Iowa recipes: Zucchini Cake

 

No, this isn't a Spam cake.  I just love the mug I got at the Spam Museum this spring :)

I've actually posted this recipe for Zucchini Cake on my blog before, but it was back before I knew that it's important to write very specific titles in order for folks to find the recipe when searching Google.

And this is a terrific recipe that I want to share with as many of you as possible!

I found this zucchini cake recipe in one of the old church cookbooks my mother-in-law gave me.  My husband remembers his mom baking this cake when he was a kid.  It's pretty much the only way I can get him to eat zucchini, although I'm trying to change that. By that's another story.

Now you can shred the zucchini before adding it to the cake batter, but my husband likes it better when the zucchini is cut up in little chucks, so it has the texture of a chopped-up apple in the cake.  It really makes the cake moist.

But the best part of this cake is the chocolate chip/brown sugar/chopped nut topping.  It's the perfect snack cake to eat with coffee (preferably in a Spam mug. LOL.)

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

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Zucchini Chocolate Cake

• - 1/4 c. butter, softened
• - 1/2 c. oil
• - 1-1/2 c. sugar
• - 2 eggs
• - 1 tsp. vanilla
• - 1/2 c. milk
• - 2-1/2 c. flour
• - 4 tbsp. cocoa
• - 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• - 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• - 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• - 1/2 tsp. salt
• - 2 c. peeled, finely chopped zucchini

Mix all ingredients together, except zucchini. Add zucchini last and mix well. Spread in 9x13 greased pan. Mix the following and sprinkle on top:

• - 1 c. chopped nuts
• - 1 c. chocolate chips
• - 1 tbsp. sugar
• - 2 tbsp. brown sugar

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Iowa recipes: Zucchini bread

This year at the Iowa State Fair, I met a couple of local bakers who published their first cookbook, "Two Chicks from the Sticks: Back Home Baking."  I've been trying not to buy any new cookbooks lately, since I still have so many recipes from my old cookbooks that I haven't tried yet.  But I couldn't resist buying "Two Chicks from the Sticks."  The recipes looked like they came straight from my grandma's kitchen.  The book features many of my childhood favorites -- like apple pie bars and monster cookie bars -- and one of my new favorites, zucchini bread.

The Two Chicks' version of zucchini bread turned out perfect.  The pretty loaves were speckled with shredded zucchini, which I bought at the Valley Junction Farmers Market in West Des Moines. 

If you would like to try the Two Chicks zucchini bread recipe, you can find it on their blog, which is updated frequently with recipes from their baking book and from their own kitchen experiments.  They recently posted a recipe for whole-grain pumpkin bars that I'm looking forward to trying.

Don't know when to stop

I still had a ton of zucchini left after making the cake, so I ended up making three loaves of zucchini bread, plus one loaf of chocolate zucchini bread. Boy, did I make a mess in the kitchen! But they turned out great, and I've got a freezer full of bread for breakfast now. I love to eat something sweet in the morning.

I also bought about 10 pounds of pickling cucumbers from the folks at Black's Heritage Farm in Ames. They helped start the nearby Slater farmers' market on Wednesday night. I can just call head, and they'll have the cucumbers(or whatever veggies I want) waiting for me after work.

Since my garden dill is starting to wilt, I decided to try bread & butter pickles. Unfortunately, in what has become an all-too-common pattern of mine, I failed to read the recipe ahead of time. When I decided to start canning on Saturday night, I realized I needed to soak the cucumbers in ice water for four hours first. So I delayed the canning until Sunday.

After the four-hour soak, I read through the rest of the recipe and realized I forgot to add the pickling salt. So I added it to the water last minute. Hope it doesn't make a difference in the long run...

I have to admit, it took forever to pickle and can all those darn pickles. It took more than eight hours, from start to finish, including four hours of boiling the pickling liquid and processing the jars. My canner can only process six pint-size jars at once, and I ended up with 18 jars of pickles. And the smell of the hot cider vinegar was overwhelming. I completely lost my appetite for the rest of the night.

But when I finished the last jar at 8:30 p.m., Josh and my sister told me the pickles looked great. I hope they taste better than they smelled. I may never get the smell of vinegar out of my mind. My pickling days are officially over (at least for the summer).

Just one more picture to show the potency of the pickling liquid: The yellow tumeric spice in the pickling solution stained my old countertop. But Josh insists that it will come out over time. We'll see...

Zucchini o'plenty

The CSA farmer offered me as much zucchini as I could carry back to my truck this week. So I grabbed three big squashes that barely fit into my refrigerator crisper. I've got big plans for these babies!

First on my list was baking one of my husband's favorite: zucchini chocolate cake! I found the recipe in an old church cookbook that my mother-in-law sent me. The zucchini makes the snack cake very moist. And how can anyone resist chocolate chips!

Here's the recipe:

Zucchini Chocolate Cake

• - 1/4 c. butter, softened
• - 1/2 c. oil
• - 1-1/2 c. sugar
• - 2 eggs
• - 1 tsp. vanilla
• - 1/2 c. milk
• - 2-1/2 c. flour
• - 4 tbsp. cocoa
• - 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• - 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• - 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• - 1/2 tsp. salt
• - 2 c. peeled, finely chopped zucchini

Mix all ingredients together, except zucchini. Add zucchini last and mix well. Spread in 9x13 greased pan. Mix the following and sprinkle on top:

• - 1 c. chopped nuts
• - 1 c. chocolate chips
• - 1 tbsp. sugar
• - 2 tbsp. brown sugar

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

I've also got a couple recommendations for the baking ingredients. If you ever are in West Des Moines near Valley West Mall, make a stop at Penzey's spices near Pier 1. I've been using Penzey's cinnamon and Mexican vanilla in my baking, and they are fabulous! They have a very rich aroma, and they make baked goods taste amazing. Also, I discovered Florida Crystals organic sugar at my local Fareway. I don't buy into the organic trend, but this sugar is something special. It's light brown in color, and it tastes more like brown sugar. It gives baked goods a nice caramelized color. Definitely worth the extra price.