Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (Will Bake 35 for minutes at 350 degrees.)

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (flour through salt); make a well in center of mixture. Combine apple butter and next 4 ingredients (apple butter through egg whites) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add apple butter mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in carrot.

Pour batter into 2 (8-inch) round cake pans coated with cooking spray.

(After pouring into pans and placing in the oven, I discovered that Id forgotten to add the 2 egg whites. SO, out it all came, back into the bowl, add the whites, and gently tried to mix them in. NO PROBLEM...Cake came out moist and perfect!) Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool Completely on wire rack.

Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 2/3 cup frosting, and top with remaining cake layer. Spread the remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. (My icing was so thick that I feared there wouldnt be enough to frost the sides...but it was pretty just with center and top done - and tasted just as good!) :) Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator.

Yield: 18 servings (serving size: 1 slice).

Frosting: Beat the first 4 ingredients at medium speed of a mixer until smooth. Lightly spoon sugar into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Gradually add sugar to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat).

Yield: 2 cups (serving size: 1 tablespoon).

Figures are per magazine:
After you eat this, you wont believe these totals (these figures include the Cream Cheese Frosting): Calories: 304 (28 % from fat); Fat: 9.5 grams

Description: "Uses apple butter. They lowered the fat and calories but it tastes better than most carrot cakes you will eat! We love it!"

According to MC5.03:
NOTES : If you taste this, you will go as nutty as we all did, I just bet!! Cooking Light re-did a readers favorite carrot cake recipe. Before, there were 512 calories per slice, now only 304; before 29 grams fat, now and cholesterol went from 77 mg to 33 mg.

My husband and grown daughter and I just could NOT believe this cake could be so good and so moist and so FATTENING tasting. This is as good or better than any carrot cake weve ever eaten. My daughters first reaction after taking first bite was: this is BETTER than any carrot cake Ive ever tasted!

This recipe is a KEEPER. I am going to make a huge sheet cake of this and take it to our family reunion Christmas get-together...and feel GOOD about serving them such decadence! [Brenda]

Well, I made Brendas carrot cake over the weekend, and its every bit as good as she says! My husband, who loves carrot cake, liked it "as well as any hes ever eaten," a high compliment. I particularly loved the frosting. The flavors of the real butter and lemon rind predominated, and any problems Ive had in the past with fatfree cream cheese (especially with it turning runny in frosting) were absent. (I did throw in a handful of raisins and a few chopped walnuts-so I increased the calories and fat a little, but it was worth it.) Try this recipe; youll love it for a special treat. ["Deborah Kirwan" (kirwan@creighton.edu)]

NOTES :
list I belong to...its that good!

This cake was fantastic. This is the kind of cake you watch your guest faces when they bite in (especially if you tell them its a light version) - but either way, watch their faces light up! :))

I am so pleased to have found this. In truth, I cant recall when I last made a carrot cake from scratch, but Ive sure tasted a bunch of them and this one is a keeper! Its going as a sheet cake to our familys huge Christmas reunion. (I will feel so good about serving them something that not only will make them crazy with lust, but which I will feel isnt so bad for their health as the stuff we normally bring at Xmas!) :))

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