Summertime Sweets, Eat Your Veggies-In Cake Form

Summer is time for some delicious sweet treats like ice cream and Popsicles ........

But one of my favorite summer treats is a cake-a vegetable cake-Zucchini Cake to be exact.   August is Zucchini season and if you have  a vegetable garden in your back yard, or if your an urbanite a Farmer's market in your neighborhood, you will see the green squash abounds.   My favorite thing to do with it is to make the Zucchini cake my mom would make when I was growing up.  Here is the recipe:

Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients (for the cake):

•  3 lrg eggs
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2 cups brown sugar (light or dark, it doesn't matter)
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups flour (I use King Arthur brand)
• 3 tsp cinnamon  
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger    
• 2 cups grated zucchini, with skin (about 1 lrg zucchini)
• 1/2 cup grated coconut (sweetened flaked coconut like Baker's brand)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350.

Beat eggs, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla in an electric mixer at medium speed until well combined.    Meanwhile, whisk the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking power, and ground ginger, together in a large bowl.   Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined (don't beat the mixture or you will over mix).   Then gently stir in the zucchini, coconut, and nuts. 

Pour the batter into a greased and flour Bundt pan (what I always use), two 9 inch cake pans, to standard loaf pans, or 2 muffin pans (make 24 muffins/cupcakes).   If you are using a Bundt pan or cake pans bake for about an hour, loaf pans about 50 minutes, and muffin pans will only take about 25 minutes.   The cake is done when a tester inserted comes out clean.  

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz package cream cheese (room temperature)
1 stick butter     (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla
1 to 2 cups sifted confectioners (powdered sugar)

Beat the cream cheese and butter together at high speed in an electric mixture.  Add the vanilla and beat again.   Add the powdered sugar gradually, beating well, until you get your desired consistency and sweetness (I usually use all two cups). 


Note: There is no reason dogs can't sample a tiny bit of this cake, though it is a little heavy on the sugar.  A few crumbs wont hurt though, the hounds definitely enjoyed it.