Zucchini & Almond Cake

This cake has a lovely caramel and spice flavour that is a little like carrot cake. The dark brown sugar contributes to the flavour and dark colour and is worth purchasing, regular brown sugar or caster sugar would also work just as well.  Like most cakes made with almond meal, it does not rise very much and is very dense and moist. It makes a good dessert, serve with cream or icecream.

Zucchini & Almond Cake

Gluten Free

2 zucchini (I used ½ of a very large zucchini) 1 cup dark brown sugar 200 g almond meal 1 cup gluten free flour 4 eggs 2 teaspoon baking powder 1 - 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 tsp ginger 1 teaspoon mixed spice 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon vanilla To Decorate Sifted pure icing sugar

Optional Toppings Cream cheese frosting 125 g cream cheese 90 g soft butter 2 cups icing sugar finely grated rind /zest of 1 lemon  1 tablespoon lemon juice ¼ cup walnuts, chopped finely to decorate Chocolate Frosting 100g butter 200g dark chocolate 2 teaspoons vanilla

Method

Place zucchini in a food processor and puree, measure out 1 1/2 cups of puree.

Combine puree, eggs and sugar. Beat/whiz .

Add baking powder, spices, almond meal and gluten free flour if using. Beat/pulse /mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a greased and lined *20 cm springform cake tin.  Bake 150 deg C until firm, golden brown and a skewer comes out clean, approximately 1 hour.

Cool in tin for ten minutes and then on a cooling rack.

Dust cake with sifted pure icing sugar or use cream cheese frosting or chocolate frosting.

*Cake tin size will influence the cooking time. I frequently use a slice tin which cooks more quickly (40 mins approx) than a deeper and smaller round tin. 

To Make Cream Cheese Frosting

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth and fluffy.

To Make Chocolate Frosting

Melt butter, chocolate and vanilla together on medium heat in microwave or on low heat in small saucepan. Mix well. Allow to cool until thick and spread over cake.