Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Cinnamon Icing




I can do a lot of things well, but growing zucchini
is not one of them.  I know, I know, you probably
don't believe this, but I have lived in many different
homes and apartments and have had gardens
every time, but I never get more than a few
zucchini.  When I get them, I love to make a
chocolate zucchini cake recipe that I got in
college.


I love the moistness of the cake and the hint of cinnamon.
I decided I should add a little cinnamon to the frosting
to really accent the flavor of the cake.

When I make a cake I generally want it to be a show-stopper
so I make it three layers by doing 1 1/2 times the recipe.



Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe

2 5/8 C. sugar
3/4 C. butter
3/4 C. vegetable oil
3/4 C. buttermilk
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 3/4 C. flour
3/8 C. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 C. finely grated zucchini

Cream the butter, sugar and oil until light.
Mix the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla.  Add it to
the sugar mix and beat well.

Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt
and cinnamon.  Blend into the batter.  Stir in the
zucchini.




Finely grate the zucchini.  It makes a better cake and the kiddies don't
notice it as much.  If you choose to not use the fine grate, only use 2 C.


Here is a trick I learned while I was teaching cooking classes at a
local grocery store.  My sister-in-law Michele was the coordinator
of the cooking classes.  She taught us to not grease your pans,
instead, cut parchment paper to fit the bottom of your pans.  If you
grease the sides, the cake batter sticks to the grease and the sides
rise differently than the middle.  You end up with domed cakes.
Bake the cake and let cool for 10 minutes, then run a sharp knife
around the outside edge.  Turn over onto a cooling rack.  I have
been doing this for years now and I never get a domed cake anymore.



Place in 3 8 inch or 9 inch round pans.

Bake at 350 30-35 minutes for the 9 inch pans and 35-40 minutes
for the 8 inch pans.

Cool 10 minutes then run sharp knife around the pan and
turn out onto a cooling rack.  Cool 10 minutes then
remove parchment paper.




Chocolate Cinnamon Frosting Recipe

1 1/4 C. softened butter
6 C. powdered sugar
1/2 C. cocoa
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3-5 T. water

Place ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Beat with the wire whip
attachment, adding water 1 T. at a time.  Add more water if
necessary.  Frosting should be smooth and able to hold a
swirl with the back of a spoon.

This is a larger than normal cake with the three layers
so it takes more frosting.
When assembling the cake, use 3-4 bamboo skewers to
keep the layers from  shifting.







Recipe for 9x13 inch pan
1 3/4 C. sugar
1/2 C. soft butter
1/2 C. oil
1/2 C. buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 C. flour
1/4 C. cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 C. finely grated zucchini

You can also add 1 C. semi-sweet chocolate
chips to the recipe, but with it being a 3 layer
cake I chose to leave them out as it would make
it so heavy.

Hope you enjoy this chocolate recipe.

I will be posting this on

and

Jacqueline
Jacqueline

Chocolat - French for Chocolate. I adored chocolate from a young age when I had to sneak in the cupboard to find where my mother had hidden the Nestle's Chocolate Chips. Having read about the famous chocolat shoppes in Paris, when I finally got there I was determined to try a chocolate from every Paris shoppe. I invite you to share my adventures in creating, in travel, and in life.

32 comments:

  1. Thanks for the tip on the parchment paper for baking cakes! Wish I had known that before the party I just hosted- we had a bit of an issue with the tiered cake.... next time, we will try the paper! anyway, thank you for the tip and for your comment on my blog about my flea market salvage pieces. You are so sweet!
    Stop by again sometime! :)

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  2. Hi Jacqueline,

    My mom grew zucchini while I was growing up. We always had so much, so we had zucchini everything! She'd make it fried, caked, bread, stuffed.....just about anyway you could do it. You might think I'd grow up hating it, but we grow it once in a while, and I buy it sometimes, too. My all time favorite is just frying it up in butter with onions, peppers, carrots, mushrooms, etc., and piling it on top of Persian style cooked rice. I was married to an Iranian for 20 years and learned how to cook Persian food, so I incorporate it with my everyday cooking now. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

    Hugs,
    Meri

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  3. Wow! Your pictures are amazing! Love the chocolate and pink together. Specifically the chocolate frosting and pink roses.
    Yummy! *hugs*

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  4. Thanks for the tip. Your cake looks amazing. Looking forward to exploring your blog.

    Allison
    Atticmag

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  5. Parchment paper...who knew? Not me obviously, and I'm so glad that you shared this tip and the recipe with us. I predict that this will show up as dessert for one of my luncheons. When you see it sitting there in my post, I hope that I've done you proud. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe and the tips for making a perfect 3-layer cake. I appreciate your visit and kind words on my post. If you decide to paint the tulip glasses, I put blue painters tape around the top of the glass to make sure that my design edge remains consistent all the wary around the glass...it also keeps lipstick marks from ending up on the painted area. I would love to see your take on designing these. I've done lots of different designs on glassware, but these are my favorites. Come again any time! Cherry Kay

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  6. This looks fabulous -- love the cinnamon with chocolate taste! Thanks for the parchment paper tip. I will definitely try it with my next layer cake.

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  7. First of all, I LOVE your cake stand! Perfect way to showcase such a beautiful cake! Zucchini is about the only thing(and sunflowers) that I CAN grow:) I love cinnamon and chocolate, and your cake sounds/looks delicious!

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  8. I tried your sugar cookie recipe. They were out of this world!!! My hubby loved them. I can't wait to try this new recipe. Perhaps this weekend.

    P.S. I've been trying to catch up on my blogging this evening and noticed your post on your kitchen. It's fabulous!!! I know we just met through blogging but....can I come live in your kitchen? :) It's truly a gorgeous design.

    Gigi

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  9. Oh my gosh, this is beautiful. A guy working in my yard just brought me a zucchini that is about a foot long so that should be more than enough for this cake which I am definitely going to try.

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  10. Wow - so beautiful!! This sounds delicious... can't wait to try it!

    I will be posting a link to this recipe tomorrow at http://ificould-ificould.blogspot.com/

    Thanks for sharing!
    Missy

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  11. Making me hungry Jackie.
    I thought that cake look more like a hat.
    Have a good day.
    Nancy

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  12. You have to love a cake that gets a green veggie into your kids along with the chocolate! Love the flower topper- beautiful presentation as always
    xoxo Pattie

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  13. What a beautiful cake! I love the flavors! Beautiful flowers for decoration.

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  14. This cake is so beautiful! Thanks for posting the two different ways to make it. I still am getting zillions of zucchini, my guy brought in about 12 today from our garden! I will make the 19x13 for a party here Saturday night...go Boise State Broncos!

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  15. What a great post...informative, beautiful and DELICIOUS looking. I want to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing the parchment paper tip. I started using it when baking cookies instead of using the nasty spray. And purple rocks!!!!! I love all shades of it. Hope your weekend is grand!

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  16. Just beautiful! Thanks for the parchment paper tip, think I'd like to try that!

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  17. ooo Jaqueline, another beautiful posts! I gave you a blog award, thanks for being inspiring!

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  18. oh yeah, come to mama! its the cinnamon that is drving me extra wild~

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  19. What a yummy-looking cake! Chocolate and cinnamon are a great combination!

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  20. Happy PINK Saturday! This cake looks totally amazing! If it tastes half as good as it looks, it must be out of this world. Thank you for sharing the recipe, have a great weekend, Nan

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  21. This cake is absolutely gorgeous and I'm sure it's delicious! Thanks so much for sharing about the parchment paper...I did not know that.

    Hope you have a blessed weekend!
    Pat

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  22. Count yourself lucky that zucchini doesn't grow well for you! In the meantime, that cake is just stunning. The flower, the chocolate...it's all beautiful.

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  23. Beautiful cake and it looks so delicious. I will be trying this recipe...thank you.

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  24. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! I've been looking for a different twist on chocolate cake and this fits the bill perfectly... AND I can say it's healthy because of the zuchini! :) mercedes

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  25. Happy belated Pink. Just getting around. I seem to always be behind. Hope you had a great day.

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  26. GORGEOUS flowers and cake stand. This looks delicious! Thanks for posting lots of tips, too.

    Sarah

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  27. That looks both DELICIOUS and BEAUTIFUL, Jacqueline! Next year I'm going to try to grow zucchini; in the meantime, I'll try the Farmer's Market. Thanks for the tip on the parchment paper.
    Blessings, Beth

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  28. Your photos are beautiful...this cake looks lovely. I am so excited to make one...I LOVE zucchini anything!

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  29. I love your blog. This cake look amazing. In your post about your granddaughter's birthday I saw this gorgeous silver three tiered dessert stand and now I see this beautiful cake stand. Where did you get those from?

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  30. Jen, I couldn't get to your blog. I will answer your question here. I got this cake stand, it was in a set of three at a local store called Tuscan Gardens, years ago. The ones from my granddaughter's party were at TJ Maxx/Homegoods.

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