Recipe For Carrot Spice Cake with Apricot Curd

Ingredients

Non-stick baking spray
1 (14.5 ounce) can no-salt-added sliced carrots, not drained
1/4 cup no-salt-added tomato paste
1/4 cup 2% milk
1 (18.25 ounce) package spice cake mix
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
1 cup raisins
3 large eggs
2 (15 ounce) cans apricot halves in juice or extra-light syrup, not drained
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 10-inch Bundt pan with baking spray; set aside. Puree carrots with their liquid, tomato paste and milk in a blender until smooth.

Mix cake mix, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and raisins in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Add pureed carrot mixture and eggs, and beat on low speed for 30 seconds and on high for 2 minutes, until the batter is thick and smooth.

Pour and scrape batter into the prepared pan and bake in the oven for 45 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool in the pan on rack for 20 to 30 minutes, until cool enough to touch. Remove cake from pan and cool on rack until room temperature.

While the cake is baking, prepare the apricot curd. Drain 1 can apricots. Puree the drained and undrained apricots and cornstarch in a blender until smooth. Pour into a large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until boiling and thick, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream cheese, butter, vanilla and remaining cinnamon until smooth; cool completely. Cut into 12 wedges and serve wedges of cake with sauce.