Zucchini-studded mini loaf cakes spiced with cardamom are blanketed in a vibrant dewberry glaze and edible flowers. These gluten free and vegan cakes are a celebration of the overlap in dewberry and zucchini seasons in springtime! They’re just as delicious to enjoy as they are to behold.
I find myself writing this after having make a 2nd batch of doughnuts in one day because the texture was off and I won’t be able to rest until I get to the bottom of it. And, I’ll still make a batch or two tomorrow trying to correct it. And that my friends is the rub with gluten free/vegan baking: it’s based on a different set of principles than conventional baking. Luckily, I’ve been doing this for almost 10 (!!) years so it’s much easier to correct.
Gluten Free and Vegan Baking
These zucchini cakes are a great representation of the chemistry project that is GF/V baking. The flours are combined in specific percentages: brown rice forms a little over 40% of the total, with oat at a little over 34% and arrowroot makes up the rest. The reason for that is because I discovered early on that a good ratio of gluten free flours to starches (like arrowroot or tapioca) is 70 to 30 though sometimes, if oat is involved, I can get it closer to 75 to 25. Hopefully your eyes aren’t glazing over at this point but I wanted to share a little glimpse into the process.! I could go on to explain the rest of the recipe and ratios in detail but I’ll spare you so that you don’t fall asleep at your computer.
About These Zucchini Cakes
These cakes were inspired entirely by the season as the zucchini came from a local farm while the dewberries were foraged by hand. As for the little flowers? They’re all from my garden! I ended up making and enjoying these on Beltane (May Day) and they couldn’t have been a more appropriate celebration of the abundance inherent in nature this time of year. If you can’t forage for any dewberries, feel free to use blackberries or blueberries! You can also use grated summer squash in place of the zucchini if you like.
The gluten free flour base is a mixture of oat, brown rice, and arrowroot with psyllium husk acting as a binder. Since this recipe is vegan, too, applesauce acts like an egg while cashew milk and apple cider vinegar act like buttermilk. Before the shredded zucchini is added, most of the excess moisture is squeezed out. And to top everything off? A glaze made with dewberry (or blackberry) juice, lime juice, cashew butter, and powdered sugar is drizzled over each cake, followed by a few edible flowers.
Zucchini Cakes with Dewberry Glaze
- Total Time: 38-40 minutes
- Yield: 5 mini loaves
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Zucchini-studded mini loaf cakes spiced with cardamom are blanketed in a vibrant dewberry glaze and edible flowers. These gluten free and vegan cakes are a celebration of the overlap in dewberry and zucchini seasons in springtime! They’re just as delicious to enjoy as they are to behold.
Ingredients
for the zucchini cakes:
- 60g brown rice flour
- 50g oat flour
- 35g arrowroot flour
- 1/4 tsp psyllium husk
- scant 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp finely ground sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 75g grated zucchini (make sure you’ve squeezed out the excess moisture before weighing and adding to the recipe)
- 120g cashew milk (or whatever milk you prefer)
- 50g unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 65g cane sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
for the glaze:
- scant cup of powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp dewberry or blackberry juice (mash up about 1/4 cup of the whole fruit then pass through a sieve to remove solids & seeds)
- 2 tsp fresh lime or lemon juice
- 1 tbsp cashew butter or almond butter
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease the wells of your cupcake or mini loaf cake pan.
Combine the flours, psyllium husk, baking soda, salt, and cardamom in a bowl. Whisk to combine, then fold in the grated zucchini until it is completely coated in the dry mixture.
In a second bowl, whisk together the milk, applesauce, vinegar, sugar, and vanilla until the mixture is smooth.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well until you have a smooth batter. It will look somewhat thin almost like pancake batter.
Fill the molds of whatever pan you are using (cupcake or mini loaf) about 2/3 full of batter. Tap the pan lightly on the counter a few times to help release air bubbles, then bake the cakes for 18-20 minutes for cupcakes or 23-25 minutes for the mini loaves. The cakes are ready when a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean and the tops spring back when touched.
Cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely before glazing. Makes about 10 cupcakes or 5 mini loaves.
To make the glaze, sift the powdered sugar into a bowl to remove any lumps, then add the dewberry juice, lime juice, and cashew butter. Mix thoroughly until you have a thick glaze.
Spoon the glaze over the cooled cakes. Let the glaze firm up for a few minutes before enjoying your cakes!
If you,d like, you can decorate your cakes with some edible flowers. I used basil, calendula, wood sorrel, and rose geranium from my garden.
These are best the day they are made. Leftovers are still good the next day but the best way to store them is to place them on a plate and drape a kitchen towel or paper towel over the tops of them. If you place them in a lidded container, the moisture gets trapped inside and the glaze seeps down into the cake making for an unpleasantly mushy and gummy texture.
Notes
- You’ll need one small zucchini for this recipe. So that you don’t end up with a mushy mess of a cake, once you grate your zucchini, place it in a clean linen kitchen towel or a few layers of paper towels and squeeze out as much of the excess moisture out as you can. You can save the liquid for a soup or smoothie if you like!
- I have a specialized mini loaf pan like this that I love to use in place of a cupcake pan every now and then so that is what I’ve used here. I’ve included baking times for both types of pans below.
- If you can’t find oat flour, you can easily make your own. Place rolled oats in a blender or spice grinder and process until fine and powdery.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 23-25 minutes
- Category: dessert
