Applesauce Raisin Cake

With all the holiday cooking and baking--all those cookies and cakes and pies--there's a whole heck of a lot of refined sugar flying around. Too much sugar is not a good thing for anyone. The holidays can be especially difficult for people with diabetes because of all the sugar temptations, but there are lots of recipes you can make and eat that won't raise your blood sugar through the roof. I like to eat healthy and I had a taste for applesauce raisin cake so I looked around the web for a low-sugar alternative. I found a recipe for Raisin Cake at Dlife--a really wonderful website with tons of recipes to help you eat healthier. (I've rewritten parts of the recipe to make it clearer.)

• 1 cup seedless raisins (I used 3 of the red (1-1/2 oz.) Sun-Maid Raisins boxes; this equals one cup)
• 2 cups boiling water
• 3/4 cup granulated Splenda
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 cups white all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. low sodium baking powder
• 1-1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Cover the raisins with water and let stand for 5 minutes. (I heated 2 cups of water to boiling in a small saucepan, then I took the pan off the heat and added the raisins. After 5 minutes, I drained them in a colander.) (This will plump up the raisins.)

Drains raisins well and mix with Splenda, egg whites, oil, vanilla, and applesauce at medium speed to blend. (I didn't mix the raisins with the ingredients shown in this paragraph because I wanted them whole and kept intact.)

Mix the remaining dry ingredients together and stir into the raisin mixture. (I folded in my plumped-up raisins to the batter.)

Spread the batter in the prepared baking dish. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, remove from oven and let cool before serving.

I added a dusting of confectioners' sugar and enjoyed my Applesauce Raisin Cake, warm from the oven, with a cup of coffee.

Makes 20 servings. Nutritional information per serving: Calories--132; Total Carbs--18.3g; Dietary Fiber--1g; Sugars--7.1g; Total Fat--5.7g.

I'm submitting this to the Monthly Mingle: Low-Sugar Sweet Treats hosted by Meeta at The Daily Tiffin and to Ruth at Bookmarked Recipes.