Chocolate? Zucchini? For serious?

I came across this recipe in my zucchini travels, and I was very, very curious to try it out. Turns out, zucchini can do wonders for the texture of chocolate cake. Weird, right?

I actually made the “cake” in two bread pans and passed it off as chocolate zucchini “bread.” Amazing how the perception of “bread” can actually convince people to eat cake for breakfast!

Anyway, here’s the recipe.

¾ cup softened butter, more for greasing the pan
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp grated orange peel
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
2 ½ cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
½ cup cocoa
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Glaze (directions follow)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch tube or bundt pan or (two bread pans), and dust with flour.

Beat together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, alternating with additions of the milk. Stir in the nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

If you want to add the glaze, the recipe says to mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tbsp milk, and 1 tsp vanilla, whisk until smooth, and drizzle over the cake. I didn’t use the glaze since I was passing it off as bread, but the glaze would add a nice touch to a cake!

I really liked how moist this cake came out. I would probably add more orange zest and cinnamon next time. And maybe grind the nuts finely to not upset the smooth, rich texture. Mmm…