Chocolate and Zucchini Cake

I know what some of you may be thinking. Chocolate and zucchini? Yuck! But trust me, this cake tastes nothing like zucchini! I'm not a big zucchini fan, so I was a little concerned about the whole zucchini aspect of this thing, too, especially when the recipe said to chop the zucchini into small pieces, instead of grating it. I was really worried that people would be put off by all those little bits of zucchini in their cake, but it wasn't even noticeable . . . at all! It was a really great tasting cake and I loved the hard chocolate shell on top. Oh, and did I mention that it's really easy to make? Not to mention really easy to eat! I hope you think so, too!

Recipe after the jump.


Chocolate and Zucchini Cake (adapted from Our Kitchen)

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter (60g), softened
¼ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
¼ cup milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 cup flour
¼ cup cocoa
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unpeeled zucchini, finely diced
100g dark chocolate, grated or finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 320 F (160 C) Bake
2. Grease a 20cm round loose bottomed cake tin
3. Cream the butter, oil and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg, vanilla, milk and vinegar and beat together to combine.
5. In a large bowl sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon and stir to combine.
6. Add the creamed mixture and zucchini to the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and sprinkle with the chopped/grated chocolate.
9. Return to the oven for a further 2-3 minutes or until the chocolate has melted.