Zucchini Cake Recipe

Where have the zucchinis gone?  OK, to be honest, I started this post about 3 months ago and never finished and now as I sit here typing away and a few snow flakes fall from the sky I must admit that I would never get a zucchini at this time of the year, but I am asking you to use your imagination and think back to much warmer days when the sun is shining and the grass is green.

I love to make zucchini bread and zucchini cake, but for years I never grew it as it seemed everyone was trying to get rid of their zucchini.  I never went a summer without it. You'd see someone coming into church with a bag or two full of zucchinis or a neighbor would stop by with some and everyone in their path would take cover and hide because they were in the same boat: piles and piles of zucchini were growing in their gardens too.

But lately it seems as if no one is growing zucchini and so out of desperation this year I planted it.  And guess what?  My plants produced beautiful flowers and large, leafy leaves, but not one fruit. How frustrating.  Well, a mom of a great friend of mine came to the rescue and gave me a few zucchini and then a parent of one of our 4-H members heard my complaint and gave me some more and so the past few weeks I have been happily baking zucchini bread and, my favorite, zucchini cake.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake 
(a recipe from a pastor's wife)

½ C Butter

1 ½ C Sugar

½ C Oil

-beat until fluffy

2 Eggs

1 t Vanilla

-mix and add

½ C Sour Milk

2 ½ C Flour (Whole wheat works well)

¼ C Cocoa

½ t Cinnamon

½ t Salt

½ t Baking Powder

½ t Baking Soda

½ t Cloves (I omit and add extra cinn.)

-mix

2 C Grated Zucchini

-stir in

-pour into greased 9x13 pan

-top with ½ C Chocolate Chips, 1/3 C Brown Sugar and ½ C nuts

-bake 350 for 30-40 minutes

For some reason I did not use my mixer, but instead mixed the cake by hand.

I never measure the chocolate chips or brown sugar, but just throw a bunch onto the batter until I like what I see.  And I never add nuts as I am extremely allergic to most tree nuts.

The cake right out of the oven.

And here is a piece of this extremely moist and wonderfully flavorful cake.  It is so good and it never lasts for more than 24 hours in our home as we not only eat it for a dessert but for breakfast as well.  Hope your family enjoys this as much as ours.