I bake, for the sake of baking. I love getting my hands on a new recipe and playing with it in the kitchen. And the thing I like about trying a new recipe is testing it out for the first time and making my own editions to it thereafter. When I find a new recipe, I typically make it as close to the original for the first time. After that, I tweak according to my taste and my experience in the kitchen. This recipe became the favourite of Olivia, one of my former art students. She tried it once and made frequent requests for another batch! I have made this in various forms: as a loaf, muffins and mini muffins, and as a layer cake, when I topped it with cream cheese icing. I have come to prefer it to carrot cake as I quite enjoy the combination of sweet potato and zucchini. So in whichever form you prefer, give this sweet vegetable loaf a try. In this Bon Appetite version from 1992, I have reduced the amount of sugar and oil used, as well, traded in traditional flour for spelt. I hope you like it!
Ingredients
- 2 cups spelt flour (use buckwheat flour for a gluten free version)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
- 1 1/2 cups grated peeled sweet potato
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180C, 350°F.
- Butter and flour 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
- Sift first 5 ingredients into medium bowl.
- Beat sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla to blend in large bowl.
- Mix in zucchini and sweet potato.
- Add dry ingredients and walnuts and stir well.
- Transfer batter to prepared pan.
- Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 60 minutes.
- Cool bread in pan on rack 15 minutes.
- Cut around bread to loosen.
- Turn out onto rack and cool completely.
(Loaf = 60 minutes; muffins = 18-20 minutes; mini muffins = 12-14 minutes; 2 x 8″ round layer cakes =30-35 minutes.)