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September 22, 2013

From This Valley

“Oh the desert dreams of a river
That will run down to the sea
Like my heart longs for an ocean
To wash down over me.

“Oh the outcast dreams of acceptance
Just to find pure love’s embrace
Like an orphan longs for its mother
May you hold me in your grace.”

– from “From this Valley”, by the Civil Wars

The Civil Wars are playing the soundtrack to my life these days.  I’m a pretty happy person, but I do like my music full of longing, and the Civil Wars have that in spades.  I chose one of the more upbeat songs on the album to excerpt here; I thought you might be alarmed for me if I quoted “Dust to Dust” or “Eavesdrop”.

Fall is the perfect season for melancholy, as the days grow shorter and the weather cooler.  Out of the corner of my eye, I can almost see winter wafting into the on-deck circle.  And maybe this impacts my baking as well as my choice of music.

Zucchini is technically a summer vegetable, but this recipe is a perfect way to pull it into autumn. Although I don’t make cake very often, this one has catapulted its way into my top two or three. The spicy flavours of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg warm up the zucchini, and the cinnamon cream cheese frosting is so great, I want to spread it on everything I make.  Curl up with the The Civil Wars and a slice of this cake, and you might feel like a little bit of wistful isn’t a bad thing.

Zucchini Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
(cake recipe from Eats Well With Others; frosting recipe from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures)

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp coarse kosher salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (8 oz)
3/4 cup raisins or walnuts
For the frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ (icing) sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9” round cake pan (or an 8” x 8” square baking pan) with parchment paper.  Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.  In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar and vanilla.  Mix in the eggs until well-mixed.  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, until just incorporated.
Mix the zucchini and raisins into the cake batter until just incorporated.  Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 40 – 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Let cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting, beat butter and cream cheese together until creamy and well-mixed.  Add icing sugar, a bit at a time, and beat on low speed until combined.  Add cinnamon and vanilla extract, and beat on medium speed for an additional minute.  Spread over cake.

Filed Under: Cakes and Cupcakes

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kitchen Riffs says

    September 22, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    Nice lyrics – the Civil Wars are a good group. Hope they keep working together. And this cake is good, too. Love the spices in it! Super stuff – thanks so much.

    Reply
  2. Julie says

    September 22, 2013 at 6:52 pm

    Love the idea of spiced cream cheese frosting. It just says fall.

    Reply
  3. Bonnie says

    September 22, 2013 at 7:25 pm

    Beth, I just spent a little time "pinning" a multitude of autumn sweets. In fact I had to create a new board. The zucchini cake very autumn and delicious. This is my favorite season to bake. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  4. Valerie says

    September 22, 2013 at 7:36 pm

    Beth, I love The Civil Wars! Yes, yes, on all accounts – fall is perfect brooding weather (I'm convinced that's a healthy thing).
    This cake looks scrumptious!! Hooray for vegetables going over to the dark, sugary side. 😀

    Reply
  5. Jemi Fraser says

    September 22, 2013 at 8:15 pm

    I think I'm drooling!! All those yummy fall spices 🙂

    Reply
  6. Natalie Aguirre says

    September 22, 2013 at 9:17 pm

    This does seem like a fall cake. Love the frosting for it.

    Reply
  7. Cathleen says

    September 22, 2013 at 10:27 pm

    I am loving all the fall recipes that I'm seeing! This looks SO good! I have never made anything with zucchini, but I definitely want to try making a cake with it now!

    Reply
  8. vanillasugarblog says

    September 23, 2013 at 12:02 am

    You know I was truly hoping that one of my clients would spoil me rotten with their garden zucchini.
    But nothing.
    I did not get to make one zucchini cake 🙁

    Reply
  9. Julia says

    September 23, 2013 at 2:13 am

    What a great recipe to kick start the Fall season this year! Love everything about this recipe: from spiced up cake to the spiced cream cheese frosting!

    Reply
  10. Rebecca Subbiah says

    September 23, 2013 at 3:19 am

    what a wonderful cake 🙂

    Reply
  11. Barbara says

    September 23, 2013 at 11:31 am

    Yummy frosting, Beth. Wish we'd get some fall weather down here!

    Reply
  12. Joanne says

    September 23, 2013 at 12:05 pm

    I love the spiced cream cheese frosting you used for this!! And I'm so glad you liked the cake! It's the perfect summer->fall transition food!

    Reply
  13. Kayte says

    September 23, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    I'm not much of a sweets person…I know, all the baking I have done on that blog this will surprise you. I started baking on the blog because I never really cared for sweets, never learned how to properly make them, and figured it was time while my boys were still home to eat the efforts. I usually have one bite of something and that's pretty much it for baked goods for me. That said, if one has lemon in it or cream cheese on it, two bites for sure. This cake of yours looks delicious, I fear it would need to be a two biter. And I might just need to make it to see for myself.

    Reply
  14. Beth says

    September 23, 2013 at 12:52 pm

    Thanks for the inspiration, Joanne! As always, your recipes are awesome.

    And Kayte, you really surprised me by saying that. Wish you lived next door – I'd bake up another batch and bring some over!

    Reply
  15. Belinda says

    September 23, 2013 at 6:04 pm

    It's like a perfect complement of summer and fall! Fummer!

    Reply
  16. Angie Schneider says

    September 23, 2013 at 6:16 pm

    I love that spiced cream cheese frosting! The cake looks wonderful, Beth.

    Reply
  17. grace says

    September 23, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    love, love, love that cinnamon cream cheese frosting! it's the perfect topper for a zucchini cake…or any cake. 🙂

    Reply
  18. allieksmith says

    September 23, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    Mmm, I love the spice in the cream cheese frosting–perfect!

    Reply
  19. yummychunklet says

    September 23, 2013 at 10:57 pm

    Sounds delicious!

    Reply
  20. Monet says

    September 23, 2013 at 11:24 pm

    Smile. What a lovely transitional recipe. Perfect for these cooler days. I love the Civil Wars…such haunting songs and lyrics. Thank you for sharing Beth!

    Reply
  21. Denise Browning says

    September 24, 2013 at 12:04 am

    I love this cake, Beth! So yum!!!

    Reply
  22. Gourmet Getaways says

    September 24, 2013 at 12:11 am

    Oh this cake looks so delicious, and the spiced cream cheese frosting would be amazing! YUM!
    I have never made a zucchini cake 🙂

    Reply
  23. I Wilkerson says

    September 24, 2013 at 2:58 am

    This is quite similar to my zucchini muffins–just a bit more oil, sugar and eggs in yours which makes sense for a cake. My youngest just told me she likes spice cake so I'll bet she'd love this with the frosting.

    Reply
  24. kumars kitchen says

    September 24, 2013 at 6:08 am

    zucchini cakes we love because they are extremely moist and tender crumbed…the spiced topping on top of this comforting slice of cake is beautiful 🙂

    Reply
  25. Katerina says

    September 24, 2013 at 10:18 am

    This is a beautiful cake Beth and yes why not trying to expand summer a little longer?

    Reply
  26. Nilu A says

    September 24, 2013 at 11:29 am

    Cake looks so easy and delicious.. I'm definitely going to try this one out.. Loved the usage of brown sugar instead of white.. Do visit my blog.. http://kitchenserenity.blogspot.in/

    Reply
  27. Pamela @ Brooklyn Farm Girl says

    September 24, 2013 at 1:22 pm

    This cake looks great and I love how you are extending it into the Fall, can't wait to try this!

    Reply
  28. cquek says

    September 24, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    Yum! Looks absolutely scrumptious. And, as always your photos make the food look so tempting.

    Reply
  29. Juliana Levine says

    September 24, 2013 at 6:55 pm

    Beth, this zucchini cake looks delicious and yes, nicely paired with the spiced cream cheese frosting…
    Thanks for the recipe and have a wonderful week 😀

    Reply
  30. Guru Uru says

    September 24, 2013 at 8:23 pm

    This cake looks so delicious, cream cheese and lovely flavour 😀

    Cheers
    CCU

    Reply
  31. Amy says

    September 25, 2013 at 4:51 am

    Love your Zucchini Cake with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. What a great way to use up the zucchini. 🙂 And that spiced cream cheese frosting just sounds lovely with the cake.

    Reply
  32. Andrea_TheKitchenLioness says

    September 25, 2013 at 6:31 am

    Beth, what a fabulous cake for fall – I love baking with zucchini and I can just imagine myself sitting down with a good book and enjoying a big slice of this delicious cake!
    Have a wonderful day!

    Reply
  33. nancy at good food matters says

    September 25, 2013 at 8:11 pm

    The Civil Wars–such an amazing duo, bold, plaintive, distinct in voice and lyric!
    This looks like a lovely moist cake, not too sweet. The cinnamon in the cream cheese frosting is the right touch.

    Reply
  34. inquiringchef says

    September 26, 2013 at 12:35 am

    I love the Civil Wars for the exact same reason. You've put it so well – they make a beautiful soundtrack to fall! Love the look and texture of this cake – wonderful!

    Reply
  35. Sonali Ghosh says

    September 26, 2013 at 1:12 am

    Spring or Fall, I could eat this anytime! It looks amazing and the flavours are delicious too.

    Reply
  36. Danielle Giannandrea says

    September 27, 2013 at 3:12 am

    Looks absolutely delicious! Any time of year, this cake would be great. You can never go wrong with cream cheese frosting! Especially with cinnamon in it! YUM ♥

    Reply
  37. lisa is cooking says

    September 27, 2013 at 3:25 pm

    The spices do make this great for fall. And, who can resist cream cheese frosting? Love it.

    Reply
  38. amy (fearless homemaker) says

    September 27, 2013 at 11:23 pm

    Ooh, this cake sounds wonderful! And now you have me craving a slice of it AND the Civil Wars. I always put on music during my baby's bathtime and we're about to start, so I'm opting for The Civil Wars tonight. Thanks for the inspiration! =)

    Reply
  39. Paula Montenegro says

    October 12, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    So many vegetables are good year round, especially in baking when the flavors are mixed with many others. This is a gorgeous recipe Beth! All spice cakes are fine with me.

    Reply

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Welcome to Of Muses and Meringues. Thanks for stopping by! I am Beth! Writer, traveller, baker, mother.
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