Cake #47: Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake (Healthy)

My freezer is still overflowing with zucchini from last year. I usually go through whole bushels of it making Chocolate Zucchini Cake and Brownies or Zucchini Muffin/Cupcakes *DROOL* but this year, with 52 Cakes, I didn't have as many opportunities to make our family favorites. Which means I need to use up all my gorgeous 2011 zucchini before the 2012 zucchinis make an appearance. 

This recipe makes that a task we'll all enjoy.

When I was searching for lemon zucchini cakes I found a lot of recipes, but they all had too much oil, too much sugar and not enough egg. I think rich golden egg yolks adds a ton of color, flavor and tenderness to any loaf cake. Plus, many recipes added spices - like nutmeg or cinnamon - that, in my opinion, would compete with the gloriousness that is lemon. 

I also wanted something light enough in calories and fat that I wouldn't feel bad about feeding it to my family. 

To that end, I replaced oil with apple sauce and used yogurt as the base of the liquid ingredients. In this recipe, soy or almond milk would work just as well.

The result was heavenly. Our house smelled sweet and fresh, the loaves were tall and golden and the flavor was lemony but not sour and mildly sweet, not sugary. The lemon glaze provides a nice tart counterpoint to the delicate cake. 

You may notice that my pictures are not up to par - it's because the loaves disappeared before I could even get good shots. 

My family gave this recipe full points all around and suggested I make it as often as I can.

For me, I love the ease of loaf cakes - two bowls, two pans, a whisk and a spatula. Yay for less to clean. The ingredients were inexpensive and it packed well in my husbands lunch. It's a wonderfully light recipe that's perfectly suited to hot summer days. I also love that I had enough to share. In the future when I make this it'll be one of my, 

" One to keep and one to share"

recipes. I'm sure my neighbors won't mind a bit.

Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake

Makes two 9×5 loaves

4 cups flour (I used all-purpose but I think some whole wheat would be fine)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 container of vanilla yogurt (I used light, fat-free)
milk to bring yogurt to 1 cup  (about 1/3 cup)
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest of 2 lemons
2 cup grated zucchini (mine was frozen from last year. I grate it with the skin on and freeze it in 2 cup bags)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9×5 loaf pans with cooking spray.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs well, add canola oil, apple sauce, vanilla, lemon juice, zest and sugar, and blend well.

Put yogurt in a liquid measure and add milk to make 1 cup. Stir until smooth then add to egg mixture.

Mix zucchini into wet ingredients.

Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend everything together gently; don’t over-mix!

Split batter between prepared loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

Lemon Drizzle

1 cup powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice until well blended. Drizzle or spread glaze over cooled loaf. Let stand until set.

Inspired by: Nancy Creative, Intimate Weddings and Lauren's Latest

Linked Up With:
Tatertots and Jello
Whipperberry
Your Whims Wednesday at My Girlish Whims

They Went Peacefully About Their Tasks

This was an interesting project. I took the leftover pages from last years Stampington calendar and decided to use them in my art. 

For this one by Colette Copeland, I covered the existing image in heavy body acrylic but left the shoes, bird and quote uncovered.

please click to enlarge

Then I added in my own image and embellished the whole thing with paint and Stabillo pencil.

I love the challenge of starting with an existing calendar page. 

This is my first time trying to draw a face in the style of Mindy Lacefield of Tim's Sally. 

The Butterfly: Index Card Collage

For ICAD.

Happy Father's Day

My youngest made this for his Dad.

Hope you all enjoy your families today.

Mixed-Media Index Cards

This one is for the prompt "grid"

It LOVE that stamp!

And this one was an amalgamation of all the paints and papers within arms reach.

I'd Dymo-ed that quote for a card ages ago and decided it was time to use it.

Thanks for visiting!

Family Index Cards

I got a little behind photographing these so please excuse the 'bulk' post.

for "dictionary" prompt. 

On this one I attempted to blend in my magazine picture (the pear) so it didn't look like I just glued it down. I think I did an adequate job but still have room to improve. I love my dictionary stamp - I use it ALL the time.

Here are some of Avery's recent cards.

The top one is "pen testing" and the bottom was "draw your camera". He made the interesting choice of drawing the back of the camera with the viewfinder instead of the more commonly recognized front. I really like how that boy thinks.

These are Brayden's, continuing his series of Eetr drawings.

The center one was an attempt to practice proportion. If you click on it to see it bigger you can see the backs of the chairs, the podium, bricks behind it and the "Diggy Flag". I really love this boy!

Trenton is still using his cards to really solidify Java concepts in his mind. But I noticed, snuck in amongst all that code and mumbo-jumbo, was a sad face about missing his Dad. *melt*

And this was my take on the prompt "fish"

I colored it with copies and then went over the lines with Sakura Souffle pens for some delicious looking color and texture. The darker lines are raised, shony and smooth like embossing. It's a great effect.

Then I cut around the bottom half to the fish and mounted the top on a new index card so the bottom comes off the page. it looks like the fish is swimming out of the card IRL.

You can see it a bit better in this close-up.

I used Bombshell Stamps "Koi Tattoo" 

Bright Challenge at Stampotique

 Bright is my thing. 

So imagine my happy dance when the challenge over at the Stampotique Designer's Blog was a bright card. Yay!

This was my first time using Pink Paislee - Mistables Resist Paper and I think it's pretty neat stuff.

I followed the directions from Ellen Hutson (The Classroom) for Tiered Stamping and used both copies and Sakura soufflé pens to color Hunk.

Thanks for visiting :-)