{Recipe} Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake

 

I know many of you have your own gardens, and maybe have an abundance of vegetables this time of year. Somehow I am always left with veggies that tend to get thrown out because I run out of things to do with them. This time I had some leftover zucchini and decided to try a sweet dessert that I have wanted to try for a while, Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake. And let me tell you. This cake was so MOIST! So YUMMY! And the perfect balance of sweetness. Feel free to add walnuts, pecans, or chocolate chips. Or perhaps a simple glaze. I used some powdered sugar to dust the top. It was perfect. And for the first time ever my four year-old is eating zucchini.  Shhhhhh, our little secret.

Now I am on a mission to incorporate vegetables into more of my desserts. What are some of your favorite ways to use vegetables in sweet treats?

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Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake

• 2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 cup soft butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup milk (I used Almond Milk)

Optional:

• 1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or chocolate chips
• Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth. Drizzle over top when cake is cool.
• Powdered Sugar (This is what I used)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and nutmeg; set aside.

With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla. Stir in zucchini with a spoon. Do not overmix.

Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture (including the nuts or chocolate chips with the last addition if used).

Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 min) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.

Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

 

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