DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI OLIVE OIL CAKE

We live in the MidWest and there is a story about MidWest and Zucchini. Zucchini grows in abundance here. People sometimes did not know what to do with the crop!So we should not be surprised if we find a crate of Zucchini on our doorstep one morning! :) And if I do, which I doubt, since we live in an apartment, I would be more than happy! I'd have another reason to bake! :)

I had 3 main reasons to bake this cake :

1. Our dear friend Cory, has this dream yard full of vegetables and herbs! He even has a herb which tastes like sugar when you chew it's leaves! How cool is that??? So, last week he had dropped by to have some Dosa, Sambar and Garlic n Shallot Chutney with us and this was what he brought for us! A BIG Zucchini,almost the size of hand from his yar :-) I had to use it somehow. So, half of it went into the cake and the rest went on the grill! YUM!

2. I have been getting many requests and questions as to why I am not baking a cake these days! It's not that I have anything against it, it's just that I am enjoying the summer bounty to it's maximum! :)

3. It is a no-butter, vegetable filled cake!

So inorder to satisfy the above mentioned reasons, I baked...a cake...almost after 2 months! :)

I was in a hurry while I baked this cake because we were grilling that night and things were happening side by side. So, there won't be as many pictures as I usually have,but will spare you some that I managed to click during that time.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI OLIVE OIL CAKE
Recipe source: Chocolate & Zucchini


Ingredients:
Flour-2 cups
Cocoa powder-1/2 cup
Baking soda- 1 tsp
Baking powder-1/2 tsp
Salt-1/2 tsp
Light brown sugar- 1 scant cup
Olive oil-1/2 cup
Vanilla extract-1 tsp
Coffee powder-1 tsp
Eggs-3, large
Zucchini- 2 cups, grated (unpeeled)
Chocolate chips-1 cup (I used semi-sweet)
White chocolate- for decoration

Method:

• Whisk together the dry ingredients.
• Combine zucchini, chocolate chips and 1/3 of the flour mixture.
• Beat together the sugar and oil for 2-3 minutes.
• Add in the eggs one by one and beat for a minute after each addition.
• Add in the vanilla extract and coffee powder.
• Fold in the flour till everything is just mixed.
• Add in the flour coated zucchini and chocolate chips and fold in till everything is incorporated.Do not over fold it.
• Pour into a prepared tin ,level the top and bake in a pre heated oven at 180C/ 350 F for 45-50 minutes or till the skewer inserted comes out clean.
• Let it cool in the tin for 10 mins , then demould it and cool completely on a wire rack.
• Drizzle melted white chocolate over the cake.

Verdict:
This is a super moist cake with teeny weeny bits of green in it. It is hardly noticeable, but sharp eyes like mine can! I really loved the deep deep chocolate-y colour of the cake and while the cake was baking our lil apartment did smell like heaven! Jobin couldn't resist the smell of it and he was sniffing around our home till I finally decided to cut the cake!

Jobin adored this cake! He didn't even look up till he finished gobbling up! :) His dad used to work for a UN agency back in India and Jobin says this cake tasted like the ones they had in ICRISAT's cafe( Jobin must have been 7-8 yrs then). Maybe they baked Zucchini cakes in there  many years ago! Who knows!