Cakes, cookies and pudding can definitely be part of a ‘healthy’, balanced diet and there’s honestly no need to try to ‘healthify’ all of your favourite treats (because sugar is sugar and coconut oil is not all it’s cracked up to be) but when I can sneak in extra veggies, I seize the opportunity!
Zucchini is incredibly versatile. It hasn’t got a strong flavour so you can easily sneak some extra goodness in to your smoothies and cakes virtually undetected. Another benefit of adding zucchini in this instance, is that its high water content keeps the cake moist (mmmmmm, everyone’s favourite word).
If you love lemon pound cake or madeira cake - you will LOVE this. And I promise you won’t be able to taste the zucchini :)
[Serves 10] [55 mins from start to finish]
Ingredients
Cake
1 1/4 cups of caster sugar
6 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs
1/3 cup of vanilla almond milk (or regular cows milk if you prefer or any milk for that matter)
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 cups of pasta tipo 00 plain flour* (you can get it from regular supermarkets)
1 1/4 tsp of baking powder
1 1/2 of grated zucchini squeezed dry in a tea towel
2 tbsp of lemon zest
*Pasta tipo 00 flour is super finely milled and has a low protein content, this helps to get a very fine, delicate crumb. If you can’t find tipo 00 flour, look for any flour that is super fine and has a low protein content. Alternatively, you can substitute with the following: 2 cups plain flour with 2 tbsp removed then add 2 tbsp cornflour to the plain flour and sift together.
Glaze
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Method
Cake
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius
Prepare a loaf tin by greasing it and lining with baking paper
In a medium bowl, combine the flour and baking powder and set aside
In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and olive oil to combine. Add the eggs, milk, lemon juice and vanilla and whisk together
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and fold together until just combined, then fold in the zucchini and lemon zest
Pour the batter in to your prepared tin and bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out with moist crumbs.
Cool for 15 minutes in the tin and then remove from the pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Glaze
In a small bowl, combine the icing sugar and lemon juice until the sugar is dissolved. The glaze should be the consistency of a runny paste.
Drizzle over the cooled cake and ENJOY!