This time of year, I start getting free veggies from friends. Even at work, people bring in their excess squashes and other veggies. I happily partake. This recipe come about because one of our friends gave us a summer squash. I had to figure out what to do with it. I love squash sautéed with olive oil and garlic, but that is too much work right now. The standard squash savory recipes I looked up weren’t speaking to me. A sweet recipe, on the other hand, did. Cindy Brempong on All Recipes had a recipe for Zucchini Bars with Spice Frosting and I knew I had to make it. A one bowl wonder that would be a great use for this summer squash. This cake contains a cream cheese frosting, which I will make vegan and sugar free. I will be using the vegan cream cheese recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie to swap for the cream cheese in the frosting part of this recipe. This cake is similar to zucchini bread, which I love. These recipe for snack cakes have been really good because you can get a piece of cake without the fussiness of layers and perfect frosting.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I replaced the flour with almond and coconut flours to reduce the carbs.
• I replace the sugar in the recipe with sweetener equivalents to reduce the carbs.
• I replaced the cream cheese frosting with a vegan recipe.
• I replace the butter with unsweetened applesauce to lower the fat and calories.
• I increased the servings from 16 to 20 to lower the calories

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Summer Squash Bars with Spice Frosting

Serves 20

Frosting

• 1 recipe Vegan Cream Cheese
• 1 cup powdered sweetener
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

Cake

• 1 ⅓ cups packed brown sugar substitute
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 cups shredded summer squash
• 1 cup chopped walnuts