Andrea Lekberg, owner and baker of The Artist Baker, created the cake shown here in celebration of Edible Jersey’s 15th anniversary and in tribute to the Garden State’s food and farming community. She shares her cake recipe here, featuring a simple cream cheese frosting with caramel sauce.
This cake is a favorite of our customers. Sometimes I put pecans on it. The version below is baked in a casserole-size pan. When I was growing up almost all of the cakes we ate were baked in this type of pan. We had a garden then in our backyard. One year, our garden was only zucchini because, the year before, one of our neighbor kids thought it was funny to kick the ripe squash.—A. Lekberg
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 4 ounces butter (1 stick), room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2½ cups cake flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fresh nutmeg
- 2 cups zucchini, grated
- 1½ teaspoons orange zest
- 6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 ounces butter (½ stick), room temperature
- 1½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ounce butter (2 tablespoons)
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
Preparation
ZUCCHINI CAKE
Set oven at 350 degrees.
Beat eggs till light and fluffy. Add sugar gradually. Add oil, butter, and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together and add. Mix until blended. Fold in zucchini and zest.
Bake in a buttered or sprayed 9- by 12-inch pan. Bake about 40 minutes (till center is baked). Cool before frosting.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Cream together cream cheese and butter. Beat about 5 minutes. Add rest of ingredients and mix until well blended. Spread evenly over cool cake. Drizzle with cool caramel (see below).
CARAMEL SAUCE
Cook sugar with a little water over medium heat until amber color. Remove from heat and carefully whisk in butter. Return to medium heat for a minute. Then slowly whisk in cream and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let rest a few minutes before adding the vanilla and salt. Cool to room temperature.
About this recipe
NOTE: This recipe does not include instructions for the New Jersey-inspired icing and fondant treatment shown in photo. It is for a single-layer cake with cream cheese icing. Use your own creativity, if desired, to decorate it with fruit or fondant or to create a layered cake.
Andrea Lekberg, The Artist Baker
14-16 Cattano Ave., Morristown
973.267.5540
theartistbaker.com
