Zucchini Cake Recipe

This moist and delicious cake is perfect when a surprise visitor pops in and you want to serve a light snack with your tea.

The following recipe is from “Helen Nash’s New Kosher Cuisine.”

Ingredients:

1/4 pound skin-on hazelnuts

1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus 1 tablespoon for greasing pan

2 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting the pan

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Generous 3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons grated zest from a navel orange

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 1/2-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 medium zucchini (not more than 1/2 pound), coarsely grated

Directions:

Roast the hazelnuts in a toaster oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until the skins are blistered. While the nuts are still hot, rub them in a dish towel to remove most of their skin. (Some skin will remain.) Cool. Chop them in a food processor until coarse.

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 5-by-9-inch loaf pan with 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Dust the pan with 1 tablespoon of the flour, then invert and tap the pan to shake out any excess flour.

Place the 2 cups flour in a large bowl and add the hazelnuts, baking soda, baking powder and sugar. In a smaller bowl, whisk the 1/2 cup oil, the eggs, orange zest, orange juice, ginger and vanilla. With a rubber spatula, combine the wet ingredients with the flour mixture. Fold in the zucchini.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 60 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Run a metal spatula around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake. Invert the loaf pan onto a serving plate. Makes 12 servings.