PINEAPPLE ZUCCHINI CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Recipe originally submitted by Anne Ivie

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour (can use all white flour if you don’t have this)
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
freshly ground nutmeg, to taste (optional)
1 pinch ginger (optional)
2 whole large eggs
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups grated, unpeeled Zucchini
1 20oz.can crushed pineapple in juice, drained. Reserve juice.

FROSTING

2 Tablespoons butter, softened
8 ounces low fat cream cheese, softened. (can use full fat cream cheese)
2 cups powdered sugar, approx.
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Splash of milk or pineapple juice, if necessary
chopped walnuts or pecans, if necessary


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl: stir well with a wire whisk. Combine oil, eggs and vanilla; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated zucchini, and pineapple into flour mixture. Batter will be stiff and dry but keep folding it and it will all come together. If it still seems too dry, just add a little splash of pineapple juice.

Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for about 33-3a5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs and cake is pulling away from sides of pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl, Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Add a splash of milk or pineapple juice if necessary. Spread frosting over top of cake. You can garnish with chopped pecans or walnuts, if desired.

Notes: If your zucchini is huge, scrape the seeds out of the center before you shred it so it's not too too watery. Also, I spread it out on layers of paper towel to drain it and dry it off a bit. Then I measure it out 2 cups. Not sure if this is critical, though Nuts can be added to the cake batter, if necessary this recipe makes a very generous amount of frosting. This recipe can be turned into a carrot cake just by substituting shredded carrots for the zucchini.