For the Love of Spice Cake

Cake as a child was never my thing nor was frosting. In fact frosting was my least favorite bit of it all. I've learned as an adult to appreciate the yummy world of cake. Seems a little backwards don't you think? I'm still not a true cake lover, but I do love ganache cloaked Marjolaine's, toasted coconut cake & nutty carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

One constant in my cake endeavors has remained, my love of spice cake and freshly baked zucchini bread.

So there it was my basket full of zucchini and my cupboard full of spices. Warming spices always conjure up images of scarves, mittens and cocoa by the fire, but ginger is something that soothes the tummy any time of year. That and I'm still finding fresh ginger at my Farmers' Market. Fresh zucchini reminds me of sunshine filled days playing by the pool or packing a picnic for the park.

I've only given this one run through so I may tweak it a little in the future, but it is quite delicious as is.

Candied Ginger Zucchini Bread
scant 2 C grated zucchini (1 large zucchini)
1/2 C diced crystallized ginger
1/3 C coconut oil
1/3 C almond oil
1/2 C light brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 t vanilla
1 T freshly microplaned ginger (or finely minced)
1 1/2 C AP flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t cinnamon
3/4 t nutmeg
1/2 t sea salt
**Canola oil works just fine in place of either the almond or coconut oils.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Oil an 8" loaf pan, really well.

In a large bowl whisk together the oils, sugars, eggs, vanilla and ginger, set aside.
In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder & soda, spices and salt.
Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture until combined.
Fold in the zucchini and the crystallized ginger.

Pour into prepared loaf pan & bake for approximately 45-55 minutes until the crust springs back when lightly touched and a skewer comes out clean.

Cool for 15 minutes on a cooling rack and then pop out of loaf pan and invert on rack to finish cooling before slicing. That is if you can resist the scent. I inevitably end up cutting off a chunk before it's cool.