How to be a Zucchini Goddess

I was in the mood for a little stress baking today. Getting my hands dirty so to speak allows me to take my mind off other things. And, I was able to use up some of the zucchini taking over my countertop, so this task was especially fulfilling. This is the second time (well, technically third - we'll get into that later) I've made the zucchini cake from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. A domestic goddess I am not, but the cake is quite nice. Most zucchini cakes/breads I've tasted are heavily spiced and moist to the point of oiliness. This cake is just barely sweet and is filled with lime curd and topped with a tangy cream cheese frosting. The frosting is just cream cheese, lime juice, and a little powdered sugar. It also calls for a sprinkling of pistachios on the top but I was in no mood to be that extravagant.

Nigella is a British lady, so some of her recipes have ingredients that I'm not familiar with. This cake called for self-rising cake flour. Well, I had cake flour, and I knew I could add some baking soda and salt and make it "self-rising". Trouble was, I got my proportions wrong and also added way to much baking soda. I didn't suspect anything wrong until I sampled a bit of the cake scrap that I had "leveled off". (Let's face it, the cake really didn't need leveling off but I wanted to taste it anyway.) Good thing I tasted it before I frosted it, because it had an overwhelming "baking soda" taste. But, I didn't mind doing the cake again since I got to use more zucchini (whoot!) and the cake only uses 1/2 c. oil and not my precious unsalted butter.

Next time I do the cake I'd like to try a different filling and frosting. The tart/tangy works well with the plain, moist cake, but I'd also like to try something with bananas, orange, or chocolate.