Chocolate Zucchini Cake

In a good summer, we grow zucchini, lots of zucchini. I love it baked into breaded rounds, diced and added to pasta or other veggie dishes, fried by the panful. But what I end up doing with most of what our garden grows is shredding the zucchini, tucking it into ziplocks stored in the deep freeze and pulling it out all fall, winter and spring. Those little packets of goodness become muffins, savory pancakes and, of course, chocolate cake. If you haven’t tried it before, it can seem odd to add veggies to your dessert. But the zucchini in this recipe works to make this the moistest cake around. Go ahead. Give it a try.

Cake Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup sunflower or coconut oil
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cake Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease 9″ x 13″ pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, oil, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs.
3. In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, baking powder, salt, cocoa and flour.
4. Add the sour cream or yogurt to the large mixing bowl, alternating with the dry ingredients.
5. Fold in zucchini and chocolate chips.
6. Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 35–40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack.