Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

     It is that time of year when gardens are yielding tons of produce. It's fun to go to the Farmers Market and look and see all those lovely veggies. I couldn't resist buying some corn, green beans and tomatoes. It all looks so good!

   My garden is doing well this year. I did, however, make the mistake of planting four zucchini plants in my garden and I may regret doing this. I think I'm going to have more zucchini than I can handle. I guess I'll just have to freeze some for those cold winter days that will be soon upon us so I can still enjoy those recipes for bread, muffins, and cake.

    I've never made cake with zucchini before and I decided to give this recipe from my Taste of Home magazine a try. I changed the recipe a little bit to suit my taste and it was great. The recipe also called for a custard type frosting, but I used a can frosting instead.

     The next time I make this cake I might cut back on the cloves a bit. I feel like 1/4 teaspoon is a little too much. Next time I'll use only 1/8 teaspoon. I would still use the canned frosting though. All I did was scoop out 1/2 of the frosting (I'll use the leftover frosting on graham crackers) and then microwave it for about 15 seconds and then poured it over the cooled cake. It doesn't get any easier than that.

     The cake got a thumbs up from my family and I doubt that it will last very many days around here.  In fact I'm sure they'll be sneaking another piece before bedtime.

     P.S. I got to use my new stand mixer today!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
1 3/4 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup cooking oil
1/4 Cup butter, softened
1/2 Cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1/4 Cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 Cups finely shredded zucchini
1/2 Cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 can of prepared chocolate frosting

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour a 10 inch fluted tube pan. In another bowl, beat sugar, oil and butter until well blended. Gradually beat in milk, eggs and vanilla.
In another bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves; gradually beat into sugar mixture. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips.
Transfer to prepared pan. bake 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool.
To frost take half the frosting out of the can and put in a microwave proof bowl. Microwave for only 15 seconds. You don't want the frosting to be too runny but it should be slightly pourable. Pour over the top of the cake and let it ooze down the sides.
Note: To remove cake more easily use solid shortening to grease pan.