Let Them Eat Cake

As I promised a few weeks ago, when I posted a recipe for Roasted Zucchini with Ricotta and Mint, here’s another idea for what to do with zucchini. If your garden produced a lot of zucchini this year—or you simply love a moist chocolate cake—here’s a recipe you should bookmark to try soon.

I got this recipe from my mother—who got it from Sunset magazine in September 1974—and I grew up having this cake. The version I use is handwritten on a 3-inch-by-5-inch index card—with all of the directions abbreviated in my usual shorthand. I tried to elaborate a bit here to make it easier to follow for someone who doesn’t spend most days cooking.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
2½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 cups shredded zucchini
½ cup milk
1 cup nuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour a bundt pan.

2. Combine dry ingredients (first six) in a medium-sized bowl.

3. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl, then continue beating as you add eggs one at a time. Gently stir in vanilla, orange peel and zucchini.

4. Alternating between wet and dry, add the flour mixture and milk to the large bowl, stirring until the batter is smooth. Then blend in nuts.

5.  Pour the batter into the greased bundt pan and bake for about 90 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

Tina’s Tip: If you still have extra zucchini from your garden, try this twist on giving it away: Use mini bundt pans to make small cakes and present those to your friends instead.

Recipe adapted from Sunset magazine.