Zucchini Cake with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

Do you ever have one of those busy days at home that you feel overwhelmed and have so much to do? That's how I feel most days after I come home to work - my schedule is pretty much the same at work (7am to 3:30pm), I'll come home and change out of my work clothes, and I'll get busy preparing dinner for the night. Most work nights, I hate preparing such a lengthy meal because it takes time away from other fun activities. Somedays when I get home, there is nothing more than I want to sit on the couch, relax and de-stress. Most often, I rather go to the gym, or shop but I love having a couple of hours to myself before my husband comes home from work.

However, as the overwhelmed housewife that I am, I have realized that cooking and baking helps me greatly de-stress. Cooking and baking gives me a sense of accomplishment, creativity and peace in making wonderful dishes and treats. After clean-up for dinner is where I love to cuddle on the couch and watch whatever is on the television but Eric was busy preparing for his big engineering test so I decided to bake up some treats. I started preparing something sweet for my office and started shredding the countless zucchini that a coworker had brought in. I had a giant baseball bat of a squash on my kitchen table for a couple weeks, and I had been wanting to make some tasty zucchini bread but decided to make this instead. It definitely was a sweet surprise, and a perfect treat for everyone to enjoy!

Zucchini Cake with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Best Bites
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lime zest
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
3 to 4 cups shredded zucchini (about 4 to 5 medium)

Preparation:

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray or butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of the KA mixer, combine the brown sugar, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, lime zest and pumpkin puree and whisk until smooth. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture to wet mixture in three batches, and mix until fully combined. Stir in shredded zucchini.

Pour mixture evenly in the baking pan and spread out the layers with a spatula if needed.

Bake for 27 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake completely and garnish the cake with frosting.

Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/4 cups marshmallow creme (7-oz)
1 tbsp lime zest
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of the stand mixer and cream together at medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy. Spread on cooled cake.
Serves 20.

Review: I loved this sweet and indulgent bread because it reminded me of carrot cake. The frosting was kinda tart and deliciously low-fat. Who knew that combining marshmallow creme and cream cheese would make such a great frosting. I loved the small addition of pumpkin puree instead of applesauce because it gave a hint of Fall flavor to the treat, too. Overall, this was a great zucchini cake and a perfect way for myself to de-stress.