I am writing this sitting on the floor of my friends’ dorm room, about to start my junior year of college tomorrow.

In my mind, however, I am still in summer mode. I am still dreaming of long days at the beach and tomato picking and bonfires.

I’m really not ready to give that up yet.

While I love school, I have always felt like a summer baby. Maybe it’s because I was born in July, or maybe because I am lucky enough to spend all of my days by the ocean. Either way, I dream of sunny summer afternoons and salty air the entire year, and I don’t ever want to give up that lazy, dreamy feeling. I don’t think I will– I will pretend it’s summer until I officially have to put on a sweatshirt and sweatpants to go to the beach.

This cake is inspired by my favorite season. It uses zucchini, perhaps the epitome of overgrown summer vegetation. The result is a ridiculously moist, fresh, warm cake. The frosting is a goat cheese frosting–– slightly tangier than a normal cream cheese frosting. And the glaze is a simple lemon glaze, perfectly bright and citrus-y. Each element of this cake is easy to make, just as all summer cooking should be. I decorated this cake with the beautiful simplicity of summer in mind as well. There is no fancy piping work, no crumb coat, no food dye or sprinkles. I went out to my garden and picked fresh flowers to top the cake, and candied some lemons as well. The result is a beautiful, casual, and easy cake– a perfect cap to my (official) summer break.

This recipe for this cake is from Layered, by Tessa Huff. It is a beautiful book with lots of pictures, recipes, and tricks for cake baking. I highly recommend it!

Happy cake-ing, happy summer, and happy school!