This week I was struck out of the blue by a craving for chocolate cake. Not just any chocolate cake, but a seasonal version particular to these height-of-summer-produce days. I wanted a chocolate cake made with that perennial garden overachiever – a rich, moist, chocolate zucchini cake.
Rumor has it that neither my father or I were the biggest fans of zucchini when I was a kid, which left my mother with the challenge of using up the obscene abundance of summer squash in our backyard garden. The perfect solution, of course, was to make an awful lot of zucchini cake, where the offending vegetable would melt demurely into a soft background of chocolate cake and frosting. I looked forward to it every summer, and I’m sure she looked forward to tricking us into eating our green vegetables.
Unfortunately, the chocolate zucchini cake recipe of my childhood memories has long been lost, so to satisfy my craving I had to turn to the internet. I was spoiled for choice – turns out a lot of the English-speaking world has a taste for zucchini/courgette in chocolate cake. Going by pictures, I sifted through layer cakes, sheet cakes, loaf cakes, adorned with powdered sugar, cocoa buttercream, even vanilla frosting. They looked delicious, but not quite right. My mother’s cake was always a simple affair, single layer, baked in a square pan, and frosted with a creamy chocolate icing. The recipe that ultimately caught my eye was a recipe billed as one-bowl, quick, and moist, smothered with a chocolate ganache.
As advertised, this cake is indeed quick and easy, and to describe it as moist and chocolate-y is a vast understatement. The combination of melted chocolate and butter AND zucchini in the batter makes for a cake that verges on the edge of brownie-like. Although the original recipe called for 55% cacao chocolate, I used what I had (semi-sweet 43%) and it was closer to the sweetness level I remembered from my mom’s cake. We tried it the night I made it – at room temperature it was plush and soft, perfect cut into generous squares and enjoyed with a tall glass of milk. But after a night in the fridge, it was a completely different animal – dense and fudgy, and best eaten in smaller doses. Take that information as you will and choose your own adventure!
Intensely Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Slightly adapted from lilvienna.com
Ingredients
- 200g + 150g g chocolate chips (I used 43% cacao, original recipe called for 55%)
- 1 stick (113g) + 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 20g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 150 g white sugar -200 g zucchini (about 1 medium) grated on the small holes of a box grater
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- pinch kosher salt
- 150g all-purpose flour, sifted with 1 tsp baking powder
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9×9 or 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang so you can lift out the cake after its baked.
- Place 1 stick of butter and 200g chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water (do not let water touch bottom of bowl with chocolate and butter). Stir until melted, then remove from heat. (Leave the pan with the simmering water and wash out the bowl, you’ll use them to make the ganache frosting).
- Add the sugar and salt, sift in the cocoa powder and whisk to combine.
- Add the grated zucchini and flour and fold with a rubber spatula just until combined.
- Pour batter into the pan and smooth with an offset spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean, start checking for doneness at 20ish minutes.
- Let cool in the pan 10 minutes, then lift out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.
- To make the ganache frosting, melt remaining 150g chocolate chips and 2 tbsp butter over the pan with simmering water, stirring until smooth. Pour over cooled cake and swirl. Allow to harden (popping in the fridge will speed it along).
- The cake will be a totally different experience depending on the temperature at which you eat it! At room temperature it will be soft and plush, like the richest chocolate cake you’ve ever had. Straight from the fridge it becomes dense and fudge-like, and a little square goes a VERY long way. Choose your own adventure!
