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

Tagged: cranberries, orange, pineapple, walnuts, Zucchini