If you grow zucchini (green courgette or summer squash), it’s a safe bet that a few will get away from you. What to do with the ones that grow into baseball bats while you weren’t looking? (It only takes a day or two for them to go from petite and flavorful to huge and watery.)
Picture from the Sydney Morning Herald (click for an article on using these monsters). I must say that ours were not quite this outrageous.
Zucchini bread is the traditional solution (and the preferred option in my opinion; these green giants are not tasty enough to stuff). My favorite recipe is by Daniel Gritzer of Serious Eats. He reduces the sugar and oil, uses brown sugar for more flavor, and adds a touch of Greek yogurt. He calls for two teaspoons ground cinnamon, but I mix up the spices a bit more, substituting cardamom and/or allspice for half the cinnamon. Sometimes I also substitute chocolate chips for half the walnuts.
Instead of Daniel’s two loaf pans, I bake this in a ring pan. You can sprinkle it with powdered sugar, but I never got around to that. This is a great tea bread, satisfying and not too sweet.
I’m not sure why we call them “zucchini” in North America. We also ignore the fact that “zucchini” is already a plural (the singular being “zucchino”), and pluralize by adding an “s.” That happens here with lots of Italian words (“biscotti” comes to mind).
So far, I’ve made three loaves of this…
Linnet Moss 
ah yum! another tea loaf as they are called here 🙂 I quite like zucchini bread, had a version here and it gives a bit of sweetness to the dough and keeps it moist 🙂 Wonder what jam would work best?
I’ve not put jam on it, but it would be good. Something that can take a bit of warm spice, maybe a peach preserve, or even apricot…
and i hope this was not the birthday cake replacement 😉 needs a bit more cream for that 😍😉
For a birthday, I always feel that chocolate is essential!
I love the idea of zucchini bread 🙂 I also like them just cut in slices, brushed with olive oil, a dash of salt & black pepper and grilled. As a side-dish.
That sounds delicious! I never thought of grilling it!
Makes a lot of the water evaporate, which seems to concentrate the flavour
It looks delicious! I had no idea you could make cake from that.
Oh, and that is one suggestive zucchini picture there – or is it just me who thinks so? 😉
LOL, yes, I thought so too.
That looks delicious! (Though I don’t grow zucchini myself, for fear of overabundance.)
Invasion of the Monster Zukes is definitely an issue. I managed OK this year, but we only had 2 plants.
Zucchini is plural! Great observation. I noticed that with biscotti, but never made the connection here.
This reminds me of the time my mother went off on a trip for a few weeks and I was instructed to watch the garden. I thought for sure I’d see the zucchini once they got to be the right size, but I missed them entirely. They blend in, especially if you’re looking at them through the eyes of a high school student who’s glancing out the window from time to time.
Thanks for the recipe!
It’s true, the zucchini hide themselves and get as big as they can while you’re not looking. Then you turn around and suddenly there is this Monster under the leaves.