Worst Mom Ever

Let's start by saying that I'm pretty excited for the Somerville Winter Farmers Market tomorrow, because ... our forty pounds of squash? That I had in a cooler on the back porch? We'd eaten most of them, but some snow got in the cooler over the holidays, and when I checked it, there were three slightly molding kabocha squashes standing in four inches of water.

We rescued them and peeled and chopped the good parts, and so we had lots of squash puree in the refrigerator.

Simultaneously, I'd agreed to make a birthday cake for my housemate's six-year-old. I think you can guess where I'm going with this ... 

I did my due diligence and asked the Internet if there was such a thing as squash cake. But since the first recipe I found 1) used summer squash, and 2) used it raw and chopped instead of cooked and pureed, I decided to disregard all instruction. (Here's a recipe I found later that actually would have made sense for my ingredients.)

My plan, instead, was to make my standard carrot cake, substituting squash for carrots. That plan lasted until I realized that squash puree is completely unlike grated carrots. Vaguely recalling that some low-fat cake recipes substitute applesauce for vegetable oil, I substituted squash puree for the oil in the recipe.

Because when better to try an untested improvised low-fat vegetable-based cake than when you actually have the chance to ruin someone's birthday?

The cake came out extra moist and a little flatter than I would have liked, but certainly passable. (The frosting is leftover cinnamon cream cheese filling.)

The birthday girl didn't seem to mind, especially when distracted with her presents of pea shoots and spinach.