I have one Black zucchini plant in the garden. So far it has produced 7.7kg of normal sized zucchini plus a few giants that I didn’t bother weighing as they went straight into the compost.
Now, as much as I enjoy zucchini the rest of my household are pretty ambivalent about it (actually that’s putting it nicely – refuse to eat it comes closer). So rather than eat 7.7kg of the stuff myself I have taken to disguising it. What better way to disguise a vegetable than to call it cake?
I’m not the first person to write on the topic of zucchini cake this week. Garden Glut made one and wrote about it for her “Zucchini Tuesday” series post. Whilst my recipe is going to be pretty similar to hers it does differ in one respect – it uses oil rather than butter because unlike her I prefer the texture oil brings to a cake. This recipe is based on a basic tea style cake recipe but adapted to use as much zucchini as possible as well as adding some dried fruit and nuts to keep things interesting.
Zucchini Cake
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups self raising flour
- 1 cup self raising wholemeal flour
- 2/3 cup oil (I used a mellow olive oil)
- a few drops vanilla essence
- a pinch salt
- 3 cups grated zucchini
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tsps cinnamon
- 1 cups pistachios chopped (or any nuts, walnuts or pecans would be work very well)
- 1 cup dried fruit ( I used dried cranberries but sultanas or dried apricot would also be good.)
Make a batter by combining the flour, eggs and oil. Add the sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Mix through the zucchini, nuts and dried fruit.
This mixture will make one very large cake or two loaf sized cakes. If making loaves bake for 55 minutes at 175C.
I really enjoyed the cake, (its cake so who wouldn’t really) and I think the same mixture would make really good muffins. I’ll have the kids eating zucchini yet!
Today is the first Garden Gobble Thursday hosted by VeggieGobbler. This is my contribution to it. I’m really looking forward to seeing what others have harvested and cooked.
I think you’ve got the idea- my kids will eat anything called cake too. Last week I made zucchini chips in the dehydrator. They were a bit too salty and needed a bit longer to be crunchy but my youngest really liked them. And he doesn’t usually like zucchini – but they were called chips.
It’s all in the name sometimes isn’t it? A rose by any other name…
This looks similar to a two I made a couple of years ago I used oil too. I froze one of the cakes and then lost it in the freezer to find it again last year – it was still fine to eat.
I froze one of mine too. Once the glut has gone I’ll get it out and enjoy it.
Your zucchini crop is amazing, and the cake looks delicious. My son eats zucchini very thinly sliced on a homemade pizza – but I have to admit it’s not the most popular vegetable at my house, either (although I quite like it steamed, with just a few parmesan shavings on top). I once made a zucchini soup and it will go down in our family history as the most disgusting thing I’ve ever cooked. Cakes and muffins are far more appealing options!
I fancy pizza tonight so I will try this, although I can already see my 3 year old picking it off and hopefully putting it gently on his plate (more likely throwing it on the floor.
My daughter ate and enjoyed zucchini cake at a friends house for a couple of days, until someone told her about the ‘mystery’ ingredient. At that point she decided that she didn’t like the cake and refused to have another slice! I’ll be trying your recipe later this year though – just don’t tell my daughter!
Kids are funny aren’t they. I think not liking certain foods becomes part of their identity somehow and they become very attached to those dislikes don’t they?
Why is it that so many people grow a vegetable that is so unpopular? Presumably because it is practically guaranteed to produce a crop, even with the minimum gardening expertise and minimum care? I’d rather grow something that is likely to be more popular. Anyone care for Brussels Sprout chip now?
I think because there are quite a few of us gardeners that like it – its just that the rest of the family doesn’t follow suit. Personally I grow the things I like to eat – I don’t buy stuff they don’t like but I will grow it as I kind of think of that as growes privilege. As for Brussel Sprout chips – I’m looking forward to tormenting the family with them later in the year.
I have a Zucchini Ginger Muffin (or cake) recipe that I bake semi-regularly when the zucchini gets away. Even zucchini hating kids like them. My other favourite zucchini glut recipe is Lebanese Marinated Zucchini et al. It makes zucchini into a really really nice sandwich ingredient. Zucchini Macaroni Cheese With Crumbles was always my kids’ favourite zucchini recipe, but they actually never disliked zucchini. Like many vegetables, zucchini in supermarkets can be old and bitter, but fresh garden zucchini is a really nice vegetable.
I love ginger so the muffins sound great. The marinated zucchini sounds perfect too. For me not them though.
Great idea! As we have been looking for new ways to use up our massive Zucchini harvest this season – get up to 5kg a week! We can’t keep up, even friends and family can’t keep up 🙂 Now we can add this to our growing recipes of what-to-do-with-too-many-zucchini! 🙂 Now we just need a few more brainwaves for the tomato overload 🙂
5kg a week! How many plants do you have?
Way too many! And I told the one in charge of planting that we were planting too many … and he just kept on sticking the seeds in the ground 🙂 I think it would be about 7-8 zucchini plants, 3 butternut, 1 hubbard, 3 flat white boer pumpkins and about another 7-8 gems squashes. Like I said, way to many, and we get 5kg just from the zucchinis! Hopefully my warnings would be taken seriously next season 🙂 So lots of pumpkin soup this winter 🙂
7-8 plants how does anyone have that much space and that much appetite for zucchini? As for gem squashes – what was he thinking? He, He, He. I think he did well with the butternut and pumpkin though – i don’t think you can ever have too much pumpkin soup….
Funny story…As I was reading this post, my 17 year old daughter came up behind me, saw it and requested that I make this recipe immediately! Given that it’s bedtime, I’ll be making this for her (and us) tomorrow morning using the grated and frozen leftovers from last years zucchini glut! Thanks for getting her excited about zucchini in February!
I hope she enjoys it – and if you printed the recipe earlier then I hope you notice I’ve updated it to include a cup of sugar which I left out of the first version.
Hi Liz – so, just to confirm – no sugar or honey? My kids are testing it out right now as I write – Mr 3 eyed it suspiciously and said “is that zucchini in there”? (like your kids he doesn’t do zucchini). I added a tiny amount of apricot jam on top which seems to have got it over the line, although Mr 3 was unhappy about the raisins i added and suggested dried pear instead! Ros
Wooops – I’m really sorry (and very embarrassed) I did use a cup of sugar in it and I have completely left it out of the recipe. I do apologise. I reckon a bit of honey drizzled over each slice though would sort that out nicely….My Mr 3 is a big raisin fan and if I left out the sugar they’d probably be the only part he’d eat….