Sunday, September 23, 2012

SUNDAY COOK: CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

So - do you have zucchini in your garden? At the local farmer's market?

We planted them in our garden this year - a little late though so we weren't all that hopeful that we would see much of a crop....

BUT LOOK!

We have a TON of zucchini - most still small but a few really BIG ones - who knew! We have rarely checked the plants in the last while and so weren't we surprised to find a few really good sized ones. 

UGH!

Now - what to do with them. The main thing we use zucchini for are in our stir fries - we love them grilled or fried. But since we are a bit low on treats, and I DID want to do some last minute baking, I thought that a zucchini loaf or cake was the thing to bake today. I've never actually made it before if you can imagine.


Zucchini everywhere!


We have 4 or 5 plants - I have a feeling we'll have a lot of zucchini to take with us when we leave next week.

So - here we go!


Like most things these days I found this recipe on pinterest. Have you been to my pinterest boards lately - you can find me hanging out there most everyday. Take a look if you have a chance - I have some great stuff pinned over there!

The recipe I found is for two 5 x 9 loaf pans - since I only have one pan and I thought two loafs would be two much for us to eat in the next week, I halved the recipe. Here is the original recipe from Babble.

CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI LOAF

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla

1 packed cup of grated zucchini (peel on)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter one 9x5 inch loaf pan.


Great looking zucchini - I barely dented it with this recipe.


In a large bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 
Have your assistant stir it well for you.


Grate the zucchini. Remember - you don't need to remove the peel.


Measure out the eggs. Want to know how I deal with halving three eggs? I'm sure everyone has their own technique. Me? I beat them all in a measuring cup - these three eggs worked out to almost 2/3 cups - I then measured out 1/3 cup for the recipe. 

Because we feed Roofous a raw food diet which sits in a container in the fridge I just added it to his dinner. Otherwise I guess you could scramble the rest for a quick snack.


In a medium bowl, beat the sugar and the eggs until light and fluffy. Add the oil and vanilla.


I quickly ran out to see what Derek was doing while us girls were in the kitchen. What else?! Getting the van ready for our trip. Derek has been a busy little beaver - he's been scraping, prepping, painting, uncaulking and recaulking and here washing and waxing. 

I'll be posting on our camper renos and packing this week.


Back to the loaf. Hmmmm wondering what Cassia has her eyes on? 


Why the dark chocolate of course. It had actually been sitting on the table from the beginning - she was more then happy to get it out of the cabinet for me.


Do you think she had an ulterior motive - who can say no to this face!?


Not me!


Add the wet ingredients along with the zucchini and chocolate to the dry ingredients. 
Stir just until combined. 


Pour into loaf pan. Bake 50 - 60 minutes or until the top is cracked and springy to the touch.


YES! It does taste as good as it looks - not much left now!

Boy - did it feel good to get some baking done today. With all the busyness in the parks and with packing I haven't done much. 

I hope to get ONE MORE Sunday Cook in next week. The gates lock here at 11:00 am Monday October 1 - almost 7 days left for us here. Yippeeee!!! (I know I do go on about that but we are just so happy to be almost done!)

Teresa

TODAY'S INTERESTING LINK: Speaking of chocolate ...... I found Camels & Chocolate a little while ago - the name sure got my attention when I was on a travel site with the link. Kristen is a travel writer and has sure been to her fair share of destinations - take a look.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...