Carrot cake

My husband and I just celebrated his birthday. His favorite cake is carrot cake, and we've been experimenting for years to take the sugar and white flour out, while preserving the taste. I've been asked for the recipe, so here it is. People can play with it and see if they come up with other ideas.

I wish I knew where I got the original recipe, so I could give credit. We've changed it so much, though, that I'm not sure what was there to start out with!

The original recipe called for 2 cups white flour. We started with half white, half whole wheat, which worked but was still not program friendly. Then we moved to all whole wheat pastry flour. I imagine white whole wheat would work as well, but I don't know about other flours (I'd love to see what GF people could do here :h2) )

The original recipe called for 1/3 cup sugar. We first cut that in half (1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon, which is not much and does not make the cake too sweet), then eventually replaced it with banana. My husband likes raisins in his half of the cake, but I leave them out of mine. 2/3 cup of raisins, if you use them, is plenty for the whole cake. I use about 1/3 cup for my husband's half of the cake. :h4)

2 cups flour (see note above)
1/3 cup sugar (cut this in half or sub 1 small ripe banana, mashed; if using banana, add to wet ingredients)
2 tsp. Baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Cloves
1/2 tsp. Salt (optional)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup corn oil (I use canola)
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
2 egg whites
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups carrots, coarsely grated
2/3 cup raisins (optional)

1. Sift the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

2. Combine the applesauce, oil, vanilla, egg whites and eggs (and banana, if using) in a medium mixing bowl. Add to the flour mixture, stirring until ingredients are well blended.

3. Add the carrots and mix again. Batter will be stiff. Add raisins, if using, after carrots have been mixed in.

4. Pour batter into a 13 x 9 inch baking pan (I use glass) that has been sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 325F for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean (original recipe said 40-45 minutes, but I found this to be too much -- start checking the cake at 35 minutes!).

Another option that the original recipe gave, which I have never tried, is to pour into a 9-inch tube pan coated with nonstick cooking spray, baking at 350F for 1 hour.

If anybody else has a carrot cake recipe to share, let us know. My husband has volunteered to be taste-tester :h11) Since I've been sugar-free, he has developed a liking for less-sweet food, so we've been having a lot of fun reworking the old standard recipes.

Jo