Simple, warm, spongy Mini Spiced Zucchini Loaves made with spelt flour, go perfectly with afternoon tea but are even better when slightly toasted with morning coffee!
Why do we food bloggers work so hard and put in so much effort to develop recipes? Recipes that already exist in one form or another! I mean why are there so many chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookie recipes out there? And countless brownies and numerous pumpkin pies and myriad banana and zucchini breads?
Is it because all those chocolate cakes disappointed you and so you decided you had to alter it to your palate? Or because you are a creator by nature and you simply had to contribute something that was yours to the internet universe?
I asked myself these questions not while attempting my third mini spiced zucchini loaf but later while eating what
seemed like my 50th piece (it really wasn’t). I couldn’t put my finger on it?
Pinterest is full of zucchini bread, cake, muffin recipes and I can easily open any one of them and bake it. After all someone needs to do the testing as well, right? Ok granted that I wanted to use a slightly healthier mix of spelt and whole wheat. I am pretty sure that lives on some hard-working bloggers baking blog as well. I didn’t even look for it. I was simply determined that I must make my own.
So, 3 attempts later, where I started with a Spiced Apple Zucchini Buttermilk Cake with various other things in it, to this stripped down simpler version, I am left with a bunch of mini loaves in my freezer. I wouldn’t call them failures, they were all pretty tasty, just not the perfect texture. So, you can send me your address and maybe I can mail you early thanksgiving goodies? I might actually wrap them up in some brown paper and twine and bring it to friends and family. It is simple, warm, moist, spongy and goes perfectly with afternoon tea but is even better when slightly toasted with morning coffee!
Notes
- The recipe is pretty forgiving, I tried it with all purpose flour, less spelt and even one bowl method. All produced good results.
- The loaves freeze well and stay moist even after two days on the counter. Keep wrapped.
- If you are looking to replace white all purpose flour in your recipes, this is a brief guide to start off with by Giselle of Exsloth
Mini Spiced Zucchini Loaf
Ingredients – 4 loaves
102g (2/3 cup + 3tbsps) spelt flour
66g (½ cup) whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp ginger
pinch of all spice
1tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
90ml (½ cup) oil
100g (½ cup) brown sugar
46g (3tbsp) granulated sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla
1¼ cups grated zucchini
Make it
- Heat oven to 350F. I use silicone mini loaf molds, if you are using metal ones, butter and dust with flour, or line with parchment.
- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients – the flours, salt, spices, baking powder and soda
- In a small bowl whisk the oil with the sugars, add eggs one at a time, and the vanilla. Whisk till combined.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon till smooth batter forms. Lastly fold in the zucchini.
- Pour equally into the moulds and bake for 28 – 30 mins or till inserted skewer comes out clean.
18 Comments
Totally get it James!! It is crazy but it is so fun and so rewarding when you do come up with something that is your own. Thanks for stopping by!
Jenny, these mini loaves look so good – and the zucchini and spelt situation is awesome! I had a similar situation a few weeks ago with trying to make my own pumpkin bread – I ended up with 7 loaves of pumpkin bread, just because I wanted to make my own recipe rather than follow others!
Thanks Maria. That just made my day! I am rather new to Spelt as well but I am trying to incorporate more of it. It is not too fussy to use like coconut flour.
Thanks Deepika. I am not a big fan of adding veggies to my cakes but zucchini was surprising pleasant. There is no taste and it makes a moist cake.
Awesome photos Jenny! Spelt flour is totally new to me, but looking at these loves, I need to get on board. Sounds amazing:)
The idea of making mini loaves rather than a big loaf is so cute! It’s high time I tried Zucchini in baking..These loaves look so moist with the grated zucchini.. The spices are a great addition with the fall here! Love them!
Haha now I feel like making a mini flag and sticking them on top of these mini loaves!
Totally agree with you about putting our own mark on things! It drives us I suppose. I love minis too!
Thanks Fatimah! Haha i am still now brave enough with baking to throw things in a bowl, but I hope I will get there soon!
Lol I hear you Jolina! Recipe testing equals to weight gain in my world.
Send me your address and I will!!
i very rarely change the chemistry of a recipe, and am more apt to test out a new recipe than tinker with the mechanics of a ho hum one. like you said, there’s so many recipes out there, and i have more fun playing around with flavors than chemistry! but kudos to you for sticking it out and staking a place for yourself in the zucchini spelt loaf world (:
I wonder the same thing too Jenny, especially when I’m considering posting something like, a chocolate chip cookie. It’s almost like why bother? But I guess that’s why we’re bloggers, because we want to put our own mark on things. These are great (I never tire of zucchini recipes) and I love, love all things mini. What a great little treat to bring to a friend’s house!
these are the cutest little cakes! i love how you wrapped them. most of the time i throw things in a bowl and pray they come out good lol but if it’s my first time trying a technique or something complicated i resort to classic recipes and add my twist to them. xx
I hear ya. One time I was recipe testing cheese tarts and I swear I gained so much weight before I got it right LOL!! These look so good. I haven’t incorporated zucchini in my baking yet but now I really, really want to! 🙂
These little loaves of deliciousness look absolutely divine, Jenny! If you wanted to ship me some of your stock, I wouldn’t say no 🙂
Love your thinking Dawn! Let me go grab one from the freezer and eat it with some butter! thanks 🙂
I love zucchini bread, probably cause I get to sneak veg into cake/bread and call it healthy, lol. Seriously, though, this one sounds delish with the spelt flour and love the idea of toasting it and having with tea or coffee (and maybe a smear of butter ;))?