Deliciously Surprising

Last week I grabbed some zucchinis from the clearance trolley and then they sat in my fridge for a few days longer. I used one in my vege bake the other day and then was searching for recipes to make full use of the remaining zucchini. There's nothing worse than scoring a bargain, in this case two zucchinis for less than a dollar, then watching that bargain wither, die and turn to slush in the bottom of the fridge.

Luckily I happened upon a recipe that I thought would fit the bill perfectly and, even better, let me take part in Magazine Monday too. Ivonne has kindly let me know that I don't have to post the recipe on a Monday, I just need to let her know so she can link her Magazine Monday post to it. This recipe for Zucchini Cake was fabulous - there was nothing difficult about the cake and the result was nothing short of spectacular. It's full of fruit, moist, rich and bursting with flavour. It also keeps really well and tasted just as good 4 days after I'd made it. I made a few changes, simply because of what I did or didn't have to hand, and they are noted in the recipe. This one is definitely worth repeating.

Zucchini Cake

from delicious. magazine, November 2003

1 cup plain flour

150g caster sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

250g grated zucchini

150g raisins

150g sultanas (I used 300g sultanas, you could easily get away with less)

75g chopped toasted pecans, plus a few whole, to garnish (I used walnuts, straight from the packet, roughly chopped)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup olive oil

Lemon icing

1 cup sifted pure icing sugar

1 tsp finely grated lemon rind

1-1 1/2 tbs lemon juice (because of the citrus 'issues', I didn't use the lemon rind and used about 1 tbsp lemon juice and a little water - it turned into a heavy glaze rather than proper icing which suited me perfectly)

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line the base of a 25 x 10cm loaf pan.

Sift flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Add zucchini, raisins, sultanas and pecans. Whisk together eggs, vanilla and oil, and stir into dry ingredients. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1-1 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into cake comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly, then place on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, combine the icing sugar, rind and juice and stir until the mixture is smooth. When the cake is cold, drizzle with icing, allowing it to run down the sides and top with extra nuts. This cake keeps well for 4-5 days in an airtight container.