Friday, September 3, 2010

another recipe, or you could just sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor's porch...

We are now officially over Zucchini Madness Week at Camp Cactus. The crop has finally slowed way down, now producing only about one zuke the size of a 7 year old's tibia every few days.


A more sane and manageable number, even for a zucchini lover like myself. In all seriousness, there is just so much squash a person can take! So, here's one more recipe, in case you still have a squash surplus.

Zucchini Cake

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs, beaten
1-1/2 cups safflower or vegetable oil (not olive oil)
3 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 - 12 oz pkg chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350ºF


Coarsely grate zucchini.


Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, oil, zucchini, vanilla and chocolate chips, and stir together with a wooden spoon until the mixture is thoroughly moist. Spray an angel food cake pan (or a 15" x 10" x 2" rectangular pan, or two 9" round pans) with non stick cooking spray and dust with flour.


Dump the whole mess of batter into your cake pan(s) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (About 1+ hour for the angel food cake pan, or 45+ minutes for the rectangular pan, or about 30 minutes for the round pans.) Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out of pans and finish cooling on the rack before frosting. (Recipe below)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 - 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 - 1/2 cups powdered sugar

With an electric mixer (or a lot of elbow grease), cream together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Slowly add the sugar, mixing until creamy after each addition. Taste all along the way, adding more sugar if you like it very sweet, less if you like it more tangy. (I like tangy)
Frost the cake and lick the spatula!

I forgot a few steps in the photography process, so let's just jump to the finished slice, shall we?

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