Zucchini Cream Cheese Pound Cake

One of my favorite summertime vegetables has got to be the zucchini. Not only does it lend itself to numerous savory dishes (roasted in the oven, fritters, with pasta) but also the sweet variety. Zucchini Cream Cheese Pound Cake is just the latest one at my house. The zucchini I got from my mom in law’s garden, the recipe from The Joy the Baker Cookbook.

Very similar to traditional zucchini bread, but with a richer taste and a denser texture. Joy suggests using her Brown Sugar Cream Cheese frosting to top the cake, but I opted with a simple dusting of powdered sugar. It didn’t last long at our house. Dessert in the evening, breakfast in the morning.

Cream cheese and sugar in the mixer!

All’s in the bowl now. The batter is thick so have a sturdy spatula or spoon to get it into your prepared pan.

Baked up and cooling on the rack. My next step was transferring to a plate and dusting with powdered sugar.

Zucchini Cream Cheese Pound Cake

From The Joy The Baker Cookbook

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsps. pure vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 cups shredded zucchini

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan and set aside.*

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition, then add vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, pour in the melted butter and increase speed to medium-high to beat until velvety smooth, about 3 minutes.

Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, all at once, to the mixer. Beat until just incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to fold in the zucchini, and incorporate the rest of the flour. The batter will be thick and not pourable.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove cake for oven and allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before inverting on a wire rack to cool completely.

*I sprayed my pan with Pam for Baking.

(Kanto)