If yours is like our household, very soon you'll have zooks coming out of your ears.
And not just any teeny weeny itsy bitsy zooks but gargantuan ones that your neighbors have been growing, or your friend Shelley has growing in her yard or maybe you have them growing in yours!
And don't get me wrong, I love zucchinis as much as the next person so much so that I even have a nickname for them, zooks but just how many zooks can you eat and in just how many ways?
Fortunately, here's one you'll never get tired of and just like me you'll fix it again and again for your own family and for everyone elses.
What's awesome is that it also feeds the devious mom gene because this cake is loaded and I mean loaded with the good stuff, lots of shredded zooks, golden raisins, dried cranberries, pecans and wait for it....very-little-flour. And when you bite into a slice, not in a million years will you believe this to be true.
So here's a healthful cake that we can all get in a tizzy about!
Warning - Self-control not on ingredient list.
Gather the ingredients - zucchini, lemon, baking powder, baking soda, all-purpose flour, white sugar, light brown sugar, lemon, salt, olive oil, eggs, ground cinnamon, pure vanilla extract, golden raisins, dried cranberries, whole pecans.
Preheat the oven to 350 deg F
Prepare the ingredients -
Zucchini -Using a vegetable grater, shred. Do not squeeze to remove moisture.
Lemon -Using a zester, (I love my Microplane for this) and zest the lemon rind.
Pecans - Break up the whole pecans into smaller pieces with your fingers.
Dry fruit mixture - Using a kitchen weighing scale, weigh 5.5 oz of the golden raisins, 5.5 oz of the dried cranberries and 3.5 oz of the broken pecans.
Using a sieve with a large mixing bowl at the bottom, sift the flour, white sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir to combine the flour mixture.
Using 1/2 cup of the flour add it to the dry fruit mixture and coat thoroughly. This helps the good stuff from settling to the bottom of the cake. Go figure!
Into the large bowl with the flour, add zucchini, dry fruit mixture and lemon zest.
Whisk together eggs, vanilla and oil.
Cook's Note- I really like using my small milk jug to whisk together the wet ingredients becuase it doesn't go every where when I whisk vigorously.
Stir the wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a rubber spatula for the cake batter.
Cook's Note - The cake batter looks very different from usual cake batters as it is nearly devoid of flour but this is a good thing so leave it be!
Line a metal 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
Pour the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the cake with the light brown sugar.
Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool slightly, then place on a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices and serve with lovely cups of tea or coffee.
No icing required.
Of all the cakes that have come into my life and there have been many, I love you the most! No I am not a poet but this cake brings out the poet in me.
I can't wait for the kingdom of zooks to unload on me this summer because I get to bite into this lovely again and again. Don't believe me? Well here's a though - see how I only have a small bit of the loaf left in the pic?
This, within the hour of it coming out of the oven! Mostly devoured by the kids, though I am not without sin here..smiles.
Finally, I had to shoo the kids away so I would finally be able to get this one pic to share with you. So trust me so you too can join me in the zooks palooza this summer!
Recipe for
Fruit & Nut Palooza Zucchini Cake
Serves 4-6
Preparation time - 20 minutes
Cooking time - 50-60 minutes
Shopping list
1 large, about 10 oz (by weight) zucchini
1 lemon for zest
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup white sugar
2 tbs light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
5.5 oz golden raisins
5.5 oz dried cranberrries
3.5 oz whole pecans
Preparation-
Preheat the oven to 350 deg F
Zucchini -Using a vegetable grater, shred. Do not squeeze to remove moisture.
Lemon -Using a zester, (I love my microplane for this) zest the lemon rind.
Pecans - Break up the whole pecans into smaller pieces with your fingers.
Dry fruit mixture - Using a kitchen weighing scale, weigh 5.5 oz of the golden raisins, 5.5 oz of the dried cranberries and 3.5 oz of the broken pecans.
Cooking Method -
Using a sieve with a large mixing bowl at the bottom, sift the flour, white sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir to combine the flour mixture.
Using 1/2 cup of the flour add it to the dry fruit mixture and coat thoroughly. This helps the good stuff from settling to the bottom of the cake. Go figure!
Into the large bowl with the flour, add zucchini, dry fruit mixture and lemon zest.
Whisk together eggs, vanilla and oil.
Cook's Note- I really like using my small milk jug to whisk together the wet ingredients becuase it doesn't go every where when I whisk vigorously.
Stir the wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a rubber spatula for the cake batter.
Cook's Note - The cake batter looks very different from usual cake batters as it is nearly devoid of flour but this is a good thing so leave it be!
Line a metal 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
Pour the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the cake with the light brown sugar.
Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool slightly, then place on a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices and serve with lovely cups of tea or coffee. No icing required.
Enjoy!
