lemon zucchini cake (because loaf just sounds strange)

Hi! Leah here. I developed a really bad habit of adding on a pastry with my coffee order at Starbucks when I was pregnant. "It's for the baby!" I'd say to myself. "She WANTS this slice of glazed lemon loaf. And this decaf latte full of milk...I'm practically having a healthy meal here." The sugar high was delectable. I'd dig for every last speck of  sugary lemon glaze from the bottom of the brown paper sack the lemon loaf came in. I'm sure I looked a sight at a stoplight digging for the last crumbs.

Finding ways to make fast food fave's at home can be a major win. You know what's in it, you can make healthier substitutions on ingredients if you want and you're saving skrilla by whipping up treats yourself.  Pioneer Woman's recipe for vanilla bean scones, for instance, may have Starbuck's beat. I decided to give this lemon zucchini loaf with lemon glaze a try to see if it could make me ditch the drive through version I still crave. Plus, I had a zucchini to use up. Why saute it when you can cover it in sugar, I always say.

Rather than a step by step, why don't you learn from my mistakes. I like that approach better than "tips."

First, this recipe calls for 1/2 cup buttermilk which I either never have or I have one that's three months expired. Pioneer Woman gave this tip from her first cookbook: substitute milk for the buttermilk but mix in a tablespoon of white vinegar into just under the amount you need. I needed 1/2 cup so I poured just under that amount of 2 percent milk, added a tablespoon of vinegar and in a minute I had lumpy, chunky buttermilk. Adds a nice tang to this loaf.

Second, I know mixing a vegetable like zucchini in to your cake sounds strange. It has no flavor though. It just adds color and a suprising amount of moisture. A view vitamins, but not enough to put this on any healthy list. You could stand and hand grate the zucchini with your dollar store grater because you're too indecisive to purchase a better one (me)....

OR, you can slip on the shred blade to your food processor and have it done in 4.7 seconds.

Third mistake to learn from---read a recipe before you start. Better yet, lay out all the ingredients before you  start. The cake calls for the juice AND zest of one lemon. I chopped up a fat lemon, juiced the heck out of it, then thought---"how am I going to zest these (flying, upside down) lemon wedges?"

Answer: you can't! Luckily, the glaze also calls for the juice of one lemon. I zested that one before I hacked it up for the juice.

So, you have a few things to fix/avoid here. Otherwise, this comes together like a typical cake. It was fluffier than a traditional loaf bread---more cakey. Well, hello pretty (sideways) cake! (seriously, I can't figure out these Blogger settings. Apologies.)

The glaze is just a mix of lemon juice and powdered sugar. Slather it on once the cake is cool. Yes, that is a pool of delectable glaze it's floating in. Next time, I might cut back a bit on the lemon juice and add a dash of vanilla extract and a dash of milk.The glaze was tasty, but a bit sour. I wonder how Starbuck's makes their glaze so sickly, perfectly sweet?

And finally, a slice with a cup of tea to cut the sweet. The pic is dark, but you can kind of see the pretty flecks of zucchini.

This is moist and tangy. It would be a great addition to a brunch, picnic or as a gift to a new mom or other hungry friend. The basic recipe is a blank slate for tons of ideas. I can see folding in raspberries or blackberries instead of zucchini. Vanilla bean.....mmmm....

Lemon-Zucchini Loaf with Lemon Glaze
from NancyCreative.com

(makes one 9×5 loaf)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup grated zucchini
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan; set aside.

In large bowl, blend flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In medium bowl, beat 2 eggs well, then add canola oil and sugar, and blend well. Then add the buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and blend everything well. Fold in zucchini and stir until evenly distributed in mixture.

Add this mixture to the dry ingredients in the large bowl and blend everything together, but don’t overmix.

Pour batter into prepared 9×5″ loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (if your oven tends to run hot, check the loaf after 40 minutes). Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. While loaf is cooling, you can make the glaze…

LEMON GLAZE

In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and lemon juice until well blended. Spoon glaze over cooled loaf. Let glaze set, then serve.