A gently spicy, zucchini sheet cake with cream cheese frosting.
The recipe is in my grandmother’s hand, my dad’s mom.
She was the baker in the family (a title now passed on to my father).
Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer
She moved from St. Paul to live with us in Los Angeles when I was four.
Mom, being rather busy with all the kids (6 kids in 8 years!)
and working as a Head Start teacher, didn’t have much time for crafts or baking.
Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer
It was grandma who taught me to sew, knit, crochet, and bake.
She made cherry pies, angel food cakes, apricot jam, and the bestoatmeal raisin cookies.
We fought for the right to lick the batter bowl of whatever cake she happened to be making.
Simply Recipes / Elise Bauer
When we moved to Sacramento, she would send my mother recipe clippings and notes.
I think that’s how we must have ended up with this recipe for zucchini cake.
Great for summer potlucks!
Elise Bauer
Stir in the flour mixture, a third at a time.
Stir in the zucchini and chopped nuts and/or raisins.
Pour mixture into a 9x12 or 9x13 baking pan.
Bake at 350F for 40 to 45 minutes.
(My grandmother’s notes say you could also bake in an angel food pan for 1 hour.)
Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter.
Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Frost the cake and serve.
Store covered with aluminum foil.
It’s so eerie to look at my grandmother’s notes.
She mentions that “black walnuts are good”.
Her hand got shakier as she got older.
By her 90s she had the symptoms of Parkinson’s.
