Recipe #7: Flora's Famous Zucchini Cake

I'm back! And with my first ever five-out-of-five! (Sorry to spoil the surprise before the end, but I was just couldn't hold it in!)

This cake looks so amazing in the book (bottom left in Recipe #6, below), so I couldn't wait to make it. Actually I was more excited to taste it to be honest.... Anyway it turns out I had to flick to the back of the book first and find a recipe for Lime Curd - hidden in a chapter called "The Domestic Goddesses Pantry" (isn't that nice?) - which becomes the filling for the cake. I had some lemon honey in the fridge that I thought about using as the filling, but I quickly discarded that idea when I had a think back to how long ago I actually made that... So lime curd it was, which was really easy to make - just like lemon honey - and so so delicious.
And the best part? No more nightmares about squeezing endless amounts of lemons and limes. Thanks Stell, you have made the task of extracing juice from those pesky green fellows so much more appealing with the help of this pretty glass citrus juicer. I actually find that I look for recipes that need lime juice in them now just for an excuse to use it more often...



So lime curd set aside to cool (and with fingers often straying to dip, taste and dip again), I set about the task of making the zucchini cake - and yes I used my sweet new mixing bowls! I even found an excuse to use all three of them - because why have a matching set if you can't have them all out on the bench at once?



Anyway with the cake all mixed up and ready to go I went to pop it into the oven - and realised I hadn't even turned my oven on. And because I'm just so darned efficient I had already made the lime curd and the icing. So I put everything aside while I waited for the oven to heat up and I felt at a bit of a loss for something to do. So I got crafty! While waiting for lime curd to cool / oven to warm / icing to harden, I sat down and made this cute clock! I got the idea from another blog I was reading recently (and I'm sorry I can't remember which one it was! If I do I will post a link asap).

Vintage wrapping paper picked up
from an antique store in Paeroa.

It's a bit wonky, and the hands are a little bent (I broke them out of unwanted clock and got a little rough in the process) so they sometimes can't get past each other and end up telling me the wrong time. Also, I couldn't figure out a good way of hanging it on the wall without putting a hole in the cardboard, so currently it is hanging on for dear life with a little loop of hemp and some masking tape. But I love it all the same. I already have 4 more clock faces lined up and ready to go, I just need to find the parts that turn them into an actual clocks rather than just colourful circles...

Well my oven is at temperature by this stage, so in goes the cake and waiting game number two starts. Not too long this time, and before long I had one pretty nice looking cake that I had to slice in half like last time. It was a bit on the thin side again, but slightly more successful than the Victoria Sponge (I got a bit heavy handed with the baking powder). And bring on waiting game number three! I cheated a little bit and put the cake in the fridge so it would just hurry-up-and-cool-down... And eventually I got round to the best part: Filling and Icing!



Layer 1: Zucchini cake
Layer 2: Lime curd (what was left of it after my wayward fingers)
Layer 3: Zucchini cake
Layer 4: Cream cheese icing with a squeeze of lime juice in it
Layer 5: Chopped pistachio nuts

...It was all gone before the end of the day.
Chris' rating... 5/5 (Yay! Go me!)