A few years ago, I was extremely fortunate to meet Gina DePalma, the pastry chef at Babbo in New York City, thanks to the matchmaking efforts of Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg.
Being bakers, we struck up a friendship and she gave me a copy of her gorgeous book, Dolci Italiano. And after we had dessert and coffee together, we ambled the streets of New York City a little and made plans to meet in Rome, where she was moving to work on her second book. Unfortunately we didn't get to have our Roman holiday, but I often thumb through her book and dream about how much fun we would have had lapping our way through the gelaterias of Rome and eating all those pastries with little sips of Italian espresso in between bites.
Her book is one of those exceptional cookbooks that makes excellent reading (as well as being an entirely enticing collection of recipes), especially the chapter on Italian ingredients, which isn't just a rote list of what to buy. She discusses the importance of baking ingredients and what they mean to Italians: olive oil isn't just to moisten, it's a flavor. And why citrus figures into Italian desserts more often than vanilla.
Come winter, I plan to make her Chocolate and Date Pudding Cakes, but since it's summer, people with gardens are often bemoaning they have too many zucchini and are always looking for ways to use up their bounty. And with a crunchy lemon glaze, I had a hard time resisting making this recipe and sharing it. The genius of the glaze is adding granulated sugar, which gives it an especially profound sweet-lemony sour crunch. The glaze is not a looker (which finally made me break out my silicon pastry brush for the first time, and I'm never going back to bristles again) but it tastes amazing with the spiced zucchini batter and I'm happy to let looks step aside to give way to flavor.
Us city-dwellers have to buy zucchini, which probably seems like folly to those of you out there with gardens exploding with zucchini of all colors, shapes, and sizes. And although I know you'd be happy to send me your surplus, I'd rather you bake one of these cakes for yourself. Or two. Or three.
Zucchini Cake with Crunchy Lemon Glaze
Serves 12-16
Adapted from Dolci Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen by Gina DePalma
I used the fine grating disk for my KitchenAid; Gina recommends if grating the zucchini by hand, use the fine holes on a box grater. I also think since you've got the grater out, you may as well add a few swipes of lemon zest to the cake batter, since you're using the juice for the glaze, which I'm going to do next time.
The best way to invert the cake is to lay the cooling rack over the top of the cake pan, then grasping both the cake pan and the rack simultaneously (if it's too hot, wear oven mitts), flip them both over at once. Lift off the cake pan, then liberally brush the glaze over the warm cake
For the cake:
1 cup (135g) almonds, pecans, or walnuts, toasted
2 cups (280g) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 3/4 (350g) cups sugar
1 cup (250ml) extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (300g) finely grated zucchini
For the lemon glaze:
1/4 cup (60ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar
1 cup (140g) powdered (confectioner's) sugar
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease a 10 cup (2.5l) bundt or tube cake pan* with non-stick spray or butter, dust with flour, then tap out any excess.
2. Grind the nuts in a food processor until fine.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, 1 3/4 cup (350g) sugar, and olive oil for 3 minutes on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Stop and scrape down the sides of the mixer, then add the vanilla.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the mixer bowl to make sure everything is mixed in well, then beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.
6. Stir in the chopped nuts and zucchini.
7. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, smooth the top, then bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan.
8. During the last few minutes of the cake baking, make the glaze by whisking together the lemon juice, 1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar, and powdered sugar.
9. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then carefully invert it onto a cooling rack. Brush the glaze over the cake with a pastry brush and let the cake cool completely.
Storage: The cake can be wrapped (or put under a cake dome) and will keep for a few days. You can freeze the unglazed cake. However to apply the glaze, you'll need to defrost the cake then warm it so the glaze will adhere properly.
*If you don't have a bundt or tube pan, I noticed that both Adam and Sara made the cake in a regular round cake pan with good results.
This cake batter could also be baked in two loaf pans, which is easier for gift-giving, if you're trying to share your zucchini bounty. You may need to reduce the baking time a little to compensate for the smaller pans.
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I've made this cake many times since I first got Gina's cook book and everyone always raves about it - even those who turn up their noses a titch at the thought of zucchini in dessert.
I've always made it in a tube of bundt cake pan and don't think I'd want to use a regular cake pan - you want more edges and surface for the amazing glaze to crust over. You would not think that a simple lemon glaze would make such a difference but, baby, it does!
David, is there any chance that when you write a recipe that contains nuts, you put an asterix* next to the nuts so that we know whether we can omit them. I really really really (can't quite stress enough) hate the taste of nuts. I'm not allergic but if i get too strong a taste, my stomach starts reacting violently.
Many thanks
Jared
Sounds delish! And the perfect outlet for all that zucchini from the CSA (one can only make so many zucchini breads with raisins and pineapple)! However, would it taste as good with less of the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg? One of my kids is allergic cinnamon and I seem to only really enjoy this combination in apple pie. Thanks!
I've made this cake several times, and it's soooo good! The granulated sugar is a must in the glaze-- last time I made it, I had just enough for the cake, and made the glaze without. Though quite good, it wasn't as spectacular as previous attempts.
it is too bad that there is some Food Police out there, waiting to severely tax (or beat!) any people who would like to change a line when reading and trying a recipe... :D
If there wasn't such armed and dangerous guardians of the rectitude, one could adapt any recipe in their own way according to their own needs, without having to bother for those expensive state cooking permits or R.O.G.R : recipe owner granted rights.
What a great world it would be :D...
(mean for fun as a wink, not for bashing :) - please people don't take this the wrong way :D)
It's challenging to write a recipe to accommodate the various dietary needs so I generally trust that people who have dietary restrictions are in the best position to know how to modify recipes to address their particular concerns. Unless I try the variation myself, I can't guarantee the results and oftentimes if ingredients get swapped out, folks aren't happy the the results.
In general, nuts and spices aren't part of the 'chemistry' of a cake recipe, so can be modified; they are there for texture and flavor, respectively. Folks are always welcome to try variations and I welcome when they report back in the comments, as others may have the same or similar questions about a recipe.
The lemon glaze sounds to die for.
I have yet to make a zucchini bread - although I make carrot cake all the time! The spices, olive oil and lemon glaze do sound like a winning combination
Oh!!! I love these Italian cakes, mixture of vegetables, olive oil, and lemon glaze...
I don't know what I prefer from Italy...these cakes? or Italian carabinieri? LOL
Thanks for the recipe, David!
Oooh, I just made (and ate in less than 48 hours, on my own) a date and banana bread, so I can't WAIT for the chocolate and date recipe!! In the meantime, I *suppose* I can make do with this zucchini cake. Even if there are vegetables in it ;)