Being the competitive person I am (AND suddenly having a craving for a Chocolate Zucchini Cake) I set out to find a good recipe to try to make a GREAT chocolate zucchini cake. First, I should say that my passion is real, healthy food and COOKING, not baking. So, this was a little out of the ordinary for me. I googled "chocolate zucchini cake" and eventually came to this recipe below. The pictures of it on the "Gimme some oven" blog were enough to convince me I needed to make this one work, even though I was out of whole wheat flour.
*You can find the recipe in its original entirety by clicking HERE.
I will list the actual recipe below so you can see it all in one place, BUT you should know I made a few tweaks to it after finding out we had no more whole wheat grain (we have our own flour mill). Here is what I changed, just in case you find yourself in the same I-am-out-of-whole-wheat predicament that I was in:
For the cake part (I also used a 9x13 pan instead of the bundt pan):
*I used 2 1/2 cups of freshly ground spelt flour instead of whole wheat
Since I have learned that spelt flour absorbs more liquid that whole wheat flour and since it is a bit more dense and therefore doesn't rise as well, I also:
* used sucanat instead of brown sugar
* used a little bit more than 1/2 cup of buttermilk (somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 cup)
* used 1 HEAPING tsp of baking soda as well as 1 HEAPING tsp of baking powder (instead of just 1 regular tsp of each)
For the frosting/glaze part:
I used 8oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips
I used the ingredients she has listed EXCEPT for the honey as it was sweet enough
Here's a picture of the finished product and the recipe below it. Instead of the olive oil, next time I make it I think I will try coconut oil in its place (sorry for the bad picture, I only had my cell phone handy):
The below is copied from: http://gimmesomeoven.com/chocolate-zucchini-cake/
Ingredients:Cake Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 3 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Chocolate Glaze Ingredients:
- 8 ounces dark or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
- 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsp. milk
- 1 Tbsp. honey
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Method:
To Make Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour a bundt pan, and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and olive oil. Add the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the zucchini. Add the dry ingredients, stirring until they are just incorporated and evenly moistened. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Transfer the batter to the prepared bundt pan, and bake the cake for about 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (or with just a few wet crumbs). Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 – 15 minutes. Then, invert the cake onto wire rack to cool completely. Top with the chocolate glaze, or dust with powdered sugar before serving.
To Make Chocolate Glaze:
In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter together over medium low heat, stirring continually. Remove from heat, then stir in milk, honey and vanilla. Let cool 1-2 minutes, then serve warm.
Ali’s Tip: Be sure not to drain/strain the moisture out of the zucchini for this recipe! Many baking recipes have you try and take out the zucchini’s moisture before add it in with other ingredients, but cakes rely on it (in place of extra oil) to keep the cake nice and moist. :)
