Who can resist a tropical pineapple flavor pared with cranberries and walnuts. The original recipe called for shredded carrots. I have made carrot cakes and Indian carrot sweets which had a “carroty” flavor and taste which I am not a fan of. So I was looking for a twist and thought why not zucchini since it can be grated and there are a lot of zucchini recipes online. So came this recipe which is so soft, moist and full of fragrant from pineapple.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/3 cup castor sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon shredded orange peel
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pineapple
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Lightly grease a 6 inch pan (I used a square pan) and set aside
- Grate zucchini and spread on a paper towel.
- If you are using canned pineapple, I would advice to buy the sliced pineapple since you have the flexibility to cut them into very small pieces.
- Squeeze out the juice (if you are using canned pineapple) from pineapple and cut them into small pieces (1/4 inch)
- In a mixing bowl whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar, and brown sugar. Add egg and beat until batter is creamy.
- Add vanilla extract and orange peel and mix well
- In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
- Fold in the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture to form a batter.
- Slightly squeeze out juice from shredded zucchini. This makes the cake not becoming too sticky and soft
- Fold in zucchini, pineapple, cranberries, and walnuts.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 – 55 minutes
- Cool to room temperature
Very creative! Is the plate at the bottom a real leaf?
Thanks. No its a ceramic plate I bought a while ago 🙂