Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake

When I was little, I was always the "good girl."

In fact, I was always told that I was "perfect."

I think my family still refers to me that way even today.

Though I don't see it.

I'm definitely FAR from perfect!

However, nowadays, I feel as though I'm currently the family rebel.

I'm heavily tattooed.

I move away a lot.

I let people know exactly how I feel about things (even if it's not so nice sometimes).

And now I'm proving to be a rebel in the baking world as well.

You see, it's Cake Slice Bakers time!

The number one voted cake for this month was the zebra cake.

Now...I tried to be a good girl. I made the zebra cake. And it was a dismal failure. Wanna see??

Here ya go:

As you can see...there's nothing resembling a zebra about my cake.

I know I must have done something wrong since other bakers have been able to get theirs to stripe properly, but mine didn't.

Normally, I would try again, as I did with the lime chiffon cake. However, this cake tasted a bit like cardboard and was DEFINITELY not worth the ingredients the first time, let alone a second time.

So onward and upward right??

Upon talking with my dear friend Monica, we decided to be rebellious this month and make the second place cake. And boy am I glad I made this one!

I've never baked a chocolate zucchini cake before but Monica loves them. In fact I will quote her as saying she "big puffy heart loves them."

The original recipe called for 2 teaspoons of espresso powder, and you know me...I usually jump at the chance to add espresso/coffee to anything! But, I've been have some cardiology issues lately and was told I need to stay away from coffee until the baby comes, so I omitted that ingredient.

This cake was DE.LICIOUS!

It wasn't too sweet. But it was nice and moist. I loved the flakes of almonds scattered throughout the cake. Every bite had lovely texture.

And let's not forget the soft chocolate pockets when biting into a chocolate chip.

I'm immensely impressed with chocolate zucchini cakes now. You can't even tell there's a couple cups of veggies in the batter.

But that makes it deceptively healthy right???

Anyway. Once you have looked through and learned how to bake this cake, jump over to Monica's place to see how she fared with our month of rebellion.

Let's bake!

Whisk together your flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Whisk together the sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Set aside.

Now cream together both sugars and the butter until fluffy.

In an alternating manner, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients.

Then 1/2 of the wet ingredients. Repeat, ending with dry ingredients.

Then stir in the chocolate chips, nuts and zucchini.

Pour the batter into your bundt pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake about 45-50 minutes (according to the directions but it took me a good 60 minutes for the cake to be done) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan about 10 minutes then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

To give the cake a little extra pizzazz, go ahead and dust it with powdered sugar. Then slice, serve and enjoy!!

Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake
Adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

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Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened, Dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with baking spray.
2. Whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl, set aside.
3. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together the sour cream, eggs and vanilla, set aside.
4. Combine butter and both sugars in a large mixing bowl. Cream with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
5. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Add 1/2 the sour cream mixture. Repeat, alternating flour and sour cream mixtures, ending with flour mixture, scraping down sides of bowl between additions.
6. Stir in the zucchini, chocolate chips and nuts.
7. Scrape batter into prepared bundt pan. Smooth with rubber spatula.
8. Bake about 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (It took 60 minutes before the cake was done for me)
9. Let cool in the pan about 10 minutes then invert onto wire rack to cool completely. 
10. Dust with powdered sugar (if desired). 
11. Slice, serve and enjoy!!!