A Seasonal Cake

The Cake Slice Bakers are winding down on our current book The Southern Cake Book by Southern Living Magazine. This month we were able to choose between a Black Forest themed cheesecake, a Caramel Coconut cake which used brown sugar to get the caramel flavor, Baby Sweet Potato Cakes with a sticky Pecan glaze, or my seasonal choice, Chocolate Zucchini Cake. "Adding fresh zucchini to the batter yields luxuriously dense, moist results."

Due the the extreme heat we had a little while ago, the zucchini production slowed down, but I still have plenty and this cake was perfect for making cupcakes for a potluck I attended. I didn't bother with making the batter gluten free nor dairy free since I wouldn't be eating these, so I made it following the recipe in the book, except for the icing. I used my food processor to grate the zucchini, so some of the threads of zucchini were a bit long, but they all broke down and disappeared into the cakes, creating a nicely moist crumb. There was on slight variation - I used chocolate chips instead of chopping the chocolate and no one seemed to mind. I made cupcakes for ease of serving...and because they are cute! Look at the great crumb on the cupcake below.

According to my taste tester (Sweetie) these are delicious little cakes and don't really need any icing. For the cupcakes for the potluck I used a modern version of 7-Minute Frosting because I was using it for the sheet cake I also baked for the potluck (as the birthday cake requested), so I had plenty for the cupcakes. The fluffy white frosting made a nice contrast to the deep, dark chocolate cake of the cupcakes. From the looks of it I would imagine that the chocolate icing in the book is delicious, too.

I think this is going to be my go-to recipe for chocolate zucchini cake. It has great flavor, excellent crumb and texture, and uses up some zucchini, too! I did use a high quality cocoa and recommend that you do that too if you have some on hand. Party on.

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Almost A 'My Mother Used To Make This' Frosting

I made a birthday cake for a dear friend this week and decided that my cake icing skills were so rusty that the best bet was 7-Minute frosting. You may know of this stuff...fluffy, white like a marshmallow, soft and sweet, with a flavor mostly of sugar. My mom used to make it for my older sister's birthday cake, then cover the frosted cake with grated coconut. It was wonderful! I learned how to make it when I was about 10 and it wasn't my favorite because you had to hold a hand-held mixer over hot water for at least 7 minutes, which is a long time for a kid.

At my friend's party lunch, once the cake was served, I heard all around the table, "My Mom used to make this frosting...it's boiled frosting, right?" I assured them that it was very much like the frosting their Moms used to make, but with a wonderful difference. For this frosting, the ingredients (egg whites, sugar, corn syrup and a pinch of salt) are whisked over simmering water until the sugar melts, but then are put on a stand mixer and the whisk attachment gets put at medium speed to do the rest of the work. It's like magic I tell you...easy and beautiful frosting, too.

One of the delights of this frosting is that you almost automatically make beautiful swirls and peaks just by spreading it on the cake. I glammed it up by putting on multi-colored sprinkles, little silver dragees and Autumn Mix candy corns and pumpkins. There were even candles at serving time. Of course I forgot to take a photo of the full cake, but I did take a photo of the cupcakes that I also made and which had similar decorations on that fabulous frosting.

It may be a while before I post the cake, but I wanted my friends to have the frosting recipe now so that they can give their family a blast from the past by making this icing for their family's next cake.

We can all thank Nick Malgieri for the ease of his method for making this treat with modern appliances.

Fluffy White Frosting – a version of 7-Minute Icing

3 large egg whites (scant ½ cup)
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/3 cup light corn syrup

Half fill a 1 ½ quart saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat so the water simmers.

Use a hand whisk to combine the egg whites, sugar, salt and corn syrup in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Place the bowl over the pan of simmering water and gently whisk until the ingredients are hot (about 130 degrees) and the sugar has dissolved.

Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip the icing with the whisk attachment on medium speed until cooled, about 5 minutes: touch the outside of the bowl – it should feel cool.

Use immediately to fill and cover a cake.

Makes enough for filling and covering a 9-inch two-layer cake.

Recipe from Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri