Zucchini bread

December 1, 2019

In the Lab Farewell Cookbook, Casey advised me that this recipe is a long-time favourite in his family and that it's best enjoyed by a fire. I didn't save this zucchini bread for winter, but I did choose one of the cooler weekends for it, where pottering around the oven felt good.

I've not made zucchini bread before, but I think it sits alongside banana bread and carrot cake as one of those dense, textured loaves that feel wholesome and breaks up the afternoon nicely alongside a cup of tea.

With that point of comparison, the texture of the batter wasn't quite what I expected. The honey, coconut oil, eggs and water-charged zucchini completely overwhelmed the wholemeal flour and formed a very runny batter, with the cake still looking very jiggly after the prescribed 35 minutes. This might be in part because of my choice of cake tin - the recipe advises something much larger and presumably the batter usually spreads out a lot further than I allowed it to. I baked my loaf for an extra 10 minutes, and that did the job: the centre was very moist, and exterior was thoroughly toasted without getting burnt. It's so moist that I decided to store it in the fridge to avoid mold.

This zucchini bread has a lovely honey aroma, that toasty/tender contrast, and I'm already established as a sucker for walnuts in this context. And the recipe has arrived just in time, as I've really over-used my favourite banana cake recipe these past couple of months.

Zucchini bread
(a family recipe shared by Casey in the Lab Farewell Cookbook)

1 cup wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup rapidura, brown or raw sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
3 cups grated zucchini (2 medium zucchini)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat an oven to 175°C. Line a cake tin with paper (Casey recommends 8 inch x 8 inch, I used a smaller loaf pan).

In a medium-large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients - flour through to sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together the honey, vanilla, coconut oil and eggs until well combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the bowl, stirring as you go. Fold in the zucchini, and then the walnuts. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake until a skewer comes out clean - it's OK if it's still a bit jiggly. The original recipe prescribes 35 minutes, and I found that 45 minutes worked well for my loaf.