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!

Secrets and Lies

It's late December and it's all happening in and out of the garden. All of our plants are producing, with new secrets to discover every time we arrive home from work. On the flipside, the ambitious growth of our patch seems to be causing me a few problems.

Black Russian Tomato

Lebanese Cucumber

Italian Capsicum - The case of the brown bum capsicum seems to be happening alot. The bottom seems to rot, rather than burn. I thought this only happened with tomatoes? (Blossom end rot)

Lazy Housewife Bean

Black Beauty Zucchini - These just grow and grow and grow. We've had about 7 now. When will they stop? My guess is 15.

Delicata Mini Sweet Pumpkin

Okay, so now the success stories out the way... to my tomatoes. This year (my only year to date) I have been raising Tommy Toes, Black Russians, and Wapsipinicon Peaches (WPs). The WPs are winning the taste test. The Tommy Toes are everywhere. The Black Russians need to hurry the hell up already.

I've done very little in terms of maintenance. Some websites advise to pinch out side shoots and growth at the top of the plant once the optimum size is reached. As this was my first year in the garden, I decided to just let them grow and see what happens. The first approach should always be the lazy approach in my book. Needless to say, they've reached a size where the stake no longer supports the growth. As such, most of the plants' new growth is at ground level, and spilling over the side of the patch.

This picture shows the new growth on the Black Russian tomato plant - plenty of flowers and nice and green (photo was taken in 37 degrees).

Despite the growth, my plants are dying a slow death. Every one of my six tomato plants seems to be dying from the bottom up. It's quite sad to watch. My rational explanation is that the plant is simply shedding unneeded leaves to channel energy to the existing fruit. The thick canopy may also be shielding light and subsequently having a negative impact at the base of the plant. But I'm losing a hell of a lot of leaves.

This is the base of the WPs. Not the worst example, but you get the picture. I've been deadheading the plants, but it's tough to keep up.

I don't have a solution to the problem. I'm just going to watch it closely for the time being. Next year though, I'll try to manage the size of my tomato plants more effectively to ensure that the plants have plenty of ventilation and support.

First Across the Line

The question - Which plant would be picked first? It was two horse race - Zucchini and Capsicum. We picked the capsicum. We tasted the capsicum. Too small. Too bitter. Capsicum was out. Zucchini was the winner.

It's amazing how quick they grow. I would estimate that the last third of the zucchini appeared in 24 hours. If anything, we picked this zucchini too late. But we still felt burnt from the capsicum experience.

We're growing the Black Beauty variety from seed purchased at Diggers on the Mornington Peninsula.

Once harvested, we turned the zucchini into some fritters with some haloumi cheese and fresh mint. If anyone is interested, you can find the recipe at . The result was a little bland. I'd probably up the mint next time. All in all though, it was great way to bring in our harvest season.

From the looks of things, my zucchini plant has a touch of powdery mildew. Apparently this can be solved with some diluted full-cream milk. I don't think it's at that stage yet though, so I'll keep the milk for my muesli.

In the photo above, you can see the start of another two zucchini coming along. I might try stuffing and cooking the flower when it blooms.

A large zucchini or a very small phone?

Fritters.