Classic Yellow Layer Cake with Caramel-Pecan Frosting

This is the first cake I've made from scratch and it's easy to change parts of it to suit your needs. I used 1/4 cup margarine and 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce to cut down the fat. Instead of 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, I used 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extract to add dimension. Trim 2 minutes from baking time and it turned out great.

I just made the cake (and I turned them into cupcakes), but they were fabulous. The butter cream frosting that went with the red velvet cake was great with these.