rang2015

Marlene’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Like many great recipes, this one has a history. To learn who Marlene was and how Denise got the recipe, just skip to the NOTES. If you also want to learn how to make a delicious chocolate cake, just keep reading.

It all started a few weeks ago when I refused to buy a large zucchini at the Farmers Market in New Richmond. Denise, the daughter of some friends who sell regularly at the market Saturday mornings, was filling in for her father who was recovering from surgery. She tried to talk me into buying one of the large green squashes displayed on the table.

“Our son and daughter-in-law gave us a couple of nice small zucchini from their CSA box,” I explained.

“But this is a nice big one picked this morning,” she replied.

“What would I do with it?” I asked.

“Make zucchini cake,” she answered.

“No thanks,” I said, “I really don’t like vegetable cakes. Except carrot cake, of course,” I explained.

“You could make zucchini bread,” she offered hopefully.

“I’ve done that. Dale and Pegi gave me Grandma Emma’s Zucchini Bread recipe, and it’s good, but I made one this summer already. Thanks anyway,” I said as I tried to make room for other customers.

Denise was persistent. “Why don’t you like zucchini cake or bread?” she asked.

I was honest. “I really don’t appreciate those green bits in them.”

“Ah ha, my chocolate zucchini cake doesn’t have any green bits,” she crowed. “I’ll make you one to prove it. When I serve it, people are amazed that what makes it so moist and tender is zucchini.”

She was as good as her word. She gave me a cake. It was delicious, and I couldn’t find any green bits in it. You won’t either.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups puréed zucchini
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour plus a little to flour the pan
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus a little to flour the pan
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

PROCEDURE:

Start by washing a large zucchini, removing the stem and flower ends and chopping it into a half-inch dice. Put the pieces into a food processor or blender and process until you have a smooth green purée, something that you could feed to a grandchild starting on solid foods. Put two generous cups of the purée into a large mixing bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350º. Grease and flour a nine by thirteen-inch pan with a teaspoon of flour blended with a quarter teaspoon of cocoa.

Add the butter, oil, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla to the purée and blend with an electric mixer.

Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl or sifter and combine them with the liquids by thirds, beating well between additions. Continue beating with the mixer until you have a smooth batter. Fold in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into the baking pan.

Bake for forty-five minutes or a little longer. Test for doneness with a toothpick inserted near the center. If the toothpick has only melted chocolate on it, the cake is done. If it comes out with batter stuck to it, bake the cake for another two or three minutes.

Cool the cake completely and serve it plain or with a dollop of whipped cream.

NOTES: Here is what Denise says about this cake.

“I like the recipe as it is really easy as you don’t have to worry about dry ingredients and then blending with the wet ingredients, etc. I just put it all in a bowl and mix with a mixer and then add the choc chips. I have tried many substitutions and they all have come out really well. Many times I will substitute one of the cups of flour with whole wheat flour. I also will substitute either the oil or butter with applesauce and it turns out great each time.

“I purée the zucchini and freeze it in two cup increments so that I can make the cake all throughout the year. Great way to use up the zucchini when it is coming in so quick and it doesn’t go to waste. I also don’t have to pay $6 for zucchini like I did once in the winter.

“I got the recipe from my sister and she got it from Marlene Johnson, her mother-in-law from Amery. Here is what Marlene said about it.

” ‘I got the recipe from one of my daycare people along with a few other zucchini recipes. I also have a copy from a newspaper. I didn’t think I would like it with cinnamon but it makes it special–important ingredient. I like having one of these cakes in my freezer ready for company. Right now I have two of them.’”

Erynn’s Egg Bites

In 1973 we bought a copy of The Last Whole Earth Catalog, and we still have it. The 60’s and 70’s were the two decades most associated with the back-to-the-land culture, and though we never moved to a subsistence farm in the middle of nowhere, we had friends who tried it. We bought the catalog mainly because it was an important resource for anyone interested in doing things the old-fashioned way.

If you wanted to build a log cabin, learn how to raise goats or to make your own sandals, there were leads to the animals, tools, books and people who could help you. There were cookbooks listed as well. One of my favorites was Gourmet Cooking for Free, which included recipes for delicacies that people often discard, like beaver tail and moose nose. I searched Amazon and discovered that the book is now available in a Kindle edition in case you are looking for a recipe to turn that woodchuck in the back yard into a tasty stew.

While I was not looking for exotic meats, I stopped in at the Whole Earth Grocery shortly after I began working at the RiverTown Newspaper Group in River Falls, Wisconsin. I think that subconsciously I expected to find it staffed with people near my age who once dreamed of homesteading in Alaska. Instead, I found college students dedicated to the proposition that everyone should eat locally-sourced organic foods. That’s how I became acquainted with Erynn, manager of the store.

She liked the idea that I bought lots of yeast and baked most of our bread and that I, like her, felt that home-cooked foods were tastier and better for a person than most of the frozen and canned choices in the major supermarkets. We exchanged a few recipes. Here is one that I finally made. It’s a winner.

INGREDIENTS:

6 eggs
1 T cold water
1 tsp. olive oil
8-10 sausage links cut into pieces or 1/2 lb. bulk pork sausage
1/2 cup chopped red and/or green peppers
1 small onion (about 2 inches in diameter)
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt, divided

PROCEDURE:

Clean and chop the onion and peppers into an eighth to quarter-inch dice and set them aside in a small bowl. If you are using sausage links, cut them into thin rounds.

Cook the meat in a skillet over moderate heat until it is no longer pink and just beginning to brown. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat into small pieces as it cooks if you are using bulk sausage. Set the meat aside in a mixing bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350º and lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Put the chopped pepper and onion into the pan and cook for about three minutes until the vegetables are tender but still crisp. Remove the pan from the heat and put the vegetables into the bowl with the meat. Grate the cheese and add it to the bowl. Mix everything together.

Heat the pan and coat it with a teaspoon of olive oil over moderate heat. Beat the eggs until they are lemon colored with one-eighth teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of water. Lightly scramble the eggs over low heat until they are cooked but not dry.

Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, garlic powder and an eighth teaspoon of salt into a sifter and add the flour mixture by thirds to the meat and vegetables. Mix the ingredients to the consistency of meatloaf. Fold the eggs into the meat mixture until the eggs are uniformly combined.

Form balls about three inches in diameter and slightly flatten them to make thick patties. Place them two inches apart on the cookie sheet and bake for eighteen to twenty minutes until they are lightly browned.

Depending on how big you make them, you will have eight to ten Egg Bites. Enjoy!

NOTES:

Erynn noted that you can substitute bacon cut in small pieces and lightly cooked for the sausage and implied that you could use other varieties of Cheddar cheese. She also specified organic flour, but I must confess to using Hudson Cream Flour. It is not certified organic, but it is an exceptional product made from hard winter wheat in Stafford County, Kansas. It is not carried by stores in the Upper Midwest, but you can order it from the mill. Just search for Hudson Cream Flour.

You can freeze Egg Bites and microwave the number you need in just a couple of minutes. They are perfect for mornings when you are running late or when you have houseguests and would rather enjoy a cup of coffee and visit with them instead of cooking breakfast.

Erynn made a very good point as she concluded her email to me. “Ohh— remember to keep your ingredients as local and organic as possible!! It’s good karma and the taste is superior!”

She’s right.