In which it's Dad's birthday, and there's CAKE (and zucchini and blackberries...)

My dad is diabetic, so he doesn't get dessert very often.

But birthdays are special occasions!  So I made him a no-sugar treat that also uses some plentiful farm ingredients.  

I figured y'all would want the recipes (since many of you have the same plentiful ingredients available right now), so I tacked them to the bottom of this post.

Agave-chocolate-zucchini-orange cake

We topped the cake with no-sugar ice cream from the store.


75 years as a professional musician has given Dad plenty of lung power!

Then we topped the ice cream with blackberry sauce.

We are having a FABULOUS blackberry year, thanks to intermittent sunshine/rain days this summer.


For extra decadence, heat up the blackberry sauce before serving.
Small helpful dog, optional

Are you hungry yet?  Here are the recipes:

Agave-Chocolate-Zucchini-Orange Cake
1 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup butter or vegetable oil
3/4 cup applesauce
3 eggs
1 Tbl vanilla
1/2 cup yogurt
3-4 cups zucchini (however much zuke you got!)
2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
couple shakes of cinnamon
orange peel to taste

350 degree oven.
Combine wet ingredients in large bowl.  Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then stir everything together until well mixed.  Bake 40 minutes or so, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  I baked mine in a glass pie pan (all I had available) and it puffed up prettily.


Blackberry Sauce
blackberries (as many as you have)
lemon juice  (to preserve the bright color, a couple tablespoons is plenty)
agave to taste

Dump blackberries and lemon juice in a big pot (I used the soup pot) and heat gently until the berries soften and the juice releases.  Continue to simmer and reduce until it's the consistency you like.  Use a blender or food processor if you want really smooth sauce (you can also sieve out seeds if you have that much time on your hands).  Add agave until sweetness is sufficient.  This stuff can be canned if you want to keep it for winter, or keep it in the 'fridge for several weeks.  A nice topping for ice cream, pancakes, oatmeal, and anything else you can think of.

Comments

  1. i don't know any type 2 diabetics and am curious how they differentiate their sugars. i'm following a keto diet for my hypoglycemia and for me sugar from fruit is the same as sugar from the cane, the corn, and the bees.

    i learned in medic training that legumes are the best food for diabetics but i see them as fast acting carb to sugar so please enlighten me.

    wish you were here. you'd be so proud of our 1-2 centimeter large tomatoes and some plant that is not a zucchini so must be a cucumber. and the single zucchini that is alive, but not doing anything interesting yet. yay for 1 cm dark green tomatoes!

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