CAKE 7: zucchini cake with lime & pistachio syrup

this was not the first cake i wanted to make, but once i reviewed my original recipe, i realized it would have emptied my wallet and consumed all my time and i didn't have that much on hand, so i settled for this deliciously moist cake!

the zucchini really made it perfect. it's a dairy free cake, and the zucchini lent all it's water to make this cake moist! it doesn't take much to make this cake:

- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup of vegetable oil (generous)
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 6 cardamom pods, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1 large zucchini, grated
- 1/2 cup of chopped pistachios
- 1 1/3 cups of self-rising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

what was upsetting was that i wasn't able to find good cardamom pods. it's definitely a great spice to have, because it's very citrusy in flavour and paired well with the lime. so instead of using pods and crushing the seeds inside, i simply bought ground cardamom.

i also couldn't find any self-rising flour, but found a quick fix for this after some online research. for each cup of all-purpose flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and a half teaspoon of salt.

for this, i greased a cake pan and then floured it so the cake wouldn't stick.

beat together your eggs, oil, sugar, cardamom and ginger. fold in your grated zucchini and the copped pistachios!

sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the bowl, and fold it in. put the batter into your pan and smooth the top with the back of your spoon. bake it at 350℉ for 35 minutes until it has risen and a toothpick comes out clean.

to make the syrup, you need two limes, a 1/3 cup of sugar, and 1/2 cup of chopped pistachios. zest the limes so you can add that to the syrup, and roll the limes between your palm and a table to soften them up to make them easier to squeeze. chop the limes in half and squeeze them right into the pot on a stove on a medium temperature. add your sugar and zest and let it heat up until all the sugar has dissolved.

once it has dissolved, turn it to a high heat and let it boil for one minute. remove it from the heat, stir in the rest of the chopped pistachios and let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes so it can thicken. pour the syrup over the cake and let it stand for at least 30 minutes before serving.

and that's it! i was told that this cake was "life changing" by two people on my birthday, so that was nice to hear! i wasn't overly fond of how prominent the lime taste was, but that's just my preference. i think Meddy has a picture of my with my cake floating around somewhere, so when i get it, i'll add that too!

up next is Scott! i don't have any ideas for him yet, but i'm sure i'll talk to him about it soon!

CAKE 6: apple torte

a little dry, but still great!

if chris had brought ice cream like he said he would, and if i had thought to bring some caramel sauce, this would have been the perfect dessert. unfortunately, those were both lacking, so it was an OK dessert.

i actually made it look half decent, and i was happy with how it tasted!
i'm posting this late at night and i don't have my recipe book with me, so i can't write down the measurements but i will definitely get that done tomorrow (or as soon as i can!).

the important parts are that it was mostly made of ground almonds, so this is good for people who need to avoid the gluten parts of life. it does call for 2/3 of a cup of all-purpose flour later on in the recipe but you could easily replace that with a little more ground almond. cinnamon was also a nice addition to the torte!

here are pictures to entertain your eyes!

now that i have time to post the recipe, you will need:
1 1/2 sticks of butter
3/4 of a cup of sugar (the recipe calls for superfine, but it's not necessary)
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups of ground almonds
2/3 of a cup of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
3/4 of a pound of fresh apples, peeled and sliced (i used about 2 medium sized ones)

and that's it!

my recipe book says to use a 9 inch spring form pan, but i decided to use more of a torte shaped pan i saw in the cupboard, as you can see from the photo above. beat together the butter and the sugar until it's smooth and then beat in the eggs. stir in the ground almonds. combine the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. sift this over the egg mixture and fold it in.

spoon it into the pan you're using and spread it out evenly. arrange the apples on top. but wait! this is where i probably went wrong. while it looked really neat when it was done, because of the pan i used, i probably should have arranged the apples on the bottom, and then covered it with the batter. i think it would work either way, but next time i would like to try it with the apples (or other fruit) in the bottom.

bake it for 45 minutes until it's golden, then cover it with foil and make a tent, and bake it for another 20 minutes. it will rise quite a bit. if you look at the unbaked picture i have above, you will notice the batter only goes about half way up the side of the pan. once it was done, it was slightly over the top of the edge.

you can serve it warm or cold, with ice cream, dusted with confectioners' sugar, or even crème fraîche!

and here is the birthday boy with his cake! i hope you enjoyed it Matt!!!!