Grandma's Zucchini Cake

Grandma's Zucchini Cake

from simplyrecipes.com
Dessert
60 min
20 servings
355 kcal / serving

My grandmother's recipe for a gently spicy sheet cake, made with freshly grated zucchini and topped with cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

  • 2 cupsflour
  • 2 teaspoonscinnamon (can sub 1 teaspoon with other spices such as allspice and nutmeg, go easy on the cloves though)
  • 2 teaspoonsbaking soda
  • 1 teaspoonsalt
  • ¼ teaspoonbaking powder
  • 3eggs
  • 2 cupswhite, granulated sugar
  • 1 cupvegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoonvanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoongrated lemon zest (optional, my addition)
  • 2 cups(from about 3-4 regular sized zucchini) grated un-peeled zucchini (place grated zucchini in a sieve and press out some of the excess moisture before measuring)
  • 1 cupchopped walnuts or pecans (my grandmother recommends black walnuts)
  • ½ cupgolden raisins (optional)
  • 3 ouncescream cheese, softened to room temperature (philadelphia cream cheese recommended)
  • ¼ cupbutter, room temperature
  • 1 ½ cupspowdered sugar

Directions

  1. 1

    Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9x12 or 9x13 baking pan (I used a pyrex pan).

  2. 2

    Whisk the dry cake ingredients together: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

  3. 3

    Add the remaining cake ingredients: In a mixer, beat the 3 eggs on high speed until frothy. Lower the speed and beat in the sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla, and lemon zest (if using). Stir in the flour mixture, a third at a time. Stir in the zucchini and chopped nuts and/or raisins.

  4. 4

    Pour into baking pan and bake: Pour mixture into a 9x12 or 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 40 to 45 minutes. (My grandmother's notes say you can also bake in an angel food pan for 1 hour.) Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting. (While the cake is cooling, let the frosting's cream cheese and butter sit at room temperature to soften.)

  5. 5

    Make the frosting and frost the cooled cake: To make the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Frost the cake and serve. Store covered with aluminum foil. Did you love the recipe? Give us some stars and leave a comment below! It's so eerie to look at my grandmother's notes. She mentions that "black walnuts are good". Black walnuts are pretty hard to find, but there was a black walnut tree on our block that she and I would pass on the way to the grocery store. If there were any nuts on the ground, she would gather them and we would crack them open with a hammer when we got home. Her hand got shakier as she got older. By her 90s she had the symptoms of Parkinson's. There's a more recent note to my sister advising her to drain the zucchini, where her handwriting is noticeably more wobbly.