Chocolate + Zucchini Cake

I am passionate about cooking and baking, Werner (although one doesn’t see it with his slim figure) appreciates good food and likes to eat. Thus the „Art of Cooking“ is a big topic here at Arthaus 27.

It’s summer and we are reaping nature’s bounty. Last Sunday I put up several jars of red currant jelly from our currant bush. On Monday our next neighbor brought by a big bucket of fresh vegetables from his garden—zucchinis, beans and cabbage.

Today it’s more like fall and I made a pot of delicious, savory lentil cabbage soup with wheat protein wurst. And for our Sunday „Kaffee und Kuchen“ I baked this chocolate und zucchini cake. The recipe comes from the „Chocolate + Zucchini“ blog. It’s a delicious chocolate cake which we love because it is not too sweet and uses up the overflow of summer zucchini. You don’t see or taste the zucchini, but it serves to make the cake super moist. This time I chopped up chocolate with 85% cacao instead of 70% cacao and it made the cake even a bit more bitter. You can adjust the sweetness of the cake by the type of chocolate chips you put in it—milk chocolate, bittersweet or bitter chocolate. Some sweetened freshly whipped cream and it’s perfect.

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake (Serves 10.)

2 C (180 g) all-purpose flour

1/2 C (60 g) whole wheat flour
1/2 C (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 C (110 g) butter, softened or virgin olive oil
1 C (160 g) light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp instant coffee granules (the Nescafé type, the stronger the better)
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 C zucchini, unpeeled, grated (about 280 g, two medium)
1 C (170 g) chocolate chips

Topping:

40 g light brown sugar

1/2 C (70 g) hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F). Grease a 3 quart (3 L) springform cake pan, and flour it or sprinkle with cocoa powder. This is to help the cake unmold easily, especially if you’re not using a magic non-stick pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In your food processor, combine the sugar and butter, and mix until fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and espresso powder, then the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition.
Spoon in the flour mixture, reserving the last half cup of it. Mix thoroughly, the batter will be thick.
Add the grated zucchini and the chocolate chips to the reserved flour mixture, and toss to coat. Fold in the batter, and blend thoroughly. Pour into the prepared cake pan, and flatten the surface with a spatula.

In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients, and sprinkle all over the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn out on a rack to cool for half an hour, then unmold.