Chocolate Zucchini Cakes

I love zucchini. I have to say that when I go to a hibachi restaurant, when it comes to the contents, zucchini takes the cake as my favorite item. When cooked just enough to leave it with a little crunch, I find it to be fantastic. Of course, you may not think of cake or even dessert in general when you think of this green squash, but the sweet Zucchini Bread is something I grew very fond up as my grandmother made it often. 

Recently, a family member sent me a photo of a chocolate zucchini cake. As I've been on this quest to make healthier versions of everything I like that is terrible for me, trying it was a no brainer. She is quite the baker, and is the same person who shared the lovable Coconut Cupcakes recipe with me. Besides the creation of delightful confections, she is also quite the decorator - that is a task that I envy greatly since I consider anything beyond a basic frosting job to be terrifying. I create ugly little monsters when I try to get artistic. It's not pretty.

When I saw this cake and the fact it had a pretty little glaze-type ganache on top instead of pretty details, I knew this was the cake for me.\

It all starts with some fresh grated zucchini. I used 3 small zucchinis, which turned into about 3 cups of grated squash.

The cake batter was a mix of the squash, applesauce, and your basic cake ingredients - flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and eggs. It was very liquidy when all mixed and that is okay.

I decided to bake a combination of mini bundts and cupcakes. Though I make cakes on occasion, I prefer the sharability of cupcakes and mini cakes. Rather than sharing a hunk of a cake, you can share a pretty, all-in-one dessert.

The thing you probably did not consider when thinking of a zucchini cake is the moisture. And oh my does this cake retain moisture! To many, a squash cake probably sounds pretty terrible. Some may not believe me when I say this, but seriously, you would never know there is squash in here. I've made these kind of veggie dishes before (see: Black Bean Cookies) and have determined that cocoa powder is quite the mask for veggies. I brought these to share with some family and everybody enjoyed them, which made me feel especially good given my grandmother's baking history. Yay squash!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2-3 zucchinis, grated (2-3 cups grated zucchini)

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tablespoons butter, softened

3 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips

For the glaze:

3/4 cup chocolate chips

3 tablespoons butter

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Gently press zucchini between some paper towels to absorb excess liquid. In a large bowl, mix sugar, eggs, zucchini, butter, and vanilla.Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips until just combined. Pour the batter into cupcake pans or a bundt cake pan. For cupcakes, bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. For a bundt pan, bake for about 1 hour.

To make the glaze, mix chocolate chips and butter in a small microwavable bowl. Heat at 50% power for about 30-45 seconds, then stir and repeat until chocolate is melted. Gently spoon over cooled cake.