Mary Berry’s 2016 book Foolproof Cooking is packed full of pearls of wisdom, including the only nine spices Mary thinks we need, the three oils she buys for her own home, and her six rules for hosting. 

It’s also jam-packed with recipes for everything from the best dinner courses to ideal desserts ― the latter of which I’ve been using religiously. 

But a peek at her carrot cake recipe left me pretty surprised. 

I’m pretty strict about my own carrot cake rules, so her secret to a “moist” loaf intrigued me...

Mary’s secret addition is bananas

No, literally.

In her recipe, she said: “This combination might sound a little strange, but I have always put bananas in my carrot cake to give a moist sponge.” 

“The bananas also make the texture slightly more dense rather than light and springy,” she continued. 

As with making banana bread, she mashes two ripe bananas for the batter. 

She begins by mixing eggs, sunflower oil, and caster sugar in a bowl. 

Once those have been beaten, she asks us to add in banana, grated carrot, flour, and baking powder, stirring the lot until combined and baking it in a lined cake tin for 40 minutes. 

She also makes a classic carrot cake icing with cream cheese, icing sugar, and butter. 

A reviewer who tried the recipe said it was “sweet, light and not dry at all ― the mashed banana helped with that”.

How can I make other cakes more moist?

According to My Baking Addiction, the solution lies in your freezer. 

The home cooking enthusiast says that freezing banana bread for 45 minutes as soon as it’s taken out of the oven leads to an unbelievably moist cake ― meanwhile, cake decorators swear by the trick for a more easily-decorated desert. 

That’s because, as with making an ice bath for the jammiest boiled eggs, it stops the cake from cooking further, which can lead to drier crumbs.

Additionally, I swear by freezing cookie dough before cooking it for the perfect gooey-and-crisp result.