Zucchini Layer Cake –and building a Vegetable Garden (Part 2)

Natacha Sanz Caballero Desserts and Sweets celebrations, dessert, huerto, orchard, postres, tarta de calabacín, tartas, vegetable garden

Print RecipeIf you like carrot cake, you’re going to love zucchini layer cake. The first time I made zucchini loaf bread I couldn’t even imagine you could put zucchini into a dessert. Yet, the result was outstanding. Less known than its cousin the banana nut loaf bread, zucchini bread is one to discover. 

For Spaniards, carrot cake is a late discovery, and zucchini loaf bread is a complete unknown. So needless to say, this cake is not a Spanish recipe. You know Mama Ía blog is the place for Spanish cooking in America. But as I say in my introduction (check in the ABOUT section of this blog), it’s also the place for our family’s recipes, and after so many years in America, it would be naïve to think that I don’t cook American dishes. Also, it would be naïve to think that I don’t add in my Spanish twist to them. Zucchini layer cake is one of those recipes: a fusion between the Spanish and the American, the zucchini loaf bread and the carrot cake. Simple, right?

Treating the wood against humidity and rotting

Perfect measurements are key for an aligned fence

While I stain, they’re getting ready to dig holes (and it’s a hot day!)

Everyone works

A heavy drill requires 4 hands and a steady grip

Posts for fence are treated (they’ll be buried in concrete)

Creative contraption to keep the posts straight

Three posts down, ten to go (13 posts total)

Beds upside down to treat the legs against hunidity and rotting

Making headway with the fence posts

Just a few more posts…

Almost there!

This recipe ties perfectly with today’s post, Part 2 of the vegetable garden. The zucchini used in this recipe (and in so many more we’ve been eating lately) come from our garden. The vegetable garden is not finished yet, although it’s very close to it. This has been a labor of love and of a lot of elbow grease by everyone in our family —from the planning and execution by Dave, to the hard work of Ethan throughout the summer and Matthew when he was visiting, to the lawn mowing and other garden tasks that were the responsibility of David, or the painting in all its forms, which was (and is) my job. 

In Part 1 I showed you how the beds were built and the garden was plotted on the land. With the beds already built, before they could be set on the ground, the wood had to be treated so it wouldn’t be affected by moisture and other elements.

Seeds are growing into seedlings

Beds are treated, posts are set… Time to position the beds

The center garden has to be removed before we can position the beds. More digging!

First bed is set in the ground

Notice the crisscross lines to assure the beds are aligned

The center garden is removed and the four beds are set in the ground

Ethan manually digs the holes for the bed legs

It’s hard work!

It’s starting to look like a garden! Still, lots of work to do

While I was working on that, Ethan and Dave spent countless hours digging the holes where the cement and gravel had to be poured in order to hold the posts for the fence. This was a very exhausting process, as the drill had to be held by both of them really tightly, shaking their entire bodies, 13 times for 13 holes. The posts were set in the cement one by one, making sure the distance between them was nearly identical and they were all perfectly vertical. Since the posts had to be held until the cement hardened, they built some wood contraptions to hold them in place (as you can see on the photos, they built different other contraptions to help them with measurements, stability and alignment of the fence and beds). 

While we were busy working outside, the seeds I had planted a few weeks before started to sprout and grow by leaps and bounds, in the comfort of our house, close to a sunny window, being pampered daily.

It may be hard to believe, but one of the things that took us the most time to decide was the color for the beds and fence. On this post you can only see the moisture-treating stain for the beds and posts, but you have no idea how many samples of paint color we sampled before we decided on our final color, Olympic’s “Weathered Barnboard”. We are very pleased with the result – which you will see in Part 3. Don’t miss it!

The first vegetables we’ve been able to harvest are zucchini. We’ve been getting so many, we’ve missed some under the humongous leaves. We’ve sliced them thinly and grilled them, put them in salads (like crunchy zucchini salad with pine nuts), and also made crispy battered zucchini. I made zucchini cupcakes for my friend Yissette‘s birthday; and then, naturally, I had to make a zucchini layer cake. Moist on the inside thanks to the quite large amount of grated zucchini, the cream cheese frosting complements it perfectly. The batter includes pecans, but it can as well be made with walnuts (as I mention in the recipe). This is a celebratory cake, but I might add, a healthy one, despite the sugar in it. I like to think of it that way!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

ZUCCHINI LAYER CAKE Tarta de Calabacín

Course: Dessert

Servings: 8

Author: Natacha Sanz Caballero, Mama Ía blog

Equipment

• 6-inch diameter 3-inch high baking dishes
• electric mixer or stand up mixer
• zester
• manual slicer

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1 1/2 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 2/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/4 cup pecan or walnut halves

For the cheese frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese 1 tub
• 1 cup butter at room temperature 2 sticks
• 3 cups icing sugar

Instructions

Make the cakes:

• Grease baking pans and set the oven temperature at 350ºF.
• Place a sieve over a mixing bowl and pass through the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Mix and set aside.
• In the bowl of the mixer beat together sugar, shreded zucchini and egg. Lower the speed and slowly add in the oil and the lemon zest. Mix well
• Working 1/2 cup at the time, add in the flour mixture to the bowl of the mixer, while continuing to beat at low speed, until all the flour mixture is incorporated. Gently fold in the chopped walnuts or pecans
• Pour batter into baking pans, dividing equally. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out “almost” clean (I like to remove from the oven when the cake is still slightly undone, because it will continue baking just outside of the oven)
• Place cakes over cooling racks and let them cool down completely. Remove cakes from pans and wrap in plastic wrap if they will not be used inmediately (you can reserve them until the next day)

Make the frosting:

• In the bowl of the mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add the cream cheese and beat. Lower the speed and add the icing sugar, 1/2 cup at the time, until combined

Assemble the cake:

• With a serrated knife, slice off horizontally the round top of each cake to obtain two flat cakes. Place one cake on a plate, cut-side up. Spread about 3/4 cup of frosting with an offset spatula. Place the second cake on top, cut-side down. Make sure the cake is leveled. Spread the remaining frosting evenly over the top and sides of the cake, using an offset spatula and a frosting blade to evenly spread the frosting over the sides of the cake.
• Decorate to your liking. I lined a few whole pecans around the top and filled it with some more chopped pecans
• Refrigerate.

Notes

Note: if the frosting gets too soft while spreading it on the cake, place it in the fridge for a few minutes