Zucchini, Orange & Banana Slice

The ZOB Slice! Another way to use up leftover icing from store-bought cake mixes.

My Aunt was telling me about a gluten-free zucchini slice she was planning to make for a Christmas gathering, so I decided to make one to use up a packet of icing left over from making an apple slice. Wanting to also use up some oranges and bananas, I combined a number of recipes and used the Chocolate Carrot and Ginger Slice to develop thia ZOB slice.

Makes 24 squares

Times

Preparation:

30 minutes

Cooking:

30 minutes plus 20 minutes for the butter cream icing

Ingredients

• For the slice:
  • 1½ cups (148g) gluten-free plain flour
  • ¼ cup stevia (or try ¾ cups sugar)
  • 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 2 Tbs (40ml) olive oil
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ cup (60ml) orange juice
  • 2 tsp orange zest
  • 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large bananas, 148g)
  • 1 cup grated zucchini (about 127g)
• Icing mix from a store-bought vanilla cake mix, or for a buttercream icing:
  • ³/₈ cup milk
  • 1 Tbs gluten-free plain flour
  • ½ cup softened butter
  • ½ cup caster sugar
  • 1 tsp orange juice
  • Orange zest (optional, approximately 1-2 Tbs)

Method

1. Make the slice:
   1. Preheat oven to 170°C (340°F).
   2. Sift flour, stevia, bicarbonate of soda, and spices into a large bowl and gently whisk to combine.
   3. In a separate bowl, mix oil, eggs, orange juice and orange zest. Add bananas and zucchini.
   4. Gently fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined.
   5. Line or grease a slice tin (27cm x 17.5cm x 3.5cm) and pour batter into tin.
   6. Bake for about 30 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.
   7. Leave in tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
2. Make the icing:
   • For store-bought icing, prepare the icing per manufacturer's instructions.
   • For a butter cream icing:
     1. Make a serving of the buttercream icing as described in the buttercream icing recipe, replacing the vanilla extract with the orange juice.
     2. Optionally, stir orange zest into icing mix or sprinkle orange zest on top of the slice after icing it.
3. Spread icing over cool slice and then cut slice into 24 pieces.