of speed and ease (no carrots to grate!), I got the box mix.

I drew the line at canned frosting, though. We got some lower fat Neufchatel cheese and powdered sugar.

The cake is in the oven now. Once it cools, we'll go for a walk. Once we're back, we'll frost it. Once I get home from work around 7, we'll have dessert. It still clocks in at close to 400 calories per slice, but I'm ok with that.

By the way, how crazy is it that I wish I had a bike these days?  Pretty crazy, right?  Right! But it's such a nice day, and riding bikes up to the library sounds wonderful.