Zucchini Lime Cake with Pistachios

The great thing about being a food blogger is sometimes you get to have cake for breakfast. Which is a very good thing when you stayed up too late baking zucchini cakes to take along to your parents’ house for the 50th wedding anniversary party and didn’t have dinner and woke up STARVING.

I just wanted to use up the last of my zucchini before I visit my parents’ garden again. It is always overflowing with good vegetables this time of year. Besides, we are going to have lots of extra mouths to feed this weekend and it will be good to have something relatively healthy and totally delicious to snack on. The last big zucchini was big enough to make two cakes, so I made a chocolate one and this beautiful zucchini lime cake that my sweet friend Dor from La Difference Catering made when her house was overflowing with courgettes. She calls them courgettes. I think that’s a marvelously elegant word! Still I refer to them as zucchini. That’s just what we call those big green squash things here in the midwest US.

By the way, today we are on the letter Z in the A-Z Health Challenge on facebook! We made it! I have to thank all the wonderful bloggers who contributed their recipes, tips and knowledge along the way. That’s what made it so very fun. I will do a wrapup post with all the letters and their health benefits once this anniversary party is over.

For today, Z is for Zucchini! Let’s eat cake!

Zucchini Lime Cake with Pistachios

Slightly adapted from La Difference Catering. I made just a small amount of frosting because I like it light on the frosting, so if you want a heavily frosted cake, you will need to make extra frosting.

• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 2 Tablespoons golden rum

• 1 3/4 cup finely shredded zucchini
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup lowfat or nonfat plain yogurt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting:

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 oz. light cream cheese
• zest of 1 lime
• juice of 1/2 lime
• Topping: a few Tablespoons of chopped roasted pistachios

Directions:

1. Set the raisins in the small bowl, pour the rum over and let them soak for a good while (an hour or so) until they plump up good.
2. Mix the wet ingredients.
3. Add the dry ingredients and stir it all together. Stir in the raisins and rum.
4. Spray a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray, pour in the batter and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Mix up the powdered sugar with the cream cheese till smooth, then add the lime zest and juice. Once the cake is cool, frost it. Just before serving, sprinkle with a few tablespoons of chopped pistachios.

This recipe was shared at Weekend Potluck, Talent Show Tuesday, Trick or Treat Tuesday, 1 Month of Fun, Cast Party Wednesday, and Thursday’s Treasures.

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