Zucchini Pistachio Spice Cake With Lime Frosting
I know what you’re thinking. Is this food blogger a bag lady in disguise? Did she scatter birdseeds all over a cake that was served to her vertebrate guests? Yes, it’s true; the Central Park Pigeon Lady from Home Alone 2 has a strong desire for baked goods.
This is a mildly spiced zucchini (and I’m only calling it that because how fugly does courgette sound/look/read next to zucchini? Plus I love Italian food, so I think this grants me access to their terminology) cake studded with chunks of pistachio and the dust that accumulated from chopping said chunks, mixed with ground almonds.
This is a mildly spiced zucchini (and I’m only calling it that because how fugly does courgette sound/look/read next to zucchini? Plus I love Italian food, so I think this grants me access to their terminology) cake studded with chunks of pistachio and the dust that accumulated from chopping said chunks, mixed with ground almonds.
If, for some reason, you let me blindfold you and then force-fed you a forkful of this alongside a forkful of carrot cake, my guess is that you would think you were eating from the same slice of cake.
The same slice of carrot cake.
After several bites, I was still unable to trace any zucchini flavour with my fag ash taste buds. I think that’s the beauty of zucchini, it adds a slight health factor (Vitamin A) to your afternoon tea accompaniment (before you attack it with frosting) yet gracefully conceals itself behind competitive flavours. In this case: the all spice.
This cake is made for carrot cake enthusiasts and anyone whose willing to try something a little odd, albeit refreshing.
Zucchini Pistachio Spice Cake With Lime Frosting
Adapted from Delicious Magazine's Baking Special
Ingredients
Cake
85ml sunflower oil, or any flavourless oil
220g caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g unsalted pistachios, finely and roughly chopped
60g ground almonds
3 zucchinis/courgettes grated & excess water squeezed out
1 tsp all spice
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
225g self raising flour
75g plain flour
Frosting & Decoration
180g unsalted butter, softened
300g icing sugar
250g cream cheese, chilled
Zest and juice of 1 lime
100g unsalted, unshelled pistachios, sliced into slivers
Note: To de-skin pistachios, immerse them in boiling hot water and leave to stand for half an hour. The skins will slide off, it will feel like a hot knife in butter. You will enjoy the next hour removing the skins with your fingers.
The Method
Make the cakes. Line two 6 inch tins with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 170 C.
Whisk oil, sugar, egg and vanilla with electric whisk until thick and pale in colour. Stir in both nuts, zucchini, salt and all spice. Sift over the flours and baking soda and whisk until just combined. Pour the mixture evenly into both tins. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. The cakes will still be a little moist - they're baked through if they spring back when you touch them. Leave to cool in the tins for 20 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting and then try to make the cake look like it came out of a semi pro's kitchen. Beat butter and icing sugar for 5 minutes until very pale and fluffy. Gradually add cream cheese whilst beating, followed by lime juice and zest. Continue to beat until you have an off white cloud of frosting. If its not thick enough, add a teaspoon of cornflour. If its still not thick enough, add more icing sugar. And then read this post if its still not thick enough.
Place a 6 inch piece of cardboard underneath one of the cakes and place that on top of a turntable, if you have one. Scoop 3 tablespoons of icing on top of the cake and evenly spread across the whole top. Place 2nd cake on top of icing. Scoop 4 tablespoons of icing on top and evenly spread across the top, this time, let the icing fall to the sides of the cake. Coat all of the sides. Place cake in the freezer for 20 minutes. Ice the cake again with the remaining icing. Scatter pistachios over the top. The cake will keep for 3 days.
Other zucchini recipes that are worth drooling over/making:
Poires Au Chocolat's Chocolate Courgette Cake (this one will take ya breath away) TWC's Zucchini Spaghetti (this instantly reminds me of 'spagetti oops' from Mighty Boosh) Chocolate Covered Katie's Fudge Brownies which boast a disgustingly low calorie count
Poires Au Chocolat's Chocolate Courgette Cake (this one will take ya breath away) TWC's Zucchini Spaghetti (this instantly reminds me of 'spagetti oops' from Mighty Boosh) Chocolate Covered Katie's Fudge Brownies which boast a disgustingly low calorie count
Read on if you’re a frequent visitor, and if you are, thank you for being one! As you might know, I work at a cake decorating school. What that means is I assist teachers as they demonstrate how to intricately decorate cakes that have been previously buttercreamed with utmost precision. When it comes to assisting the students however, I tend to shy away, and you can probably see why.
Nearly 2 years later, I’ve decided improve my frosting skills so that I can assist better. The upside is that you’re going to see more layer cakes on mbakes. The downside is… have you ever tried shooting a cake? I find it difficult, frustrating and the end results are never satisfying. So the blog will take a photographic downturn but at least you’ll get a step-by-step layer cake tutorial at the end of the process, as if there weren’t thousands lurking around already. Hopefully the Internet won’t explode when I make another one.
Nearly 2 years later, I’ve decided improve my frosting skills so that I can assist better. The upside is that you’re going to see more layer cakes on mbakes. The downside is… have you ever tried shooting a cake? I find it difficult, frustrating and the end results are never satisfying. So the blog will take a photographic downturn but at least you’ll get a step-by-step layer cake tutorial at the end of the process, as if there weren’t thousands lurking around already. Hopefully the Internet won’t explode when I make another one.
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