Summer cake – Bees Knees Recipes

This was such an unusual sounding cake, I had to try it. I expected a flavor totally different than what came out. Essentially, this cake is just a really moist cake with a terrific lime frosting on top. In fact, my father-in-law asked if it was a “key-lime cake,” and then had another slice, and my twelve-year-old (who was complaining that if I made a zucchini cake, no kids would it eat) ate four slices. So, I think if you’re not really into zucchini, you’re still likely to enjoy this cake! I’ve made it twice in the last week, which says a little bit about how well zucchini are growing around here. This recipe comes from Three Sisters Bake, an enchanting cookbook by these Scottish sisters that is a delight to read and look at. I’ve adjusted the measurements for US, but included the original ones as well. I’ve also adapted the baking powder for better results at high temperature (if you’re at sea level, you may want to take it down a teaspoon).

Summer Lime Cake
For the cake:

1/2 c. (135ml) sunflower oil
4/5 c. (200g) caster sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 1/2 c. (300g) all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
12 oz. (335g) zucchini, finely grated
grated zest of 2 limes

For the icing:

3/4 c. (200g) full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 c. (100g) icing sugar
grated zest of 1 lime
juice from 2-3 limes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (160C, gas 2). Line the base and sides of an 8-in. springform cake pan with parchment paper.

Beat the oil, sugar and eggs together in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt and fold into the mixture. Fold in the grated zucchini and lime zest.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool a little in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack.

To make the icing, beat the cream cheese and icing sugar together until smooth. Add the lime zest and juice and beat another 2-3 minutes on high to get really light and fluffy.

Once cool, top the cake with the icing by running a spatula or palate knife back and forth over the cake creating deep grooves to give a nice textural look.

If you look closely, you can see my cream cheese wasn’t at room temperature for this one. Whoops!

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Smitten Kitchen is a wonderful blog, and although I’ve spent a little time exploring it, I’ve spent much more time looking at Deb Perelman’s cookbook of the same name, which has such terrific ideas and spins on tastes and flavors. Very inspirational. And of course, I’m right on board with her when it comes to baking. This is one of my favorite bakes from this cookbook. I made it last weekend for my sister’s baby blessing, and am happy to share the recipe here for those who were wanting it! Such a simple cake, but just delicious, and perfect for brunches or breakfast or dessert. Interestingly, this is not the same recipe that is on her blog!

Buttery Blueberry Crumb Cake

Streusel
6 tablespoons (40 grams) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold is fine
Pinch of salt

Cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blueberries, clean and dry
1/3 cup sour cream

Heat oven to 350°F. Butter a 8-inch square baking pan (with at least 2″ sides) and dust it lightly with flour, or line it with a round of parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt until combined, and set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about two minutes). Add eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and the zest and beat until combined. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture until just combined, followed by all of the sour cream; repeat with another 1/3 of the flour, mix, and then combine the blueberries with the remaining flour mixture and fold this blueberry-flour mixture gently into the batter.

Pour cake batter into prepared pan and smooth so that it is relatively flat. Prepare the streusel by mixing the flour, cornmeal, sugar, cinnamon and salt, then mash in the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle the cake with the prepared streusel. Bake in heated oven for 40(ish) minutes (mine has taken 50 minutes, but the original recipe suggested 35), or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out batter-free. You can let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack, or just cool it in the pan for 20 minutes before flipping it out onto a cooling rack, removing the parchment paper lining, and flipping it back onto a plate. Enjoy!