The Zucchini Cake Experiment

This weekend I decided to use up some of our excess zucchini to make a cake. I looked through a few recipe books for inspiration, but wasn't really taken by any, so I decided to make up my own.

I figured that if I took some guidelines from Stephanie Alexander, Bill Granger, and the trusty Woman's Weekly cookbook, I couldn't go too far wrong. That was the theory, anyway.

This was the final ingredient list I came up with:

125g softened butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

4 eggs

1 cup plain greek style yoghurt

2 cups plain wholemeal flour

2.5 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

pinch of salt

approx. 2 cups grated zuchinni (squeezed over the sink to get rid of most of the water)

1 cup walnuts/pecans

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup ground flaxmeal (you could easily leave this out. I put it in because I had it in the cupboard)

Here are all the ingredients assembled nicely (except for the sugar, which I forgot about until I went to cream it with the butter. Oops!)

(On a side note: how cute are the russian doll measuring cups I got for Christmas? You can't see them very clearly, but trust me, they are cute!)

I started by creaming the butter and sugar together, until it was light and fluffy. Then I added each egg, one by one, beating in between each addition:

Gradually folded in the yoghurt, flour and baking soda:

And folded in the grated zuchinni and nuts, cinnamon, and salt:

Until it looked like this:

I split the mix between a small loaf tin and a muffin rack. The muffins took about 20 mins in a moderate (180 degree) oven, while the loaf took about 40 minutes.

Before:

After:

So, the verdict? G and I both gave this the thumbs up. It turned out more like a nut loaf, or banana bread than a cake, which we both prefer anyway. More sugar might make it more cake-like, if that's more your thing. But overall, I think the zucchini cake experiment was a success!