Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Squash cake


This is a variation of zucchini bread that I decided to make because we bought some organic yellow squash at a farm stand. I had a hard time choosing between this recipe and a more traditional spiced zucchini bread. It was the fennel that caught my interest. The original recipe came from the Martha Stewart site where they have around 75 different ways to use zucchini.

Ingredients
1/2 cup lard, butter or coconut oil (or combination)
2 cups almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (grain-free)
2 medium organic yellow squashes
2 medium organic green zucchini
1 cup shelled, unsalted pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cups xylitol
1/4 tsp stevia extract
3 large organic pastured eggs
1 tsp organic pure vanilla extract
3/4 tsp organic ground fennel

Directions
Melt your oil, lard or butter in the baking dish with the oven preheating at 350 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients except for the xylitol in a mixing bowl. Then take the xylitol, eggs, vanilla, and your melted oil and blend those in a blender or bullet. Mix the liquids with the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl to which you will add the squash once you have grated it with a box grater or shredded it in a food processor. Lastly, you will add the pistachios and pour into your dish to bake for about 45 minutes to an hour until the top is golden brown. If you have two loaf pans, it might be better to make 2 shallow loaves instead of one big casserole loaf, as I have done.


By the way, it is amazing! Considering that it is 75% veggie and egg, how can you go wrong eating a ton of this? The fennel flavor reminds me of the traditional italian pitzelles which use anise. I think next time I bake this I will add a hint of lemon in there too.