Quick & Easy Recipe: Carrot and Zucchini Cake, Super Moist and Tasty

I’m all about healthy food, but I don’t shy away from a little sugar either. And I tell you, if you have a sweet tooth or feel the need for that extra energy during the afternoons, especially if you work out regularly, it’s probably best to bake cakes yourself rather than rely on snack bars. I started baking a weekly cake many weeks ago and it’s working out fine. I’m using less sugar than many recipes recommend and yet the cakes are sweet enough and truly delicious—and it’s not just me saying that.

Today I want to write about my latest cake creation, a super carrot and zucchini cake. I made it with only one layer and without the frosting, but I didn’t feel anything was missing. It was moist, with perfect texture, which made it super satisfying to chew on, and the flavors and spices created a blend of taste notes that was one notch above your regular carrot cake.

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Here’s the recipe:

The dry ingredients:
150 grams/5.3 oz gluten-free all-purpose flour
100 grams/3.5 oz almond flour
100 grams/3.5 oz walnuts, chopped
5 tbsp sugar + 2 packets (x 8 grams) vanilla sugar
3 tsp flaxseed, ground
1 packet baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp salt

The wet ingredients:
125 ml/4.2 fl oz extra virgin olive oil
100 ml/3.4 fl oz water
3 medium carrots, grated
1 medium zucchini, grated (do not strain them!)
1 tsp vanilla flavoring
3/4 small vial (1.5 ml, about 1/3 tsp) lemon flavoring
12 grams/0.4 oz organic orange zest

Don’t be intimidated by the great number of ingredients. This carrot cake is actually very easy to put together. The only difficult thing, for me, was grating the carrots, since I did it manually on a grater.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F. Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately, and then bring them together into one bowl. The dough should be rather moist. Line a glass baking dish with parchment paper, transfer the dough, and bake at 180°C/356°F for 50 minutes.

If you don’t have a glass baking dish, I highly recommend you get one. They’re easy to clean and healthy, in contrast to non-stick pots and pans or various round pizza pans lined with all sorts of material that peels off after a while. And you can use these glass baking pans with parchment paper not only for cakes but also for delicious pizza. Of course, cakes and pizzas are more presentable round, but I haven’t found a round tray yet so I’m using this one glass pan I have quite a lot. Mine was rather cheap but of good quality.

I actually thought that as long as it was made of borosilicate glass, any such glass baking dish would do, but it appears that sometimes they can shatter in the oven, making quite a mess, as you can imagine.

The glass casserole dishes I’m showing below from Nutriups have great reviews. And you would get a set of three for only $38.99 (at the time of this post). These rectangular Nutriups borosilicate glass baking pans have thicker walls for increased durability and anti-slip handles.

Sizes 2-quart, 2.7-quart, and 3.3-quart.

Freezer, microwave, and dishwasher safe.

Your main meals would look more attractive too. I use other baking pans for them precisely because I need a smaller and a larger size than my medium glass baking dish, but if you get the set of three, well, that’s probably all you need for most oven use except when you need a pan with a lid (I don’t like to use aluminum foil in the oven, as it’s not very healthy) or a special cheesecake springform pan.

If you prefer round borosilicate glass baking dishes with a glass lid, here’s a 3.5-quart one from Simax.

And if you need smaller casserole dishes, here’s a set of three, also with glass lids, from Moss & Stone, with lots of good reviews and an Amazon’s Choice pick. At $34.99 (at the time of this post), this set costs less than the Simax casserole dish above. It’s impossible to find the sizes on the Amazon listing, but one reviewer listed them as 1-quart, 1.5-quart, and 2-quart.

Freezer, microwave, and dishwasher safe.

Back to my carrot and zucchini cake, which I highly recommend you try 🙂 This recipe will not only result in a great dessert, but it may also give you some ideas on how to tweak other cake recipes—substituting part of the all-purpose flour with almond flour and adding orange zest. I’ve used orange flavoring in other cakes, such as banana cake, but orange zest is perfect in this dessert.

You could make this recipe when you grate veggies for other dishes so that it makes sense to put to use and then clean a vegetable slicer shredder if you don’t have a food processor.

There’s another recipe I like to make with carrots, a traditional Romanian salad with carrots, celeriac, and apples, mixed with homemade mayo (made with extra virgin olive oil) and salt and pepper. It’s delicious and so very healthy, I’m salivating only writing about it.

I may write about that recipe in another post, even though there’s not much to add, as the quantities are flexible and the result successful each time.

Enjoy your carrot & zucchini cake!

And thank you for reading! I hope you’ve found this post useful. As always, pins and shares are much appreciated!

To a happier, healthier life,

🙂 Mira