Buttery Orange Summer Squash Cake

Buttery Orange Zucchini Cake - a tasty way to eat your vegetables
and use up a lot of your zucchini harvest.

It's already August, and that means the start of the Indiana State Fair and the end of the zucchini harvest. This year has been good for squash, as long as the garden was mulched and watered. Squash of all kind thrive in heat and high humidity, and luckily, there were no squash bugs or stink bugs around to ruin things.

With several pounds of zucchini on hand, it means there is a lot of cooking and preserving going on. Zucchini and other squash lend themselves to being put into cakes, breads, muffins, and turned into pickles.

This recipe incorporates the best of all worlds: real butter, lots of shredded zucchini and the bright refreshing flavor of oranges.  The recipe makes enough batter for 3 9" rounds, so if you need a lot of cake or a spectacular 3-layer creation, this is a good bet.  Even though it calls for all purpose flour rather than cake flour, it is light and delicate. It gets an extra leavening boost as well as some additional tang from buttermilk.

I used golden zucchini, so no peeling was needed. Green zucchini will need to be peeled before shredding, otherwise the batter will turn the color of pistachios. I baked mine in a super-large loaf pan (available for sale at Gordon Food Service stores), and was able to get two nice loaves out of it. One was for eating right now, and the other is frozen for later consumption.

The cake stays moist enough to eat without frosting, but for a layer cake, use an orange or vanilla buttercream or cream cheese frosting to highlight the citrus flavor.

Buttery Orange Summer Squash Cake

3 1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. granulated sugar, or combination of granulated sugar and stevia-based sweetener for baking
3 tsp. fresh grated orange zest, or 2 tsp. dry orange zest
1 c. butter (no substitutes), softened at room temperature
1 c. buttermilk
4 eggs
3 c. shredded summer squash or zucchini
1 1/2 tsp. orange oil, or 2 1/2 tsp. orange extract

Preheat oven to 30 degrees. Grease and flour 3 9" cake pans, or 1 13x9 baking pan and 1 small loaf pan.

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

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, orange oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Add and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternate addition of dry ingredients and buttermilk, beating well after each addition.

Slowly fold in shredded squash, and pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees until cake tester comes out clean. For 9" rounds or a small loaf, time will be 25-30 minutes. For a 13x9 pan, time will be 45 minutes.

Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then release onto wire racks to cool completely. Cakes can be bagged and frozen for later use, or frosted with a buttercream or cream cheese frosting.

Roast Asparagus

You can find fresh asparagus at the grocery store or at many local farm markets

Roast Asparagus

One of the first crops to emerge and be harvested in the spring is asparagus. This delectable and succulent perennial vegetable is all too often steamed or boiled beyond recognition and then swathed in a coating of butter or Hollandaise sauce.

As much as I love anything that uses real butter, I also love keeping some of the crunch in my asparagus. That's why one of my go-to preparation methods for this veggie is roasting.

Roasting asparagus is a fast, simple and reliable. There are only two caveats: first, make sure the asparagus spears you use are fairly uniform in diameter, and second, be sure the oil you use holds up well in high heat. Virgin olive oil is one of the better choices for use.

After roasting your spears, season lightly with salt, lemon juice and / or chopped fresh chives (also available in the kitchen garden at this time of year).

Roast Asparagus
1 lb. asparagus spears, with the woody bottom of the stems trimmed off.
1/3 - 1/2 c. virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cover a lipped baking sheet with a sheet of aluminum foil. Evenly coat the foil with the olive oil. Place into the oven for 8 - 10 minutes or until oil is sizzling.

Toss asparagus spears onto heated baking sheet; the spears will begin to sizzle. Use tongs to swirl and coat with hot oil. Return to hot oven and roast 6 - 10 minutes, or until a fork easily pierces the fattest spear.