It a pretty universally held belief that all women crave chocolate. I think, for the most part, that’s true. At one point I had a personal trainer who had given up all forms of sugar and sugar substitutes, yet she still kept an “emergency” chocolate bar in the fridge.

I, however, am not one of those women. I used to be a great lover of chocolate but a few years ago I developed the food allergy I feared the most, chocolate. My mom developed the same allergy when she was my age. Luckily, it’s not a “I’m gonna die allergy” just a scratching, tickling feeling in my throat that last for hours (and makes me crazy). I can still eat milk chocolate (in moderation) and every once in a while I’ll see something made from deep, dark chocolate and decide the irritation will be worth it. But for the most part, my chocolate cravings are cured.

When I get a craving now, it’s for cake. Carrot cake to be exact. Just a few days ago I got one of those cravings. Often I’ll have the husband pick me up a piece from work. But the cake his office cafeteria provides has a way too sweet frosting so it’s just not my favorite. I decided to tackle the problem on my own, make my own carrot cake. Alas, no carrots in the crisper.

I thought perhaps I could replace the carrots called for in the recipe with zucchini (which I had an abundance of). A lot of zucchini bread recipes call for the kind of seasonings that carrot cake usually has so it seemed like there would be a better than reasonable chance for success.

I adapted the cake recipe from the wonderful Pioneer Woman Cooks blog (except I added raisins because carrot cake should always have raisins), but the frosting is mine, one I have been making for years. A cream cheese frosting that’s not overly sweet.

Here’s the ingredients:

In one bowl I stirred together the dry ingredients.

While in my mixing bowl I combined all the wet stuff (except for the zucchini and the raisins). I let this mix for a couple of minutes until the eggs had lightened a bit to a pale yellow.

With the mixer on low I poured in the dry ingredients.

And once that was all combined I added the grated zucchini and the raisins.

And mixed it a little more.

I divided the batter between a muffin tin (the big muffin kind) and a loaf pan and popped them both into the oven.

The muffin-sized cakes took 25 minutes to bake and the loaf-sized cake took 50 minutes. Once the cakes had cooled a bit I removed the muffin-sized ones from the tin.

While I waited for the cake to cool I set my mind on the frosting. Here’s the ingredients.

I put the softened cream cheese and butter into a mixing bowl and then sifted my powdered sugar into the bowl. You don’t necessarily have to sift the powdered sugar, but I’ve found that if you don’t, sometimes you get unattractive little balls of powdered sugar in the finished frosting.

I turned on the mixer, slowly at first, adding a touch of vanilla as it mixed. Once the cakes had cooled completely I frosted each one.

Then put each of the muffin-sized ones in their own little container. These have been stashed in the freezer to be thawed whenever the craving hits.

The loaf-sized cake cured my cravings for days. While the cake may have been a tiny bit too sweet for my taste (but not so much to keep me from eating it) I was extremely pleased with the results of my experiment. This was great as an after dinner dessert, a mid-day treat and even, one day, breakfast.

xxx

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ZUCCHINI CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

For the cake:
10 ounces (2 cups) flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
14 ounces (2 cups) sugar
7.5 ounces (1 cup) vegetable oil
4 whole eggs
1 pound (2 cups) zucchini, grated
6 ounces (1 cup) raisins

For the frosting
8 ounces (1 stick) butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 pound powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. In a second bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together the sugar, oil and eggs.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix to combine. Add the zucchini and raisins and mix until the batter is well combined.

Pour batter into a greased pan (or pans). Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean, 25 minutes for muffins, 50 minutes for a loaf pan. Cool completely.

In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Sift powdered sugar into the bowl and mix until the frosting is combined. Spread on cooled cake.