What do excess zucchini and a bored, unwell 4 year old have in common? Elise’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake over at Simply Recipes! This made for a fun Sunday afternoon project, and we’ve been happily nibbling the delicious results all week. It has a wonderful chocolate flavor, and stays moist and not too dense. Lisl was worried that the zucchini might give it a vegetable-y flavor, but one taste and she was sold.
At first I was scouring Elise’s post and comments in puzzlement that the grated zucchini was not squeezed to remove the water, but indeed it is not necessary — the recipe already accounts for the moisture. Note that in the below ingredients, posted for my own future reference, I halved the amount of orange zest used.
I heartily recommend that you pop over to Simply Recipes to read the post and directions.
Chocolate & Zucchini Cake
2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
I made the chocolate zucchini cake recipe from this month’s Gourmet magazine, it was light and excellent. Just had a slice!
I like the addition of orange peel in Elise’s recipe, but I am too lazy to frost a cake! You know that!
That looks pretty luscious, and I think I have all the ingredients, and certainly plenty of zucchini. I’ve made a quick bread that has cinnamon and whole wheat flour, which it quite good. No squeezing of the grated zucchini there either, and the results are great.
looks amazing – what a tempting cake!! wish i had a slice right now….
I remember making this with a monster courgette whose owner had entirely forgotten about and which had wildly outgrown decent courgette proportions. The cocoa-rgette cake saved the day. Unlike my pun, unfortunately (sigh).
Made this Saturday and it is such a light, moist cake. Great consistency. I also am too lazy to ice a cake and my husband knows it. He suggested to dust it with powdered sugar. Since it is so moist, I dusted it just before serving, and it looked divine.
I am making this! It looks fantastic. i just got 5 good sized zucchini and I need to makes something from it…..
THANKS SO MUCH
It might be beneficial for those who don’t bake on a regular basis to include the cooking time & temperature perhaps?