The Secret Zucchini Cake

This cake is so super simple. It may look like it has a fair few ingredients, but don’t be overwhelmed, it is a piece of cake. Ha, that was bad. Sorry.

Enjoy this cake, it is a fave x

What you will need:

For the zucchini cake:

• 150g butter
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of bicarb soda
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons Grounded Pleasures Vanilla Drinking Chocolate (of course you MAY not have this, so just use cocoa and add 2 tablespoons of sugar)
• 2 cups of grated zucchini

For the icing:

• 200g cream cheese
• 60g butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar
• zest of one lemon

For the almond topping:

• 50g flaked almonds

1. Preheat oven to 160˚ and grease a 25cm cake tin (I use what’s around, and the first time I made this it exploded over the top, but was still delish!).
2. Cream butter and sugar well, make sure it is nice and white and fluffy!
3. While you wait for the mixer to do its creaming magic, mix the dry ingredients together. I am not sure how you feel about sifting, but for some reason it annoys me, so I just get a whisker out and put air in it that way. I am not sure if that’s right or not, but hey it works for me!
4. Then crack in your two lovely eggs in to the creamed sugar and butter and beat them in. (make sure you crack them in to something rather than straight in to the bowl, I have had to redo beginnings of recipes thanks to pesky rotten eggs).
5. Then gradually add the milk and the dry ingredients until it looks all yummy and chocolatey.
6. Then chuck in the zucchini and mix until combined.
7. Put the cake mix in to the greased pan and whack it in the oven for approx 40 – 50 mins (my oven is INSANELY slow, so make sure you check on it). Also we have all agreed that the cake tastes best a little gooey, so make sure to err on the gooier side.
8. While the cake is in the oven, cream the butter for the icing.
9. Add the cream cheese and beat together with the butter until nice and fluffy looking.
10. Gradually add the icing sugar until all incorporated in to the butter and cream cheese.
11. Add the vanilla and grate in the lemon zest with a microplane.
12. Keep in the fridge if it is a boiling hot day, like it is here today.
13. Grab your almonds, and place them in a dry frying pan over a medium – high heat.
14. Leave them be, if you keep turning them over all the time the magic won’t happen (I know, as I am impatient and struggle to not flip the pan all the time).
15. Wait until you can smell that toasty almond smell and give the pan a shake and a flip.
16. Continue until the almonds are toasty and deeeelicious.
17. Once the cake has cooled, ice it with the cream cheese icing and sprinkle the toasted almonds on top.
18. Voila! How easy!