Fiber Fool

We have hit that time of year. You know what I’m talking about. Zucchini and summer squash coming out of your ears. Even though we didn’t plant our own we have more than enough zucchini to eat around here.

Growing up it never failed that grandpa would share the bounty of his garden across the road with us in the form of baseball bat sized zucchini. By the time they are that large our go to zucchini side dish recipes were not a good fit. Mom frequently made chocolate zucchini cake with them. The family recipe makes a 9×13″ pan of cake and whenever I made it in past years here we never got through the pan before mold formed on the cake unless I took it to a get together.

So, this year I started playing around with the recipe to downsize it to fit our two person household a bit better. It had the added benefit that we could bake it in our toaster oven and not have to heat up the full-sized oven. The changes I made ended up turning it into a very different sort of cake and I think I like it even better.

This version is much lighter in texture. That lightness also causes the chocolate chips on top to sink throughout the cake and create nice little random pockets of melty chocolate goodness. Then inspired in part by the original recipe’s hint of cinnamon and Theo’s Milk Chocolate Chai bar I used some traditional chai spices to give the cake a unique and unexpected flavor profile that enhances the chocolate without over powering it. I also opted for whole wheat pastry flour rather than all purpose flour, something I’ve been doing a lot of lately to increase our whole grains consumption.

Chocolate Zucchini Chai Cake

serves 8

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Butter
• 1/4 cup White Sugar
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup Oil
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 cup Buttermilk
• 3/4 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder, plus more for “flouring” pan
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon All Spice, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon Cardamom (about 12 pods), freshly ground
• 1/8 teaspoon of Fennel Seed, ground
• 1 cup Grated Zucchini, about 1 medium
• 1/2 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips, optional

Directions
1. Grease and flour an 8″ springform pan. When I bake chocolate cakes I “flour” the pan with cocoa powder so I don’t get white splotches around the edges. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Cream together the sugars and butter until light. Add oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract, beating after each addition.

3. Grind spices. I use a mortar and pestle, but you can use a spice-dedicated coffee grinder (you can clean them by grinding dry rice in them afterwards). With cardamom I’ve found it essential to grind as needed. Even the shelled cardamom lacks flavor so start from the pods, it is worth the effort!

4. Combine the spices with remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix thoroughly.

5. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir gently until fully mixed.

6. Fold in the grated zucchini. I grate on a medium coarse grater surface and do not bother to peel the zucchini before hand. There are valuable nutrients and more fiber in the skin, so why create extra work? If closely examined tiny specks of green may be seen, but other than that the zucchini magically disappears once baked.

7. Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle top with 1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips. Bake 35-45 min, until toothpick in center comes out clean.

8. Remove from oven and set on baking rack to cool. Run a knife around the edge before removing the springform ring, place plate on top, invert and remove pan bottom, then invert again onto a serving platter or cake pedestal.

While we’ve been impatient and had slices of it slightly warm, I think this cake is best after resting for about 12 hours or so before eating. Enjoy it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of vanilla whipped cream. At my Monday night knitting group the lovely hostess, Dee, shared a wonderful cabernet chocolate sauce which some of us drizzled on top of our whipped cream. Simply dusting the top with powdered sugar would be a nice elegant touch as well. If you wanted, I suppose it could be frosted too, though I like the rich flavor and light feel of this dessert for summer and suspect frosting would upset that balance.

I imagine this recipe would also work with a gluten-free mix and would love to hear about how it comes out when made gluten free if any of you try it.