I made this for someone's bday whose favorite is carrot cake. I've never liked carrot cake but I actually liked this. I did half applesauce/salflower oil and added just a little nutmeg. I covered it up with foil as soon as it came out of the oven to retain all the moisture and I loved how it was so orange from all the carrots. Update-I stil had carrots left over so decided to make a loaf (i halved the rcipe)for my dad using the same recipe. I wanted to make it healthier so I subbed all applesauce, used whole wheat flour, 1/2 brown sugar, 1tsp vanilla, and a generous dose of cinnamon and nutmeg. When it was almost done I poked holes on the top and drizzled 2 tsp of melted butter with cinnamon on top. I actually liked it better with the whole wheat flour.

I absolutely loved this recipe!!It was so good with homemade cream cheese frosting.I would recomend this to anyone.If you love carrot cake this is the recipe for you. Yummy!

I have made this 5 times now, with the suggestions and as is, both were very good and tasted great.

The carrot cake was delicious! The recipe made more that expected and the cake rose above the pan but did not fall over. Fantastic!! Btw, forgot to add this: I was short 1 egg so I substituted it for about 1/4 a cup of veg. oil; also, I like brown sugar better, so I put 1 cup of white sugar and 1 of brown sugar and the cake turned out puffy inside and crispy/caramelly on the outside ^_^ great cake!!

are the nuts optional or are they required???

i loved this recipe,but i added 1 cup applesauce and 1/3 cup oil, and 1cup white flour and 1 cup milled flax seed.i also cut the sugar to one cup.yummo.

This is a good recipe. I used only 1 1/2 cups of sugar coupled with the 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce that others recommended and it was very sweet. Also not as spicy as I am used to with carrot cake and since it was very sweet I kept adding a lot more cinammon until I got more of that spice taste and less of the sweetness. Also added a little ginger, nutmeg and ground clove. I used this for cupcakes and they did not take long to cook at all. When they cooled they were very moist and not gooey. Great recipe! Topped with the cream cheese icing on this site that calls for 2 packages of cream cheese these cupcakes taste wonderful.

Best carrot cake!! Super moist! My Mom uses this recipe and it is delish! I use it now too, except I modified it a bit to make healthier. Use 1 cup no sugar added applesauce and 1/3 c oil (sometimes substitute all applesauce), 1 c sugar & 1 c splenda and it tastes just as good as reg. recipe. NO walnuts though, because we dont like them! Use crm cheese frosting from site!

Fantastic and easy. I used half the sugar and oil as was suggested by other reviewers. Added 3/4 cup of cinnamon applesauce. Cake was moist and firm. I used "Cream Cheese Frosting II" recipe with half the sugar for the icing. It was great, but use more sugar if you prefer your frosting sweeter.

I made this cake for a big family party and can honestly say I've never received so many compliments for any cake I've made before, and I've made quite a few! I stuck faithfully to the given recipe, but I would caution that it took about 20 minutes longer to cook, so look carefully at it before taking it out of the oven - it will be very sticky in the middle, but shouldn't wobble!

Taking advice from everyone else, I also used 1 cup applesauce and 1/3 cup oil. I didn't use the nuts (too many people with allergies), but I didn't even notice they were missing. I also used a bit of pumpkin pie spice in addition to the cinnamon. Yum! This makes a great cake, and it is also perfect for cupcakes for a picnic.

This recipe was superb. the best carrot cake I ever tasted. I too used the suggestion to replace some of the oil with apple sauce, and it was complimented by everyone

I just made this cake for the 2nd time. If you love carrot cake, try this one. The only modification I made is I did bake it for an additional 5 minutes and put an extra shake of cinnamon in the recipe.....I used the recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting II which was the absolute BEST cream cheese frosting I ever tried. Enjoy!!

I cut this recipe in half in order to make a single layer cake (in a round 8 inch pan). It worked out really well, I still followed what others said by cutting out some of the oil and substituting it with applesauce..I did about half and half. I also added in some nutmeg and cloves. If you do cut this recipe in half though you just have to remember to watch the baking time.. instead of 40-45 minutes, you only need about 30-35. I frosted the cake with cream cheese frosting, covered the sides with walnuts, dusted it with a little cinnamon and everyone loved it! Im so glad i came upon this recipe, I looked long and hard for one that i would be able to reduce easily and that didnt have any pineapple! Ill definitely use this one again.

This was a very yummy carrot cake. The only problem was the mushyness of it. It was WAY TOO gooey... i thought maybe it was undercooked, so i shoved it back in the oven, only to find that it wasn't getting any firmer. Don't get me wrong, the taste was absolutely delightful, but it definitely needs less of something... perhaps the oil (which i used half oil and half margarine).... I don't know. Taste was there.... texture wasn't all that. Again... Yummy, though.

This was so moist and delicious! I got rave reviews! I made a few modifications to lighten it up a bit. I substituted 1 cup of the oil with applesauce and used 2/3 cup of whole wheat flour for the white flour. I also decreased the sugar by 1/2 a cup and think I will take even more out next time. It was plenty sweet, especially with the applesauce and the cream cheese frosting. This is definitely a keeper recipe!

i love this recipe and so do all of my guests. i top it with a crumb topping instead of frosting when i use it as a cake, or i often don't top it at all and serve it as a side dish. i never thought i could like carrot cake, but this recipe changed my view!