Carrot Cake

I had a bag of baby carrots that I needed to use, and I had a sweet tooth, so the obvious answer was carrot cake. I had never made carrot cake before, although I love it when I find myself in it's presence. So I googled carrot cake recipes, I really hate when websites include the nutrition information on their recipes, sometimes ignorance is bliss. So after debating whether or not I really should, I decided to go for it - heck I walked 5 miles and then biked 15, if I couldn't indulge in some carrot cake after that, what was the point???

I did do some recipe alteration, cutting down on the sugar in the cake (I was covering it with cream cheese frosting, so I figured that would make the cake sweet enough) and I also swapped half the oil for applesauce. My sister-in-law has mentioned doing this for years, but I never tried until recently, I really should have tried this sooner, seriously try it, you won't miss the oil!
Carrot Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained and ran through a food processor
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; make a well in the center and add sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix with wooden spoon until smooth.
Stir in carrots, nuts and pineapple. Pour into 9x13 inch pan and bake for about 45 minutes. Don't panic if the center sinks.
Let pan cool for 5 minutes, and then turn out of pan.
Frosting
1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth; add the icing sugar and beat until creamy.

Since I have the self control of a excited puppy I cut the cake in half and delivered it to a friend who agreed it was yummy! Oh and I would so not recommend using baby carrots for this recipe, my fingers kept finding their way into the grater.