zucchini chocolate cake

The kids don't eat a wide enough range of vegetables as I'd like them too ( I'm hoping they'll get more adventurous as they get older? ). Anyway, they love this chocolate zucchini cake, it's tasty, not dry and not overly sweet. Yes there's brown sugar and butter in it but there's at least 2 mouth fulls of zucchini per kid sized serve. Thank goodness for lovely neighbours, I must learn to check if we have all of the ingredients we need before we start baking together. I'm not a brilliant baker but I try and one day I'll be able to say I've improved- I hope! Our cake needed longer to cook than the recipe states but we do have a pretty average oven. I decided not to ice it as there's chocolate inside and it's pretty rich already, I dusted it with a bit of icing sugar after I took the photo.I got the kids aprons off trade me, they're made by creative_two.

hard at work stirring and grating

the best part

doesn't look to bad to me!

sharing with a friend

The recipe is from chocolateandzucchini.com is a food blog written by Clotilde Dusoulier, a 31-year-old Parisienne.

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake

240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour

60 grams (1/2 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

180 grams (1 scant cup) light brown sugar (I use unrefined cane sugar)

115 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature, or 1/2 cup virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules or 2 tablespoons strong cooled coffee -- this is just to deepen the chocolate flavor, you won't taste it in the finished product

3 large eggs
- 350 grams (2 cups) unpeeled grated zucchini, from about 1 1/2 medium zucchini

160 grams (1 cup) good-quality bittersweet chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate
- Confectioner's sugar (optional)
Serves 12.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 25-cm (10-inch) round springform pan or a 22-cm (8 1/2-inch) square pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a mixer (or by hand in a large mixing bowl), beat the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the vanilla, coffee, and eggs, mixing well between each addition.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the zucchini, chocolate chips, and about a third of the flour mixture, making sure the zucchini strands are well coated and not clumping too much.

Add the rest of the flour mixture into the egg batter. Mix until just combined; the batter will be thick.
Fold the zucchini mixture into the batter, and blend with a spatula without over mixing. Pour into the prepared cake pan and level the surface.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer onto a rack to cool for 10 minutes, run a knife around the pan to loosen, and unclasp the sides of the pan. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar or a chocolate glaze if desired.