Zucchini Cake 【西葫芦蛋糕】

I planted a few zucchini plants this year but they didn't do too well, and yield only 2 zucchini by far, as it is getting colder and the plants starts getting yellow, so I decided to pull them up and clean up the garden... and to my surprise, I found two rather big zucchini hidden underneath the plants!

My friend posted zucchini cake not long ago on facebook and I was really tempted to try the recipe as it sounded healthy and yummy... but have no heart to buy the zucchini from the shop. Here I am with two fresh, homegrown zucchini, I am just about to waste no time and make this cake!

As I was trying to come up with a good recipe, the internet search engine shows many recipes that are closely representing pound cake recipe, not much of a pound cake person as I am...

I decided to make it my way... and here it comes, moist, fluffy, and healthy Zucchini Cake!

今年因为好奇，买了几棵葫芦瓜苗回来让我妈种，长得不是很好，收了两根就不再结果了，我妈回国之后我也没去理它。天气渐渐凉了，我就想着把那几棵葫芦瓜拔了整理一下院子。才发现瓜藤下居然还隐藏着两个不小的瓜呢！

收了这两根葫芦瓜就想着要怎么做，正好这阵子一直想着要吃蛋糕，又看见网友Venus在FB上上了的Zuchinni蛋糕照片，就决定跟着做一次。

网上搜了一堆食谱，发现都类似Pound cake的配方，高卡不说口感也比较结实，不是我喜欢的类型。于是就在打发鸡蛋的基础上做了这个西葫芦蛋糕。味道还真的很好呢！

科普了一下：

西葫蘆--櫛瓜
Zucchini，學名：Cucurbita pepo），又稱北瓜、櫛瓜或夏南瓜，香港稱為翠玉瓜，葫蘆科南瓜屬植物。可以食用。
科： 葫蘆科 Cucurbitaceae

https://forum.doctorvoice.org/viewtopic.php?f=152&t=47684

Ingredients：
2 1/4 cup Shredded zucchini
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 large eggs (Room Temperature)
1 cup mixed nuts (Chopped)
1/2 cup or 1 stick of Butter (Room Temperature)
1 tsp Vanilla Essence Optional

3 tbsp of Pistachio （chopped）

Sieve and blend together ：
1 1/4 cup of Multigrain/ Whole wheat flour
1 cup All Purpose flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt （reduced or omit if you use salted butter）

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 ounces of cream cheese （Room Temperature)
1/4 cup/60 gm butter
1/4 cup of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp of Vanilla extract

3 tbsp warm milk 

材料：
2 1/4 杯 擦丝的葫芦瓜
1 杯 红糖
3 只 鸡蛋 （室温）
1 杯 混合干果 切碎
1/2 杯 或 1 根 Butter　（室温）
1 小勺 香草精 （Vanilla Essence）Optional

3 大勺 开心果 （切碎）
 
混合以下粉类：
1 1/4 杯 五谷杂粮粉 （Multigrain flour）没有的话可以全用中筋面粉
1 杯 中筋面粉 （All Purpose flour）
2 小勺 泡打粉 （Baking powder）

1 小勺 小苏打 （Baking soda）

1/2 小勺 盐 （如果用带咸味的Butter可以减半）

奶酪酱：
2 盎司 奶油芝士 (室温）
1/4 杯/60 克 黄油 （室温）
1/4 杯 糖粉
1/2 小勺 香草精

3 大勺 温牛奶

1. Shred zucchini, and mixed all the ingredients listed under the flours

2. Chopped the dried nuts, and place a piece of parchment paper at the bottom of a 9 inches baking tray. ( I used a 8 inches tray instead).

3. Preheat the oven to  350 F (175 C).

1. 先把葫芦瓜擦丝备用。把所有粉类过筛混匀备用。

2. 干果切碎备用。在一个九寸的烤盘底部铺上烤纸。（我没有九寸烤盘所以用了八寸的）。

3. 把烤箱预热 350 F （175 C）。

4. Beat butter and brown sugar at speed 6-8 on kitchen aid stand mixer until it is fluffy, it should takes about 2-3 minutes. Crack in one egg, continue beating until fluffy again, this takes about 1-2 minutes, repeat the same process for remaining 2 eggs.

5. Divide flours into 3 parts, add them into the mixture one part by one part, use the stand mixer speed 3-4 for this process, do it as soon as you can else you could lose the air in the beaten mixture and its fluffiness.

6. Add chopped nuts and shredded zucchini, blend it well, immediately pour the batter into baking tray, bake for 35-38 minutes, depending on your oven setting. Take the cake out and remove from pan, let cooled.

4. 把黄油r和红糖打成冰激凌状 （2-3分钟）。然后加入一颗鸡蛋，再打发成冰激凌/奶油状（大约1-2分钟），再加入第二只鸡蛋，继续打成奶油状，重复至三只蛋都用完直至混合物呈现蓬发的状态。这整个过程我用了厨师机6-8号档。

5. 把混合好的粉类分成三次，用3-4号档拌入。再加入切碎的干果和擦丝的西葫芦，也是3-4号档混匀。这个过程不要太久不然蛋糕里的空气会消失，就不松软好吃了。

6. 马上把面糊倒到烤盘里，入烤箱烤 35-38分钟，根据自家的烤箱而定，基本烤至金黄色就可以了。取出脱模冷却。

7. Place all the ingredients under frosting and beat until smooth using a hand mixer. Make sure the cream cheese and butter are both softened at room temperature, and milk is lukewarm.

8. Spread the frosting over cooled cake and sprinkle some chopped pistachio for garnishing.

Slice and serve with a cuppa milk.

7. 把奶酪酱里所有的材料用手动搅拌机打成顺滑的奶酪酱，打好的酱可以放冰箱里冷藏一阵子备用。

8. 把奶酪酱用以一个勺子铺到蛋糕上，撒上一些切碎的开心果装饰。切片即可食用。

中文版 -- 西葫芦蛋糕