spiced zucchini and pecan loaf

spiced zucchini and pecan loaf

• 21 Sept 2015

That leftover butterscotch cream cheese icing I had from this recipe was in the fridge, just crying out to be used. I thought I might team it with banana cake but when I found a few zucchini lurking in the crisper, I thought I might make a spiced zucchini cake instead, adapted from this recipe.




I'm always a bit wary of cakes made in a loaf tin as they always crack and have a tendency to be a bit dry. This cake is pretty easy to make; didn't crack too badly and the zucchini ensured the cake stayed nice and moist.





One of the benefits of icing is the icing covers up those cracks. I kept the decoration pretty simple - just a few toasted pecans and some shredded lime zest. If you think making the butterscotch sauce is a bit of an overkill, I think a lime flavoured cream cheese icing would also go really well with this cake. 



I took this into work and one of my colleagues said 'Good cake Jillian' and announced that she preferred zucchini cake to carrot cake and I think I have to agree. That butterscotch cream cheese icing goes really well with the cake, though to be honest I could just eat spoonfuls of the stuff and forgo the cake.






Here's the recipe for you which makes a small loaf cake. For a 23 cm/9 inch cake refer to the original recipe for quantities and baking time. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.






Spiced Zucchini and Pecan Loaf
1 cup + 2 tbl (170g) plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
150g (⅔ cup) caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
⅓ cup (80 mls) sunflower oil
1 cup (150g) grated zucchini
½ cup (70g) pecans toasted, chopped
¼ cup buttermilk

To decorate
Butterscotch cream cheese icing
¼ cup toasted pecans
Shredded lime zest

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease and line a small loaf tin with baking paper. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, vanilla, eggs and oil together. Fold the egg mixture, zucchini, and pecans into the flour mixture. If the mixture looks a bit dry, then stir in the buttermilk. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely. Remove cake from the pan when cooled. I iced the cake with butterscotch cream cheese icing, then decorated the top with some toasted pecans and a little shredded lime zest.

Butterscotch Cream Cheese Icing
15 gm butter
15 gm brown sugar
15 mls cream
1 tsp golden syrup
60g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
25g unsalted butter
1 cup sifted icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract

First make the butterscotch. Combine the butter, brown sugar, the cream and the golden syrup in a small saucepan. Cook over a low heat until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth. Cook for a minute or two until the mixture thickens. Add a pinch of salt and set aside to cool. You’ll need to use 1 tbs of the butterscotch for the icing.

In a small bowl combine the cream cheese, the butter, icing sugar, the vanilla extract and 1 tbs of butterscotch. Beat the mixture until it’s soft and creamy.



Moist and delicious!

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian