Milkmaid's Recipe Box

Zucchini Chocolate Cake *

w/Hershey Chocolate Frosting

Blame it on the ZUCCHINI!!-- because of the 

extra zucchini I had here, I got a bit 

carried away with baking 

cakes yesterday.  You think?  

I took two of these to a picnic last night.  

(All three are zucchini-laced cakes!)

Our new family favorite of the three is 

actually the one in the middle with the "whitish" 

frosting which starts with a yellow cake mix and 
spices, topped with a cinnamon'y 
cream cheese frosting (I will post that
recipe separately).

For this post,...

HERE is the recipe for the one 

on the right (shown below) which is also a 
"keeper/repeater" kind of cake recipe.

(OOPS!-- Because I took this cake to the picnic, 

I did not get a picture of a cut piece!)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

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• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use an oil called Smart Balance)
• 1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar

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• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk OR 1/2 cup sour milk (I used buttermilk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

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• 1/4 cup cocoa (I run through screen strainer to make it lump-free)
• 2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

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• 2 cups zucchini, grated
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 coarsely chopped walnuts (optional).  I added these.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cream butter, then add oil and sugar-- beat together at least one minute.
2. Add the Eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla (mix well)
3. Whisk together and then add the cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt.  Mix ONLY until blended in. 
4. By hand, stir in the grated zucchini. 
5. Also, by hand, fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
6. Pour into greased/floured 9x13" pan (I used a glass dish).
7. Bake at 325-degrees for "about" 1 hour, or until a "toothpick test" shows no cake batter on it.  (To retain moistness, be careful to not over-bake.)  

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FROSTING:  My favorite chocolate frosting recipe which I added is as follows--

 "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting-- this is also found on the back of the Hershey cocoa container:

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
2/3 cup sifted Hershey's cocoa
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Directions:
1.  Melt butter.  Stir in cocoa.
2.  Add powdered sugar, milk and vanilla, beating on med. speed until it is of spreading consistency.  Add more milk in very tiny quantities, if needed (I didn't need more milk.)  Makes about 2 cups of frosting.

This recipe was adapted from the following site:  http://www.food.com/recipe/zucchini-chocolate-cake-18693