Two-Colored Squash Cake and Squash Pistachio Crisps Biscotti
Makes one 9×5-inch cake loaf
Ingredients
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 squash (2 zucchini & 2 yellow squash) washed, ends removed
- 1 cup unsalted pistachios, shelled and coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
Method
- Preheat oven to 425°F If you are using a nonstick baking loaf pan, line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper with an overhang on the long sides (no need to have an overhang on the short sides). If you are not using a nonstick pan, generously butter and flour the pan.
- Using a box grater or a salad shooter fitted with the larger holes for grating, coarsely grate the squash into a colander. Either working in small handful batches OR using a cheesecloth, squeeze as much liquid out of the squash as possible (this may take several times to really go through the grated squash to squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible). Set aside.
- Spread pistachios on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven for 5 minutes, taking care not to burn. Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack and allow the pistachios to completely cool.
- Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder in a medium-sized bowl.
- With a hand or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy at medium-high speed for about 4 minutes.
- Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition into the butter/sugar mixture. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in two batches and beat only until combined. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula. Fold in the squash, pistachios and fennel seeds.
- Transfer batter to prepared baking loaf pan. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F. Continue to bake until cake is golden brown and a cake batter tester/wooden skewer or long toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack (if you used the parchment paper overhang method to line the pan, use the overhang to easily lift the cake out of the pan).
- Cake can be stored at room temperature, wrapped in a plastic sealed bag for up to 2 days. © Images & content: Cristina A-Moore for TeenieCakes.com.
Teenie Notes
- Don’t skip or rush through the squeezing as much liquid from the squash step. It’s important so that your cake doesn’t end up with too much moisture.
- The initial baking step of placing in oven for 10 minutes at 425°F is an important step in allowing your bread to start that golden color, but also in the initial rise of the cake. Don’t be alarmed if it looks like it’s browning too quickly in that first 10 minutes.
- MAKING THE CRISPS or BISCOTTI: After turning the cake out from the pan and allowing to further cool, use a sharp knife and cut crosswise into as thin a slice as you can make without having the bread crumble or tear. Arrange on a prepared baking sheet, spacing 1/2-inch apart. Bake at 350°F until slices begin to darken around the edges and crisp up (time will vary depending on the thickness of your slices).
source adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cakes (2013)