We came back from the farm with a surplus of zucchini, so I thought it was the perfect excuse to bake a cake! I modified a carrot cake recipe and it was so yummy. Moist and delicious. Here’s the recipe if you’d like to try it. It was really easy to make.

Super Delicious Carrot and Zucchini Cake

Ingredients:

½ cups brown sugar
½ cup caster sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ½ cups SR flour
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup finely grated carrots (about 2 small to medium)
1 ½ cups finely grated zucchini (about 1 small)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
250g block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
60g butter, softened to room temperature
4 cups icing sugar
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 175°C (fan forced). Grease and line two 20cm cake pans.

Whisk the brown sugar, caster sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla together in a large bowl until combined and no brown sugar lumps remain. Mix cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg into the wet mixture then fold in flour. Once combined, fold in the carrots. At this stage you could add in a cup of walnuts or pecans but we have a walnut and pecan allergy in our house so we have nut free cake.

Pour the batter evenly into the cake pans and bake for around 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack.

Make the icing:

In a large bowl using an electric mixer beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until smooth (about 2 minutes). Add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes until completely combined and creamy.
Once the cakes are completely cool you can pop some icing on top of one, then pop the next one on and put some icing the top. Decorate with a couple of flowers from the garden and hey presto… afternoon tea is done!
Cover leftover frosted cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.