Charlie, my 3 year old son, is obsessed with the color “dark blue.”  He has taken the ‘favorite color’ thing to a whole new level. When he’s pretending to be a superhero, and I ask “Oh, are you Super Charlie?” he replies “No! I’m Dark Blue Charlie!”  He has three pair of dark blue underpants, and God help me if there isn’t a clean pair, because he doesn’t want to wear any in the white, gray, or green variety.  All shoes must be dark blue, and here he is when I had the audacity to serve his milk in a cup with a green lid because the dark blue lid was already in use.  It’s hard to be 3.

Anyway, there is a point to this story.  Charlie thinks he likes blueberries, at least, he really wants to like them- but he doesn’t.  He just knows they are dark blue.  Every time he is asked what kind of fruit he wants, he answers “Blueberries!” but then he eats one of them and doesn’t finish.  He also requests blueberry muffins, blueberry yogurt, blueberry bagels- you name it, he requests it, but then doesn’t finish.  And the joke is on me because even though I don’t particularly like fresh blueberries to eat (unless they are baked in something) I continue to buy them for some reason.

So, yesterday I found myself with an abundance of fresh blueberries and a ton of zucchini, so I decided to make a nice breakfast cake for my husband to take into work today.

There’s something about eating a “cake” made with zucchini in it that just makes me feel a little less guilty.  Sure, it’s still full of sugar, eggs, and fat, but at least we are getting some veggies in, right?

This cake is moist, sweet, and lightly spiced.  It goes perfectly with a lovely cup of tea or coffee.

And it’s Dark Blue Charlie approved.  But probably just because of the frosting.

Recipe adapted from I am Baker

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups of shredded zucchini (use a food processor or cheese grater)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups of fresh blueberries

Glaze:
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest or lemon extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line a 16×10 pan with a parchment paper sling and spray with non-stick spray. (Alternatively you can use a 9×13 pan- your cake with just be a tad thicker than mine and have to cook for a few minutes longer.)

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, and sugar.  Add the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until just combined.  Your batter will be SUPER thick.

Fold in the zucchini.  The moisture from this will thin out your batter some.  It will still be a thick batter.

Gently fold in the blueberries.  Spread into your prepared pan.

Bake 25-30 minutes (longer if using a 9×13 pan) until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Mix glaze ingredients together and spread over the top of the warm cake.  Cool and serve.  Enjoy!