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Zucchini loaf. Ok, cake. From Julie of By The Recipe

By on July 30, 2013

Zucchini often gets a bad rap. Kids and many adults don’t like that it’s green. And is it a vegetable or a fruit? That causes angst for many as well. In our house it’s a fruit, because it has seeds…but that’s another story.

Beloved works for a great company. In the back of their office building, they have their own community garden plot of land. Divided up into 40 or so plots, there is a waiting list to get a plot of your own. Even with the waiting list Beloved has managed to get himself associated with a plot with two of his co-workers. Did I mention he’s in Sales?

I digress.

He is enjoying his little garden. And learning a lot along the way.

When he sent me the above picture of the zucchini, I told him to bring it home.

He was a little disappointed to learn that it’s not necessary for a zucchini to grow so big. Although I have learned that it can grow up to a meter long!

There are so many jokes to go along with this that I don’t know where to start!

To give you an even better idea as to how big the zucchini was…

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My family are not big fans of zucchini. So for me there was only one thing to do with a zucchini this big.

Grate it. What were you thinking?!

Thankfully I have a food processor to do that for me…

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I divide the grated zucchini into bags, by 1 cup scoops, tie them tight and then put them into the freezer for future use.

Zucchini freezes well if you want to use it for baking. Simply thaw, drain off some of the water and use like you would a fresh zucchini. And if you freeze it in 1 cup scoops, you can simply take out what you need for the recipe.

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On a side note: if your zucchini is this big, take the seeds out before grating it. If it is a regular size one that you would get in the grocery store, the seeds are fine. As the zucchini grows bigger, the seeds get larger.

Chocolate Zucchini Loaf

Ok, it’s not really a loaf, but more of a cake. But I do bake it in a loaf pan. Doesn’t that automatically make it a loaf?

Years ago, my mother inlaw told me that my father inlaw wouldn’t eat a cake that had zucchini in it. So last night, before taking it over there for dessert, I told my little boy person to not say anything. Zucchini was the secret ingredient. He thought it was hilarious! This is a kid who eats everything, and he got a good chuckle out of the fact that his grandfather wouldn’t eat it. And then there was the element of trickery. In the end it was Beloved that let the secret slip. But by then the cake was more than half consumed and loved by all. A delicious option is to serve a slice with vanilla ice cream.

I found this recipe about 9 years ago. Probably on the Internet.

The best part? You don’t see the green flecks because of the chocolate…

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour milk or plain yogurt **to make sour milk, add a teaspoon of lemon juice and let it sit for 5 minutes. If you use yogurt it should be regular, not Greek

2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves

2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease 2 loaf pans. If you only have 1, cut the recipe in half.

Add the butter, oil, sugar, eggs and milk/yogurt to a large mixing bowl and mix well.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, cinnamon and cloves.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring just until blended. Add the zucchini and chocolate chips and stir again until just blended.

Divide evenly between the two loaf pans.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Oops. Thankfully it wasn’t all gone…yet.

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Julie of By The Recipe says this about her food writing:

I’m not sure which came first: my sweet tooth, or my desire to bake.  Before I was a wife and a mother, I was a baker.  I love to bake.

Before kids, I wasn’t much of a cook. After kids, my cooking abilities improved, I guess because I needed to feed my family. Over the years I have come to enjoy cooking, almost as much as baking.  But let’s be honest, the best part of baking and cooking are the accolades of a great mouthful of food. That inspires me.

When I cook, I cook by the recipe. Almost always.

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