Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Dust off Your Library Card

Before I get started on today’s chocolate zucchini cake recipe review, I’m going to let you in on a little secret (that really isn’t a secret at all). You can, and should, borrow cookbooks from the library. It is the perfect solution for when you hear about a cookbook and aren’t sure you actually want to spend the cash when you might only make one recipe. Now you can give it a test run! I racked up a $6.00 late fee on a cookbook once – and that was after I renewed it several times. 

Luckily, Ian gave me the ultimate wedding gift (besides his undying love and devotion and hand in marriage…) that would probably offend anyone who doesn’t read cookbooks before bed (yes, I do); the cookbook that I racked up late fees for: Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Today’s review of chocolate zucchini cake is from this glorious bible of Italian cooking. (Am I allowed to call something a bible, if it isn’t a religious thing? One could argue, however, that cooking is it’s own religion.)

A Childhood Favourite

I have flipped through this cookbook countless times. Like I said, I renewed it several times from the library and still racked up late fees. Truly, I had it for months. Enter the torta al cioccolato e zucchine. My mom used to make chocolate zucchini cake. It was the only chocolate cake I would eat but I have absolutely no idea which recipe she used. I remember opening my lunches in elementary school only to be surprised with a big ol’ piece of cake. My mom must have done a lot of baking while I was asleep.

I had no idea what actual zucchini tasted like back then, but I’m sure if you had asked 7-year-old me if I liked it, I would have said it was the best thing in the world. When I opened the container, I always knew it was the cake because of the layer of chocolate chips on the top. Mmmm I can still taste it (although, maybe I am tasting the cake that I just made myself).

Okay, to the Good Stuff

You most likely have everything you need to bake this cake in your pantry already, except the two medium zucchini. So it isn’t a big trip to the store which is really nice. Oh, I’ve already spoken too soon. You probably don’t have buttermilk either. But more on that in a bit.

The directions for this recipe are straight to the point. Not to mention, I love that it’s simply your list of ingredients and then a paragraph or two of instructions. No pictures, no fuss, no nonsense. I had to be really careful reading through everything – which is a good thing because I’m really good at skimming through things and missing important stuff. Baking is scary. If you miss something, it will completely change the outcome. Say you’re cooking dinner and you forget to add garlic to your chicken; the chicken will still cook and taste nice. If you forget the cocoa in your chocolate cake… well, that will be sad.

Word of advice with this type of book, however, is to make sure you’re always on the right page. It’s easy enough for a page to turn without you noticing. It did this for me! I almost put YEAST in this cake!!!! I remember once, making waffles for breakfast at a friend’s house after a sleepover. The page turned without us noticing and low and behold, we were zesting orange into the batter. So pay attention!

Feeling Rebellious?

The directions tell you to do a few things that you might not do. First thing I didn’t do was buy buttermilk. I simply Googled a way to make homemade buttermilk with milk and vinegar. Really, unless you’re going to be using an entire carton, there’s no reason to ever buy buttermilk. Another example, when Lidia says “sift onto parchment” I sifted into a bowl because I felt like that would make things easier, not more difficult. They also say to prepare the pan with flour and to tap away excess… none of the flour “tapped away”, it all just stuck to the butter. Was this wrong? I don’t know but the cake came out of the pan easily and now I’m going to have to read about why we would grease and flour the pan. I’ll get back to you on that.

Side Notes

Wear an apron. Or don’t wear a white t-shirt like I did.

The directions don’t say whether or not to peel the zucchini before you grate it. I left the skin on and you couldn’t tell it was there. Plus you’ll get more nutrients this way! As far as I’m concerned, this cake is a vegetable.

The chocolate zucchini cake baked in 40 minutes like Lidia said it would. The house smelled amazing! You’re supposed to let the cake cool completely. Anyone with the patience of a regular human will not wait that long. I watched a couple of PVR’d shows and then finally just cut into it. I think I let it sit for at least an hour, and that’s probably a record for me. This cake was super moist and crazy delicious. And while it was great while it was still warm, I preferred it when it had cooled completely. Obviously, Lidia told me that and I didn’t listen. I cut this cake into 12 pretty big pieces. I like how it says feeds 6-8 because .. well, 12 pieces would mean about 2 pieces of cake per person and she isn’t far off on that.

One Last Thing

Before you get started on your chocolate zucchini cake, head over to whatever music streaming program you use and queue up Tiziano Ferro. I listened to a lot of him while I was working at the Italian Cafe in Cambridge thanks to my coworkers and really, really enjoyed it. You’ll feel like you’re in Italy and actually know what you’re doing in the kitchen. Ultimate confidence booster for this delicious chocolate zucchini cake.

Happy cooking!