Rich Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I love baking with zucchini!  It's nice to add a healthy element to a treat, especially when no one  can even tell!  I made this amazing Zucchini Cake for my family party and it was gone within minutes!  Only 1 person even noticed there was zucchini in it. You seriously almost can not tell at all.  But it makes it super moist which is always a good thing!


This cake is a little different than most cakes and in a really good way!  The texture is more brownie like than cake-y and I love that. As you bite into it you get a little chocolate crunch from the chocolate chips you add in it. And the frosting is amazing! It's not really even frosting it's just a layer of melted chocolate chips. I love how it hardens and so you get the slight hard crunch as you bite into the cake. This cake is for sure one of my go-to birthday cakes now. Mmm!

Rich Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Slightly adapted from from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

½ cup vegetable oil

1 ¾ cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

½ cup sour cream,  buttermilk, or yogurt

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup cocoa (or Dutch-process cocoa)

3 cups shredded zucchini (about one 10” zucchini)

½ cup chocolate chips

Icing:

1 cup chocolate chips     

                                                                                                                                                               

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Lightly grease a 9” X 13” pan.  In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until smooth.  Beat in the eggs.  Stir in the sour cream, buttermilk, or yogurt alternately with the flour.  Add the cocoa, mixing until smooth.  Fold in the zucchini and ½ cup chocolate chips.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes, until the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set. To ice the cake: Slide the cake out of the oven, sprinkle it evenly with the 1 cup chocolate chips, and return it to the oven for 5 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove the cake from the oven, and use a rubber spatula to spread the chocolate chips into a smooth glaze. Add sprinkles if desired.  Let cool.

Yield: 24 servings.


*Note- It can be difficult to get a smooth finish icing the cake with just the chocolate chips. If you want a nice smooth finish you can melt 1 1/3 cup chocolate chips in the microwave or the stove-top along with 7 tablespoons half and half. Stir until smooth and spread over the completely cooled cake.