Monday Nutrition Tip of the Week: Atonement

About a year ago I confessed that I have an amateur cake decorating business. And I do mean amateur; I specialize in cute (not beautiful...that's another level) cakes for family, friends, and Zach's co-workers. Since I've been in the "health-kick" business of late I haven't made many cakes, but late last week I was up to my elbows in butter cream frosting, making 72 total cupcakes for two different parties.

It's fun to decorate cakes. I like dying the frosting to just the right color, choosing the tip that will make an ordinary cupcake into a tiny, edible work of art. (OK, so "art" is being dramatic. But they are cute.)

The first two dozen cupcakes were for a ladybug-themed baby shower.

The ladybugs were made of a new concoction Wilton dreamed up called "Sugar Sheets," which is basically edible decorating paper. The closest way to describe Sugar Sheets are less sticky fruit roll ups. They were pretty cool and easy to work with.

The next 48 cupcakes were for a four-year-old birthday party. These turned out well and were really fun to make.

The Hello Kitties were sugar candies. (And thank goodness for that...I would still be decorating those things right now if I did the kitties by hand.)

So, after using 12 cups of powdered sugar, 1 1/2 sticks of butter, and 2 blocks of cream cheese in just the frosting (we're not even going to talk about the cakes), I feel like I need some absolution this morning.

Here is a recipe for Chocolate, Zucchini, Sweet Potato Cake. It's perfect for the health-conscious Mom of a one-year-old who doesn't want to send her kid into sugar-and-artifical-ingredient shock at the first birthday party. This is a dense, lightly sweet cake that really doesn't taste "healthy" despite the zucchini and sweet potato.

The bad news is that I don't have a similarly reduced fat or sugar frosting. So my advice there is: don't use so much. You probably can get by with 1/4 to 1/2 inch of frosting on the cake instead of the towering inch of frosting on those cupcakes in the pictures up there.


Chocolate, Zucchini, Sweet Potato, Cake
Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose or cake flour
• 1/2 cup wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 1 cup grated sweet potato 
• 3 TB Water 
• 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped (optional)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter and flour a pan (Bundt, 9 x 11 or two 9-inch round cake pans).
3. Sift together first 7 ingredients.
4. Set aside.
5. In a mixer mix oil, applesauce, sugar, honey. Add eggs and vanilla.
6. Mix dry ingredients into egg mixture then add buttermilk and water.
7. Stir in remaining ingredients.
8. Pour into pan and bake till toothpick comes out clean. (Time will vary based on pan used: for 9 x 11 or 9-inch round pans start checking at about 25 minutes.)
   
   
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