Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).
It’s a rite of summer for many Coloradans, that vegetable-induced panic: What to do with all the zucchini in your garden?
You’ve already dug out that old zucchini bread recipe, cleverly thinking you’ll gift your coworkers and neighbors a treat while getting rid of some of your veggies, only to find out they’ve done the same. And there just aren’t enough people in your social circle who want more each week.
Colorado’s arid climate is capable of producing an almost mythical amount of them. They’re like a hydra – with each zucchini you cut from the stalk, two more appear in its place, seemingly out of thin air.
Decades ago, my family was gifted a sweet solution to the overabundance of the squash: chocolate zucchini cake. My aunt Laurie was given the recipe more than 25 years ago. Her baking is always the highlight of any family function, and this moist, brownie-esque, not-too-sweet cake is no exception. It’s filled with enough butter, oil and sugar to be totally bad for you, but with enough zucchini to convince yourself it might not be.
Better still, it uses up two whole zucchini. The recipe calls for peeling them before grating; otherwise, the flecks of bright green in the sea of chocolate might tip your kids off to your trick of sneaking veggies into a cake. (I prefer to keep the skin on – it looks like confetti, a celebration of the late-summer yield.)
Best of all: You can freeze it, so on a snowy afternoon in December it will be there to thaw and enjoy, making you yearn for those sunny days of summer.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
INGREDIENTS
2 ½ cups flour
¼ cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
1 cup canola oil
1 ¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
2 cups zucchini, grated
2 cups chocolate chips
¾ cups chopped nuts (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking pan with canola oil spray.
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.
Cream together butter, oil and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Blend in vanilla.
Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk to the creamed mixture. Stir in zucchini, nuts and half your chocolate chips. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top.
Bake for 55 minutes. Let cool.
