For An Ultra Moist Carrot Cake, There's One More Vegetable You Should Add

Carrot cake is certainly one way to get your vegetables in. The best part about this dessert isn't that it's full of carrot flecks, or that it's best served with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting on top. It's that it's flexible. You can swap ingredients in and out of your recipe, which is great for folks who are fundamentally opposed to raisins, as well as those who like the tropical addition of coconut flakes. So long as you still have carrots and cake — you'll still have carrot cake. However, one of the tasty additions you should try adding to your next carrot cake is zucchini. 

This ingredient is a great functional addition because it will add a ton of extra moisture to your cake, along with extra nutrients. Plus, if you already have your box grater out (or even better, a grating blade attachment for your food processor), you can still reap the benefits of this hack, all without having to worry about adding any extra dishes to the pile. 

Adding zucchini to your recipe is rather simple. Like other zucchini cake recipes, you'll want to shred down the vegetable as much as possible. Leaving large, coarse chunks of the squash in your batter will not only release too much moisture, but it also means you won't have a balanced mouthfeel. Once your zucchini has been grated, you can stir it into the batter with your carrots. Since zucchini has a relatively neutral flavor (read as: no flavor), you won't have to worry about the ingredient upsetting the subtle balance of sweeteners, spices, and add-ins like dried fruits or nuts in your recipe. 

Another benefit of using zucchini in your carrot cake is that it won't stale as fast. The extra vegetables will pack in a ton of moisture, which means that you could potentially leave it in your refrigerator for close to a week and enjoy it long after your oven has been shut off.