i enjoy baking! as a girl that is sometimes accused of being too boyish baking tends to be the time i feel the most womanly. i awkwardly imagine i'm wearing a full skirt and apron with pearls dangling daintily from my neck {usually i'm wearing a grubby t-shirt and loose sweatpants but hey, i can dream!}. unfortunately there are not tons of occasions when baking is useful. i'm not going to make myself a cake every week because, well, my cats and i would surely become obese and because as much i like baking i oddly don't have a major sweet tooth. thankfully there are still birthdays, holidays, tailgate parties, and these are definitely the times i can and do bake.
there is also an enemy in this sweet story. an arch-adversary that is secretly trying to sabotage my pies and pound cakes, my crisps and cobblers, his name is whirlpool accubake....my oven! my {goddamn, piece of sh*t} oven is out to destroy me, either that or show off. no matter what a recipe cooking time is supposed to be my accubake makes it 10-15 minutes faster....sometimes....other times 15-20, 20-30, he's not very consistent but, boy, is he fast. baking is such a strangely scientific process and my oven makes my attempts at it a crap shoot.
when i saw this recipe for zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting i almost fell over. i love carrot cake and this sounded like it would have a striking resemblance to that desert we all know. i had to try....accubake be damned!
my oven "brought it" and tried his hardest to ruin me. the cake ended up tasting and smelling fantastic {i could eat erasers in that frosting} but did turn out to be a tad too dry {you win this round accubake!}. i'm going to post the recipe anyways because it was still terribly tasty and if you have a tamed oven it should turn out perfect! i thought of mine as zucchini bread and ate it for breakfast. don't worry about me i'll break my accubake someday......hopefully.
cake:
- nonstick vegetable oil spray
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3/4 cup olive oil (not extra-virgin)
- 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (about 8 ounces)
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 8-ounce package philadelphia brand cream cheese (do not use reduced-fat or fat-free), room temperature
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
for cake:
- position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. line 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides with parchment paper. coat parchment paper with nonstick spray.
- whisk flour, baking powder, coarse salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in medium bowl to blend well.
- whisk oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in large bowl to blend well; fold in flour mixture, then grated zucchini and pecans. transfer cake batter to prepared pan.
- bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. cool cake completely in pan, about 1 hour. cut around sides of pan to loosen. turn cake out onto platter; peel off parchment paper.
- beat cream cheese and butter in medium bowl until blended. beat in sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon
- spread frosting thickly over top of cake. sift cinnamon evenly over the frosting.
