header

header


coconut zucchini cake with lemon buttercream frosting

Yep, I turned 25. I also recently discovered wrinkles around my eyes and a few gray hairs. Getting old kind of sucks. I decided that to celebrate this birthday I would make something a little more gourmet and fancy for my adult palette. No funfetti cake this year {although, lets be honest, I'll never be too old for that}. I dug into my mom's recipe book and found this recipe. It's definitely a special cake and everyone seemed to love it! You don't need to be celebrating to bake this cake - it's kind of a celebration in itself. 




Here's what you'll need...
Cake
3 cups grated and peeled zucchini
1 cup ground walnuts
1 cup flaked coconuts
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla 
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

Frosting
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla 
4 cups confectioners sugar

Here's what to do... 
Cake
Grease and flour two 9 inch baking pans. Combine zucchini and coconut, set aside. Beat together the eggs, oil, and vanilla. Beat in sugar. Gradually add dry ingredients. Stir in zucchini mixture. Pour into pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. 

Frosting 
Beat butter until creamy. Add remaining ingredients. 



What is everyone up to this weekend? Baking cake? I highly recommend it. My weekend involves a Friday movie night {Sarah's Key.. anyone seen it?}, a barre class, a bit of work, and a Sunday trip to Ikea. Even though I was only in the office three days this week, it's seemed like a long one. Happy Weekend ... xo!

P.S. I'm over on Christin's blog sharing 5 seriously random facts about me. If you're interested in learning.. go over and check them out! 

21 comments:

  1. wait...please tell me you didn't make your own cake.I REALLY want to make me some funfetti from scratch this weekend. we shall see....and yea, this week felt like a freaking eternity.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I mean, zucchini totally makes it happen. Plus, there's lemon in the frosting, also healthy. I'm super impressed with your frosting a cake skills because whenever I do frost, it's never half that pretty.

    stopping over from christin's blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. yesss zucchini makes it healthy! just like carrot cake :) this sounds SO good! let me know how sarah's key is! i want to see the movie now that i finished the book. xoxo jillian:: cornflake dreams

    ReplyDelete
  4. That looks absolutely amazing & as long as we're claiming it's healthy I may need to make this one up! Have fun celebrating your birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Happy Birthday!!! 25 is NOT old silly!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. yumm! this looks absolutely delicious!!! and I know I'm a little late but congrats on your EG feature!!!! It looked delicious!! And happy happiest birthday to you!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Poppin' over here from Christin's blog, and that cake looks damn delicious. Might have to make it for my boyfriend's birthday today...

    ReplyDelete
  8. This cake was awesome. Thanks for the recipe. Will definitely be making it next time im in need of cake! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy belated! This cake looks insanely good. If I weren't convinced I would house the whole thing myself this weekend I WOULD be baking. Saving for future events for sure... Thanks for sharing! -Laura

    ReplyDelete
  10. my mouth is waterrrrrring. I need cake. Hope you had an amazing birthday!

    -Caitlin @ Reverie to Reality

    ReplyDelete
  11. YUM YUM YUM!!! When do you go Barre on weekends? I'm going to start!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I loooooove cakes like this! I maintain that carrot cake (and any of its vegetable cake-cousins) is highly underrated!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Happy Birthday!!!
    Have the best weekend!

    SimplyClassyMe.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yum!!! These looks super delicious. Have a wonderful weekend! xo

    ReplyDelete
  15. Looks amazing! Happy Birthday, Lara! Maybe I should start baking more ...?!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This looks and sounds amazing! Getting old definitely sucks (I turned 26 in January) but amazing cakes make it a little better :p

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, boy! I definitely remember feeling like this at 20 and then again at 25. I think it's just a rite of passage. It took me a year or two, a significant loss and a big health scare to come to terms with this--but I'm not afraid of getting older (though I might not be so brave when I get to my 30th). I'm trying my best to embrace that saying, (I will now botch it and forget where it came from): Enjoy your time getting older. It's a gift denied to many. Honestly, I totally botched it, I'm sorry. But the jist of it is there. I hope you get there too some day. But in the meantime...your cake looks incredible!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yum! That looks delicious! Have a relaxing weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  19. that cake looks amazing! and yes.... the zucchini totally makes it healthy :)

    itsthelittlethingsblog.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  20. First and foremost, I concur that you are never too old for funfetti and that zucchini makes this healthy. Can't wait to try! Need to talk to you about barre classes. Hope you had an amazing weekend! xo

    ReplyDelete
  21. This one is exclusively looking one of delicious way to fun. I am totally surprised to see the elegant ingredients information and direction to make the same taste cake. It's truly looking elegant contented source for me. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete