Recipe for a less unhealthy than usual carrot cake

The picture does not at all do this cake justice because its appearance leaves a lot to be desired, and its inexperienced baker (me) could use more practice in assembling and frosting the layers. Despite all this, the cake is DELICIOUS.

I derived the recipe by making some changes to one I found on the internet. For example, this recipe uses less sugar and specifies canola oil. I've also added molasses to give it a richer flavor and add color as well. The raisins add more moisture and natural sweetness. The spiciness from the nutmeg and cloves make up for the lack of sugar. I don't believe there is a good replacement for butter in the frosting, but please tell me if you know otherwise.

Do not use Crisco butter flavored shortening. Even though the nutrition content says 0 g transfat per serving, there is still transfat in there. You can tell by the partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredient list. The food manufacturers are allowed to state 0 g transfat as long as there is less than 0.5 grams transfat "per serving". Transfat does a double whammy to your cholesterol. Like saturated fat, it increases your bad cholesterol (LDL); however, transfat also works to decrease your good cholesterol (HDL). I would love to go into the mechanisms behind this and will someday, if anything, to prove to myself I did learn something in my nutrition and anatomy and physiology courses.

Recipe:
Batter:

• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cp canola oil
• 1 1/2 cp white sugar
• 2 tbl dark molasses
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cp all purpose flour
• 1 cp whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 4 cp grated carrots
• 1 cp chopped pecans (the roasted pieces from Trader Joe's are good)
• 1 cp raisins (soaked in hot water for 10 minutes then squeezed with a paper towel to remove water)

Frosting:

• 1/2 cp butter, softened
• 1 8 oz package of light cream cheese
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar (or more to taste)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F (175 deg C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. Sift together the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
3. Mix the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, and molasses. Add the sifted ingredients to the mix.
4. Fold in the carrots, pecans, and raisins.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it over onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
6. To make the frosting, beat the ingredients together until it's smooth.
7. Spread the frosting on the completely cooled cake.