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The Garden House (Devon, England)

The destinations are beginning to blur but looking at the tour guide booklet, I see that we are now in Plymouth. Today, we visited two gardens designed by Keith Wiley.  The first is The Garden House , where Wiley worked as Head Gardener for 25 years (from 1978-2003). The 10-acre estate was purchased in the 1940s by former Eton schoolmaster Lionel Fortescue and his wife Katherine. It was formerly home to the  vicars of Buckland Monachronum. The Fortescue's renovated the gardens and ran a market garden business and raised cattle.  The remains of some of the original buildings in the vicarage still stand in the garden and serve as a romantic backdrop in the Walled Garden - I loved the way they had massed ferns together. Just stunning! Surrounding the walled garden and venturing out away from the house are more naturalistic plantings  - Today, the head gardener is Nick Haworth, who was previously head gardener at Greenway , which we visited earlier.  Keith Wiley lef...
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Chocolate Zucchini Cake



Our neighbor gave us a huge zucchini a few days ago, the first of the season. It was enough to make my go-to recipe - Zucchini Bread - and enough left over for another recipe. I just saw this in the latest issue of Mother Earth News and decided to try it. It turned out quite good although a little dry. I do intend to try it again because it was quite good.

One change I made was to reduce the sugar. It calls for 2 cups (!). I used half sugar and half brown sugar. In the future, perhaps applesauce would be a good substitution for one of the cups.

The frosting is simple and divine!

Deep Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cake
(adapted from Mother Earth News, August 2020)

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate (chopped)
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup white sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar)
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream
3 cups grated zucchini, drained, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350. Butter or spray a 9 x 13 pan.

Melt the chocolate with 1/2 cup of the butter over simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In a mixing bowl, beat the remaining 1/2 cup of butter and the sugars until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well.

Add the melted chocolate mixture and the vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture a little at a time alternately with the buttermilk until just combined.

Fold in the zucchini.

Pour the batter into the baking pan and smooth the top. Bake for 40 - 55 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Cool the cake completely before frosting.

Frosting

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 TBS. butter
1/4 cup brewed coffee
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate and the butter over simmering water (or in the microwave).

Stir in the coffee and the vanilla extract.

Place the powdered sugar in a large mixer bowl and slowly add the chocolate mixture, beating until smooth.


Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
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