The Market's Spring Fling Cake

*Kathy*'s Note:

The Market, located at 1445 Larimar Street, Denver, Colorado makes this fabulous cake. We first had the cake at a birthday party for our friend (Mary). It was so good that I had to search for the recipe, and found it in an old Rocky Mountain News article. The RMN no longer publishes a newspaper, so I'm saving the recipe here.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 50 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

Cake

• 2 ½ cups shredded zucchini (the zucchini was very finely shredded)
• 5 eggs
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pinch salt

Frosting

• ¾ cup cream cheese , at room temperature
• ¼ cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Fruit for the Cake

• 1 pint strawberry , cleaned, stemmed, and sliced
• 4 kiwi fruits , peeled and sliced
• 2 mangoes , peeled and sliced
• 1 pint blueberries
• apricotglaze (optional) or apricot jam , thinned with a bit of warm water (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour a 10 inch cake pan.
3. Cake: In a large mixing bowl, combine shredded zucchini, eggs, sugar, oil, sour cream, and vanilla.
4. Combine the DRY ingredients in another bowl; then add to zucchini mixture.
5. Batter will be rather wet and easy to pour. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 50-70 minutes.
6. Cool on rack 10 minutes, then remove cake from pan. (Note: The cake can be made a day prior and refrigerated).
7. Frosting: Whip cream cheese with butter until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing until combined.
8. In another bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff, then fold the whipped cream and 1/2 t vanilla into the frosting mixture.
9. Assemble Cake: Cut cooled cake in half lengthwise (creating two layers). You can cut the cake into three layers, like they do at The Market.
10. Spread frosting over the first layer, add a layer of fruit (repeat if you are making a three-layer cake).
11. Put on the top layer and frost. The sides of the cake are NOT frosted.
12. Arrange fruit in circles (or your preferred design) over entire top of the cake, slightly overlapping the fruit. Spread apricot glaze over fruit with a pastry brush.