Baking with vegetables

winterybella

winterybella

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These days it seems like everywhere I turn there is baking that calls for some sort of vegetable. As a child I felt like baking was about flour, sugar, butter, milk and spices. Granted you'd hear about a carrot cake but in my case that was something in a box. Today there is carrot cake, squash cake and the list goes on and on. What are some of the vegetables you might have baked with or will likely try in the future? What can you share about baking with vegetables generally?
 
My sister makes this awesome chocolate zucchini cake and she also makes zucchini bread. Both are really good. I was hesitate about the chocolate cake made with zucchini but it was really quite good. Another thing I have seen come up on a few health sites lately is broccoli muffins and bread. Vegetables do seem to be making a name for themselves lately. I have never made any of them, aside from carrot cake which is a favorite.
 
That's one of the new ones for me- Zucchini cakes of all kinds. Truth of the matter is that zucchini is not such a popular vegetable around here and it can be quite expensive. When I first heard of the Zucchini cake a friend of mine said he tasted, it came as a bit of surprise to me that there was even such a cake. I looked it up and it was everywhere on Pinterest with many variations.
 
I've heard of people making chocolate cakes with shredded beetroot in them, and with avocado added (I can understand that one, since I guess it would just give the product a creamier consistency). Squash also seems to be getting its' moment in the spotlight, I've seen squash pies and squash breads becoming popular - giving pumpkin a run for its' money!
 
I'm not much with vegetables because people in our house are not keen on that although they like carrot cake. But the problem with carrot cake is.. I do not know how, hahahaaa. One cake they liked here is banana cake. What I use is a mix of banana and plantain with the all-purpose flour, sugar, and butter. That simple recipe, oh, I forgot the milk, sorry. Anyway, baking banana cake is nice because of the aroma that fills the entire house. And the taste? Ask them... gone in an instant.
 
I am with you on the Banana cake. I made two loaves in the last couple weeks. I had tried a carrot cake from scratch but it was not great at all. It left me quite sad. While I was checking out the vegetable cake I saw beetroot related cakes and that came as a surprise to me. I am guessing you can make a cake with almost any vegetable these days.
 
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Personally I think making cakes with vegetables is somewhat over-rated. Granted, it could be a good way to get kids to eat vegetables. But this is offset by the 'bad' sugar! Beetroot I have tried and don't think it adds anything except colour. Perhaps I just haven't experimented enough. But somehow, I'm not chomping at the bit to get going on this one. I mean, well.... kale cake anyone...

KaleAppleCake-1024x682.jpg
 
Well, in most cases, vegetables are hidden in the product and you don't even know they are there. I have made chocolate chip cookies with chick peas and you would never realize they are in there. Also, many vegetables can be added to traditional foods to lower the calorie content, and boost the fiber. I don't know about your country, but we need to do all we can here to boost fiber, cut carbs and lower calories.
 
winterybella said:
I am with you on the Banana cake. I make two loaves in the last couple weeks. I had tried a carrot cake from scratch but it was not great at all. It left me quite sad. While I was checking out the vegetable cake I saw beetroot related cakes and that came as a surprise to me. I am guessing you can make a cake with almost any vegetable these days.
Click to expand...
Even Sprouts!
 
I have often and very successfully used black beans, white beans (of any type) and even kidney beans in my brownie recipe. You can't tell it has beans on it or that they make up a large part of the brownies.
www.cookingbites.com/threads/vegan-black-bean-brownies.27/

Courgette, carrots and potatoes in baked goods are also quite frequent. Avocado, banana and apples are others that turn up frequently as well.
 
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