Milkmaid's Recipe Box

"Spiced" Zucchini Cake 

w/Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting**

(This posted recipe is for the cake shown in the middle!)

Because of having a lot of zucchini, I made

three cakes yesterday.  This is the third time

I've made the one in the middle (shown below).

In other words, this one is already a favorite of

those who have had a piece.

Because I took this cake to a picnic, I do not 

have a photo of it after it was cut.  

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist yellow cake mix
• 3/4 cup milk (I used whole milk)
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 eggs (I used large eggs)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (This amount is not overpowering.)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini (about 2 medium)
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

FROSTING INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar (I first run it through a sifter, or screen strainer to get rid of any lumps.)

DIRECTIONS for the CAKE:

1. Heat oven to 350-degrees.  Spray only the bottom of a 9x13" pan (I used glass) with cooking spray.  (Doing it this way and the regular way, I had equally good results with spraying the bottom and the sides of the glass dish.)
2. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
3. By hand, stir in the zucchini and walnuts.
4. Pour batter into pan.
5. Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  (Don't over-bake.)  Remove from the oven to cooling rack.  Cool cake completely-- at least for one hour.*

DIRECTIONS for the FROSTING:

1. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter with electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth.  Beat in the cinnamon and vanilla.  
2. On low speed, beat in the "sifted" powdered sugar until frosting is smooth and creamy.  Spread frosting on cake.
3. Cut into 4 rows by 3 rows. 
4. Cover and refrigerate any remaining cake.

* Not following the instructions about letting the cake cool in the normal way, and because it was bedtime, I put a cover over the cake when it was still sitting on the cooling rack and barely out of the oven for 15 minutes.  As you can guess, condensation formed on the underside of the cover and that "rained" onto the cake.  What looked like a "mistake" ended up to be something we like-- I ended up with a very dense, very moist cake that goes so well with the cream cheese frosting!  I intend to make that same "mistake" each time I make this cake.


**I found the original recipe for this cake right here:  http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/zucchini-cake-with-cinnamon-cream-cheese-frosting/8e2f59f5-2766-47e7-80e1-b930cc559912?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=07_2016_standard