Zucchini & Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Hi Friends.

My introduction to cooking with Zucchini is a few years old. Earlier I had only heard this name in Sanjeev Kapoor’s show and would wonder how this vegetable will taste like. For me it was a very exotic thing which I would never see… During my college days  I had visited Pune, my father’s maternal aunt who lived there is an excellent cook. Once we had gone to pick some veggies when I asked her to show me this exotic stuff and like an overjoyed kid I was touching them and keeping them in my mind. That was my first intro to stuff like Avocado, Zucchini, parsley, celery… and was wondering when I would use them in my cooking..

I remember when we moved to Mumbai I used to regularly shop in Godrej Nature’s Basket. It used to be one stop shop for all kinds of veggies but more than veggies I would also get attracted by all actors visiting there. I had met actor like Rajat Kapur there(remember Vyomkesh Bakshi ..) and was so surprised seeing him buy a Broccoli like any other normal man….would wonder how simple these glamorous people are in there  real life. When I had visited this store the very first time I was  excited like a child and showing S Gerkins, Zucchini. … It was after then that I  learnt cooking these beautiful vegetables and my experimentation started..

Today’s cake is an amazingly tasty and moist cake which I had bookmarked from King Arthur flour when I had just started blogging. S had picked a huge batch of Zucchini and the minute I saw them I was reminded of this recipe. I have baked this cake and  kept it as a surprise for him. Me and my kids have just fallen in love with this cake. It is so good and the Zucchini  just disappears in the cake.
I am surely going to post more recipes using this amazing vegetable, so watch out..!

Ingredients for Cake
2-1/2 cups APF
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 tsp espresso coffee pwd (optional but gives a great flavour)
2 eggs
2 cups grated Zucchini
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup curds/yogurt
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Method for Cake
Grease a 10” spring form tin. Preheat oven at 170C.
Sift together APF, Cocoa, baking soda, baking pwd.
Cream oil, butter and sugar together. Add eggs one by one and beat it till light. Add the vanilla, salt and mix.
Now gradually add the flour and curds alternately and beat it at low speed. Mix in the coffee pwd too.
Fold in the zucchini and choco chips.
Pour the cake mix in the tin and even the top surface.
Bake for an hour (the original recipe says 30-35 mins but my cake was not even half done till then). After 35 mins cover the cake with an aluminium foil to prevent over darkening.
Let the cake stand in the oven for 5 mins and then remove it on a wire rack. Let it cool a little and then spread the ganache (this should be done in winter as the ganache spreads easily)

For Chocolate Ganache-
Bring one cup of cream to boil and to it add 8 ounces of dark chocolate. Mix and cool.

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Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

First of all a BIG THANKS to Rosie for sharing such a wonderful cake recipe with us. It’s truly a classic cake and now it’s my family favorite too.I am already waiting to bake it again. I just enjoyed making the cake. All the ingredients required are readily available in the kitchen except for the cream cheese and the Pumpkin pie spice.

The Cream cheese I got from the market but I had to google to find out a substitute for the Pumpkin spice as we do not get that here in India, and I was surely grinning when I was able to find a simple substitute (one small hurdle crossed).

The biggest hurdle was to put the frosting on the cake. I took the precaution of chilling the frosting for an hour before spreading it as the temperature here was soaring 39 C and the humidity as high as 85%, but nothing helped. The minute I applied the frosting on the cake it attained back the room temperature in no time and started flowing down. Though I loved the frosting but I will not use it again in this kind of temperature, but a ‘Must’ try for the winter.

You can very clearly see in this click how my frosting was flowing down into a river. Nevertheless, I chilled the cake and then cut the slices. The minute I saw my first cut slice, all my anguish with the frosting vanished. The cake looked heavenly and with the first bite in my mouth I realised it tastes superb. The flavor of carrot and the Pumpkin spice complement each other, and together they give a rich flavor to the cake. The frosting’s perfect, adding it’s mild flavor, and the oil in the cake just makes it perfectly soft. The total flavor, one will surely not forget for a few days. I already have a demand to bake it again from the family.

Ingredients

I had reduced it to half of the original recipe

Substitute for Pumpkin Spice

1 1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground Nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground Cloves

1/2 tsp ground Ginger

- Mix all the spices and use 1/4 tsp for half portion of original recipe.

How I Made The Cake

• Sift all the dry ingredients together except the sugar.
• Beat the egg and add oil to eat and beat again till light and frothy.
• Add the brown sugar and beat till it gets mixed properly.
• Add the grated carrot, chopped walnuts and raisins and mix well.
• Keep adding the dry ingredients to the wet and mix it properly till both are well incorporated in each other.
• Put in in a greased loaf tin and bake it in a preheated oven for 60-75 mins at 150 C.
• Check with a skewer whether the cake is done.
• Let it cool in the oven for 10 mins and then remove it from the loaf pan and let it cool on a wire rack for an hour.

For The Cream Cheese Frosting

Mix together 40 gms of Cream Cheese and an equal portion of softened white unsalted butter. To this add 1/4 tsp Vanilla Essence and 80 gms of Icing Sugar and mix. Chill the frosting for an hour (Not required in winter).

• Apply the chilled frosting using a palatte knife on the cake. Spread it evenly and spread some sprinkles over it.
• Chill the cake for another hour before cutting slices.

This is my entry to Sweet and Simple Bakes Monthly Baking Event co-founded by Rosie and Maria .

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