The Next Top Chef visits my Kitchen (and makes Zucchini Cake)



Given my daughter Abby's new interest in cooking (thanks to her "Food and Nutrition" class) I thought it would be fun to ask the budding Top Chef if she wanted to cook with me this weekend. I had found a recipe for a zucchini cake on Allrecipes.com and thought it was close enough to the zucchini bread that she made earlier in the week that she'd be able to get through the recipe with no problems. So we strapped on our aprons (no chef coats in my kitchen) and brought out the mixing bowls.
Abby read the recipe carefully and then started measuring dry ingredients. I watched as spooned the flour into the measuring cup and leveled it off and she informed me this was the "spooning method." She had a little difficulty with measuring the baking soda and cinnamon bur I showed her a little trick to make it easier. Then we moved onto the wet ingredients. I asked her if her teacher had told her about using different types of measuring cups for wet and dry ingredients and she said "no and that probably explains why our bread didn't come out very good when we made it." I gave her a quick lesson on the different methods of  measuring wet and dry ingredients which I hope she remembers next week in class. We made pretty short work of the recipe and got the cake in the oven. Then came the best part - I got to watch her clean up the kitchen. I told her that one of the things my mom told me about cooking was to "clean as you go" so you don't have a big messy kitchen to deal with when you're finshed.
"I know Mom. I've watched you cook," she said, giving my that look that only teen-aged girls can give. "That's what I was doing when we cooked in Nutrition class last week." I had to smile to myself at that. Maybe I had taught her something after all.
This cake is super-moist and would be great as either a dessert or a decadent breakfast slice. It doesn't taste like there's zucchini in it at all. In fact, had I not known better I would have sworn I was eating carrot cake.

(NOTE:The original recipe called for making the cakes in three round pans. I made mine in a 13x9 pan and changed the baking time to 45 minutes.)

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease and flour three 9 inch round cake pans (or one 13x9 pan).

1. In a medium size bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, white sugar, and salt. Mix well.
2. In another bowl beat eggs, vegetable oil, and 1 teaspoon vanilla together. Pour into egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the shredded zucchini. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 25 minutes. Allow cakes to cool in pans. Stack and frost into a 3 layer cake using Cream Cheese Frosting.
4. To Make Frosting: Cream together the cream cheese, butter or margarine. Add the confectioner's sugar, a little at a time. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla and mix well. Spread on cool cake layers.

Sourced from Allrecipes.com