Spring Fling Cake from The Market in Larimer Square

This is a recipe for the Spring Fling cake sold at The Market at Larimer Square.  It is a very unusual zucchini-based cake frosted with a whipped cream and cream cheese icing and topped with an abundance of fresh fruit.  The first time I had the cake was for a celebration at work.  I didn’t realize the cake cost $150 for the full sheet.  This recipe is for the 10 inch round that retails for $50.  When I lived in Lodo, I frequently walked over to The Market to buy a slice.  A slice cost just under $7.  I think it’s worth every penny.

The cake itself is not hard to make.  It just requires gathering many ingredients together.  The Market usually tops their cake with strawberries, mango, kiwi, black grapes and mandarin oranges. I omitted the blueberries listed in the recipe because I don’t ever recall having blueberries on my cake.  I consulted the picture on The Market's website and I didn't spot a single blueberry.  I also subbed blackberries for the black grapes because I was feeling it.

The recipe below was published by the Rocky Mountain News.   It calls for a 10 inch round cake pan.  I didn’t have a 10 inch round so I used a 10 inch scalloped pan instead.  I’ve also successfully used this recipe for cupcakes by filling the pan about three quarters full.

EDIT: December 2017 

I've been having trouble baking this cake since I moved from Denver to San Diego.  Initially, I blamed it on the oven but other cakes and breads come out fine. I then moved from baking it in my 10 inch Fat Daddios aluminum cake pan to two 8 inch Fat Daddios aluminum pan and finally to two 9 inch Calphalon nonstick pans.  Nothing made a difference.  The cake tasted fine but the texture was gummy and almost uncooked. 

I read and reread the recipe, trying to figure it out why the cake failed.  From the comments below, it looks like others ran into the same problem. It is not a particularly fragile cake so it's shouldn't be so finicky. Then it clicked! The amount of leavening for 3 1/4 cups of flour seems really low. The paltry amount of leavening worked fine at 5,280 feet above sea level but was not enough for sea level.  I tested it out by making half the recipe and doubling the baking powder and soda and it worked! I probably need to tinker with the recipe a bit more but for now, it works.


Spring Fling Cake

Serves 12 to 14

2 ½ cups shredded zucchini
5 eggs
1 ¼ cups sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
½ tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (for frosting)
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda (increase to 2 teaspoons at sea level)
½ teaspoon baking powder (increase to 1 teaspoon at sea level)
Pinch of salt
For frosting:
¾ cup cream cheese
¼ cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
½ cup heavy cream

Fruit for cake:
1 pint strawberries, cleaned, stemmed and sliced
4 kiwi fruit , peeled and sliced
2 mangoes, peeled and sliced
1 pint blackberries or black grapes
1 can mandarin oranges, drained (optional)
Apricot glaze, or apricot jelly thinned out with a bit of warm water (optional)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a round 10-inch cake pan.

• To prepare the cake: Shred the zucchini in a food processor. In a large mixing bowl combine shredded zucchini, eggs, sugar, oil, sour cream and ½ tablespoon vanilla.

• When thoroughly mixed, combine all dry ingredients and add to bowl; mix well. Batter should be fairly wet and easy to pour.

• Pour in the batter and bake for 50 to 70 minutes, testing with a toothpick in center.

• Cool finished cake on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and allow it to cool completely. (You can make the cake a day ahead and refrigerate.)

• To prepare frosting, whip room temperature cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing until well combined.

• In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff, and then fold it and the ½ teaspoon vanilla into the frosting. Do not overmix.  (I think the frosting resembles sweetened condensed milk.)

• To assemble cake: Cut the cooled cake in half lengthwise, making two layers. (The Market cuts the cake into three layers, which you may do if desired.)

• Spread an even layer of frosting over the first layer, and then add a layer of the various fruit pieces (repeat if three layers).

• Put on the top layer of cake and evenly frost. The sides of the cake are not frosted; use extra to fill in, as needed.

• Arrange the fruit in circles all over the top of cake, slightly overlapping fruit pieces.

• To finish: Spread the apricot glaze over fruit on top of the cake with a pastry brush.

Nutritional information per serving: 496 cal., 20 g fat (10 g sat.), 116 mg chol., 73 g carb., 597 mg sodium, 4 g fiber, 9 g pro.

The batter looks like this:

The cake should be nice and golden.

The texture of the cake:

The Market doesn't surround the cake with strawberries but since I wanted more fruit, I went ahead stuck the sliced strawberries on the sides.