Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Crunch Glaze – Gina DePalma, Dolce Italiano

Sound a tad odd? Maybe so, but this cake is absolutely amazing.


I came across this recipe on The Amateur Gourmet, and his raving convinced the Midden and I to give it a go.




At first I thought this would be like a zucchini bread, but a bit sweeter. Make no mistake, this is a dessert for sure.

The Midden grated three large zucchini while I started the flour mix. In addition to white flour and kosher salt, the recipe calls for nutmeg, cinnamon, and ground ginger – a fall cake recipe if ever there was one.

While we mixed, a sheet full of walnuts were toasting in the oven. After 10 minutes I pulled them out and ground them in the coffee grinder. Now, the recipe specifically said to let them cool before grinding, but I'm an impatient Lass. The result was something that nearly had the consistency of peanut butter, rather than ground powder. But I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

After stirring the walnut-pseudo-butter into the batter, we added the grated zucchini.

Then it was into a greased, floured pan and into the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

While the cake cooled, the Midden worked on the glaze, a mix of lemon juice, regular sugar, and confectioner's sugar (and she may have added a little lemon zest as well). Once the cake had cooled for a few minutes, we transferred it to a plate and brushed the glaze on.

No other way to say it – this cake is damn good. It's moist enough as is, but once the glaze drips down into all the little crevices things get seriously gooey. And while it's baking, it fills the whole house with a warm, spice cabinet smell. We may try it again with an orange glaze instead.

The Scotsman Says: Four Cuppas

Apple Cake in an Iron Skillet – Tasty Kitchen (The Pioneer Woman)

For tonight's culinary adventure, the Midden decided to rid the fridge of a few apples – and hey, what goes better with apples than two or three sticks of butter?

That's about how much this apple cake recipe called for. I'll end the suspense: it was, of course, delicious.

While the Midden melted the first 1 3/4 sticks of butter in a large skillet and chopped apples, I mixed a third stick with sugar, vanilla, flour, eggs, and cinnamon. Once the butter in the skillet was melted, the Midden added more sugar, then pressed in slices of apple to simmer.


After a few minutes, I added spoonfuls of batter to the skillet.


(I can't help but think of Homer Simpson when I look at that one..."My arteries are clogged with yellow gold!")

We transferred the whole skillet to the oven, where it baked for 25 minutes.


Here's it is, right out of the oven:


And here it is flipped onto a plate.


The slices of apple were almost caramelized in sugary butter. The recipe called for it to be served warm with vanilla ice cream, but we were out, so the Midden whipped up homeade cream instead...which, in the end, lost us a cuppa. (But we agree it was a five!)

We'll give this one another go soon with ice cream for the win!

Pistachio Floating Island With Black Currant Sauce – Jacques Pépin (The Complete Today's Gourmet, p. 383)

Disclaimer: The Scotsman comes up with the titles for these posts, not I.

After dinner, Monsieur Pépin was deemed the man of the hour, and the Midden and I decided to try out one of his desserts as well.


The Midden did most of the work for this one, whipping the egg whites until they were frothy and mixing in the sugar, strawberries, and pistachios. I blended black currant jam with more strawberries and a little bit of Creme de Cassis for the sauce while she placed the mold in its bathtub and in the oven.


Half an hour later, the island came out poofing up and brown like a loaf of bread. It deflated pretty quickly. After it cooled, we flipped it onto a plate. The underside looked like Christmas Wonder Bread, bright white dotted with red and green. Like fruitcake. Or like mold. Whichever you find tastier.


We spooned the sauce onto the plates, added the islands, drizzled more sauce on top, and added strawberries and pistachios for garnish.

"So it's nuts floatin' in egg?" the Scotsman said.

This didn't bode well.



However, we were all pleasantly surprised with this. If you're in the mood for a decadent dessert, this isn't it; Jacques claims only 280 calories per serving, and no fat. But if you've just feasted on a meal of butter and bread, this might top it off nicely.