My no sugar (ok almost) no sugar carrot cake

I made this tasty cake a few weekends ago now using a traditional carrot cake recipe as the base and then making a few substitutions. The result of pretty great really and I'm proud to say I managed to make it taste a good amount of sweetness with only 1/4 cup of brown sugar!

Carrot cakes are an ultimate favourite cake for me (up there with chocolate!) so it's important that even if its a 'healthier version' it still tastes really good.

This one is definitely one of those recipes...

For the cake:

1/4 cup of brown sugar (the original recipe had 2 cups!)
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of wholemeal flour (the original recipe used white flour)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts (I didn't put these in because my friend doesn't like walnuts).
1 cup of carrots, grated
1/2 cup diced fresh or canned pineapple

Method

Beat the sugar, oil, and eggs together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light yellow. Add the vanilla. In another bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, the cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Toss the raisins and walnuts with 1 tablespoon flour. Fold in the carrots and pineapple. Add to the batter and mix well.

Divide the batter equally between the 2 pans. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set over a wire rack.

I decorated mine with cream cheese icing and some pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds and diced dried apricots.