"Unbelievable" Carrot Cake

Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe, with a few alterations made based on some of the comments (to reduce oil amounts, etc.)

Ingredients:
for cake:
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 cup whole wheat + 2 cups unbleached all-purpose)
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 lb. medium carrots (6 to 7 large carrots), peeled
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
3/4 cup applesauce

for icing: (Mel says she doubles this if she's frosting a 9-inch layer cake, but for the 9x13-inch cake I made, a regular batch was more than enough to frost the top - in fact, I didn't use it all)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
5 Tablespoons butter softened to room temperature
1 Tablespoon sour cream, light or regular
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Grease and flour a 9X13-inch baking pan or 2 9-inch round pans.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in large bowl; set aside. In a food processor fitted with large or fine shredding disk, shred carrots (you should have about 3 cups); transfer carrots to bowl and set aside. You can also shred by hand on a box grater if you don't have a food processor.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or in large bowl and using hand-held mixer), beat granulated and brown sugars, eggs and applesauce on medium-high until thoroughly combined, about 45 seconds. Reduce speed to medium; with mixer running, add oil in slow, steady stream, being careful to pour oil against inside of bowl (if oil begins to splatter, reduce speed to low until oil is incorporated, then resume adding oil). Increase speed to high and mix until mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 45 seconds to 1 minute longer. Turn off mixer and stir in carrots and dry ingredients by hand until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain.

Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake until toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 32 minutes for 9-inch round pans and 40 minutes (mine was done in ~35) for a 9X13-inch pan. Let cakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and then invert them onto a cooling rack to cool completely (the 9X13-inch cake can be cooled completely in the pan if you don't plan to invert and ice all the sides). At this point, once the cakes are cooled, they can be wrapped in plastic wrap and put in a ziploc bag and placed in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature prior to frosting.

When cake is cool, mix cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla at medium high speed in clean bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment (or in large bowl using handheld mixer) until well combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix until very fluffy, about 1 minute. Frost and eat!  (The cake looks extra fancy with a sprinkle of chopped walnuts or pecans on top, if you have them.)

Notes:
The week before Easter about a million different carrot cake recipes popped up on the food blogs and pinterest boards that I follow.  All those carrot cake pictures swirling around the internet must have infiltrated my brain, because I decided that I simply had to make carrot cake myself.  So I did.  Oh my holy moley is this a good one.  So moist and tender and delicious!  And I think Gregg and I are going to be in trouble - because we've got the whole thing to eat by ourselves.  Good thing Toasty is here to help, too.  ;)