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Spice up zucchini squash in zingerbread cake

Recipe: Add blueberries for a seasonal touch

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED MAY 31, 2020

Zingerbread makes a fine dessert with blueberries in the cake and more berries alongside. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

It's time to shake the dust off the zucchini recipe collection. A gardener's favorite squash is back in season.

We've had several good recipes on the blog already, including our two biggest hits: Chocolate zucchini bread and Zapped pickles.

But the plants are going to be producing for awhile, so we like to provide new options for The Squash That Keeps on Giving.

This recipe, adapted from " The Classic Zucchini Cookbook," brings together zucchini and gingerbread, which I usually associate with fall and winter. But add some blueberries to the mix, like I did, and it becomes a great picnic cake, a brunch offering or a vehicle to show off even more summer fruit. Whipped cream, ice cream, fruit sauce -- all good.

Two 8-inch zucchini will provide about 3 cups grated squash.

Zingerbread with blueberries

Serves 12

Ingredients:

3 cups grated zucchini (from two 8-inch squash)

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

3 to 4 teaspoons ground ginger (it's quite spicy with 4)

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses (light or dark)

2 eggs

1 cup hot brewed coffee

1 to 1-1/2 cups blueberries, washed, dried and tossed with 1/2 tablespoon flour

Powdered sugar, for garnish

To serve alongside, optional:

Whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, fresh berries or other fruit, applesauce, lemon sauce or any freshly made fruit sauce

Instructions:

Combine the grated zucchini and salt in a colander, stirring to mix. Set aside to drain for 30 minutes.

The grated zucchini drains for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Set aside.

Put the butter and light brown sugar in large mixing bowl. Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well until combined. Add the molasses and mix well. Don't worry if the mixture appears curdled.

Using a clean dish towel, squeeze the excess moisture from the drained zucchini, and add the squash to the bowl, blending just to combine. Add the flour mixture alternately with the coffee, mixing just until combined.

Gently fold in the flour-coated blueberries. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top springs back when touched and a toothpick or thin knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool the cake on a rack before cutting.

Sprinkle powdered sugar over cake. Cool the cake on a wire rack 10 minutes before cutting. Or let it cool completely and serve at room temperature.

Serve plain or with any of the suggested accompaniments.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

baking recipes gardening Sacramento berries cake backyard produce produce management zucchini farmer's markets

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Garden Checklist for week of May 12

Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.

* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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