Apple Cake

This cake is a recipe that my neice modified to make healthy. I tried it and I love it! It is so moist and yummy, you'd never know it was whole wheat!

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1/2 cup natural sugar (look for anything that says "evaporated cane juice" on the ingredients. It has a lower glycemic index, and it tastes like sugar because it really, truly is just sugar).

1/2 cup agave nectar (I've seen this at grocery stores and at Costco - it's also an all natural, low glycemic index sweetener)

1/4 cup vegetable oil (use one that's heart healthy, like canola)

3/4 cup apple sauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour (freshly ground hard white wheat or soft white wheat* is best)

1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups diced apples (no need to peel them)

1 8-oz package reduced fat cream cheese

1/2 cup natural sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar until fluffy and pale. Add agave nectar, oil, applesauce and vanilla; mix well. Sift dry ingredients and mix into the wet mixture. Stir in apples.

Coat 13 x 9-inch pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into pan.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Frosting:

Soften cream cheese. Add sugar and beat with rotary beaters until creamy. Spread on apple cake.

*Soft white wheat is also called Durum. When it's ground into a flour, it's called whole wheat pastry flour or semolina. It's perfect for baking non-yeast or quick breads, as well as for making pasta. It's not recommended for making bread, as it's lower in protein and won't rise well. This is also what makes it perfect for quick-rise cooking. The lower protein makes the batter less tough. It has a shorter shelf life than hard wheat, so don't store more than you can use in a year or two.