This weekend, in honor of Mardi Gras in New Orleans (laissez les bon temps rouler!), I decided to make a whole Mardi Gras-themed meal to celebrate. We both loooove Cajun food and love the city of New Orleans, so we really enjoyed the whole ordeal! I started off with grilled shrimp Po’ Boys with a spicy remoulade and ended the meal with…wait for it……..a King Cake! Yep, that’s right, I made a King Cake, but more on that later! I found the recipe for the Po’ Boys on Closet Cooking, who found it on Ezra Pound Cake. Now, normally, you’d see a Po’ Boy sandwich with some form of fried seafood, but this recipe looked so good with the grilled shrimp that I had to give it a try. Plus, I’m not big on frying. I can’t tell you how simple and fast this whole process was – it takes mere minutes to grill your shrimp and the remoulade comes together equally as fast. Although I would (naturally) prefer mine with fried oysters, these were SO good – we literally devoured them in no time! Give these a try….you absolutely won’t be sorry!

Grilled Shrimp Po’ Boys
Makes 2

1 pound shrimp, shelled and deviened (I only used a 1/2 pound and it was perfect)
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon creole seasoning (see below)
1 baguette
1 cup lettuce, shredded
2 large tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup remoulade sauce (see below)

Toss the shrimp in the oil and creole seasoning to coat.
Grill the shrimp until cooked, about 2-3 minutes per side.
Assemble sandwich.

Remoulade Sauce
makes 1/2 cup

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon creole mustard
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon horseradish
1 small clove garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon capers
1 green onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
hot sauce to taste

Blend everything in a food processor until smooth.

Creole Spice Blend (I actually didn’t use this- I just used my Tony Chachere’s Cajun Spice)
makes 4 tablespoons

2 1/2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme

And now…on to the King Cake!! Ok, for those of you who don’t know what a King Cake is, HERE is a little history. As far as the actual taste – the dough is almost identical to cinnamon roll dough – very light and chewy (yum). There is a layer of cinnamon and brown sugar in the center and it’s topped with a lemony glaze and colored sugars. Perfect for breakfast, really. The dough contains yeast, therefore it’s a total pain in the butt to make, especially for someone who has chronic problems with yeast. You let it rise, then punch it down…then let it sit for 2 hours, then punch it down…then roll out the dough and braid it…then let it rise again….*sigh*. Anyway, it’s completely delicious and worth every bit of the trouble. I mean, just look at it…

Yum. Isn’t that beautiful??  Only thing is….that isn’t mine. This….

….is mine. Yes, it’s in the trash. Yes, it’s completely disgusting-looking. Yes, it was a total and complete DIS-AS-TER. Welcome to my world. A world in which baked goods with yeast just don’t stand a chance. My kitchen is where yeasted treats go to die.

Now, I realize I could’ve just shown you the picture above (the beautiful, pristine store-bought version) and taken 100% of the credit – Lord knows I worked hard enough! – BUT, that’s what having this food blog is all about. My adventures and misadventures. Therefore, I choose to be honest and tell you that although I worked my rear end off on this stupid dough, and followed the instructions to a TEE, it just didn’t turn out (the dough didn’t rise. At all. It came out tasting like a really dense, hard biscuit). That happens. Especially to me. Of course I’ll keep trying, and eventually I’m sure I’ll make a darn beautiful King Cake…just not for a while. For now, that beautiful store-bought version is still in my kitchen, and it’ll do just fine for the time being. *sigh*……… Here is the recipe, for those of you who don’t have my problem.

Lemon-Glazed King Cake
seen on Peanut Butter and Julie

Makes 1 cake
For the dough
1/2 cup whole milk
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
6 ounces butter, softened
4 large eggs
Zest from one orange
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the filling
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 whole almond or large dried bean

For the glaze
2 large egg whites
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Green, yellow/gold, and purple decorative sugars

Prepare the dough: In a small saucepan, heat the milk to about 110F degrees.  Pour the milk into a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the surface.  Add 1 teaspoon of the sugar and stir to combine.  Set the mixture aside until the yeast is foamy, 10 minutes.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the remaining sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Add the yeast mixture and mix for 1 minute.  Add an egg and mix thoroughly; follow with a third of the flour.  Repeat with the remaining eggs and flour.  Add the orange zest, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt, and continue to mix on low speed for 7-8 minutes, until the dough is smooth, shiny, and elastic, and it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  If the dough is too soft, add up to 1/2 cup of flour.
Scrape the dough from the bowl and lightly knead to form into a ball.  Butter or oil the inside of a medium size bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, turning to coat with the butter.  Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.
When the dough has risen, turn it out of the bowl, punch it down, and knead it lightly to form a ball.  Put the dough back in the bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Form the cake:  Flour a clean work surface.  Roll the dough into a 10 by 20-inch rectangle, keeping the thickness consistent throughout.  Cut the dough lengthwise into 3 strips.  Paint each strip of the dough with the melted butter, leaving a 1/2-inch border clean along the length of each strip.  Reserve any leftover butter.  Sprinkle the strips with the brown sugar and cinnamon.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Fold each strip over lengthwise toward the clean edges to enclose the cinnamon sugar, and pinch the seam to seal the dough closed.  Snugly braid the three pieces together.  Transfer the braid to the baking sheet and form the braid into a wreath, pressing the ends together.  Cover the wreath with a clean towel and set aside to rise for 40 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
Brush the cake with the reserved melted butter and bake for 18 minutes, until golden brown.  Cover the cake loosely with foil and continue to bake for 20-25 minutes more, until baked through.  Keep the cake on the baking sheet and allow to cool completely.  After the cake has cooled, carefully tuck the almond into the underside of the cake.
Prepare the glaze:  Place the egg whites and the confectioner’s sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on low speed until combined.  Add the corn syrup, vanilla, and lemon juice, and continue to mix until smooth, adding more lemon juice if necessary to achieve your desired glaze consistency.
Drizzle the glaze over the cake, spreading with an offset spatula to coat.  Cover with alternating colored sugars, and allow to set before serving.

Don’t be afraid to try this recipe after what happened to me. Really. I’m sure it will turn out just fine for you. Whatever you’re celebrating this week, be it Mardi Gras, the Olympics, or whatever – enjoy it!

Do you ever have one of those nights? The kind where absolutely nothing goes right, to the point of just having to laugh it off, lest you get really, really upset? Seems like we have those kind of nights a lot. The kind of nights where an entire tray of boiling hot soup and a HUGE glass of tea is dumped into my lap; my husband choking on the not-so-delicious, romantic Valentine’s Day meal I made for him, thus ruining everybody’s evening (and appetite!); or most recently (like, last night) our dog, Izzy eating the remainder of my beloved Girl Scout Caramel Delite cookies while we were out. My cookies! My precious, delicious only-come-once-a-year Girl Scout cookies!! She’s snickering at me right now from across the room…. *Sigh*

Anyway…that really has nothing whatsoever to do with Italian Cream Cake, but it feels better venting a little bit. Right, so, on with the post…

Months and months ago, my dad made a cake request for his birthday, which is 3 days after Christmas. Italian Cream Cake. That’s one of his favorites, so for the past few months I’ve been searching for the perfect recipe. Finally, I decided on one – Billie’s Italian Cream Cake, found on The Pioneer Woman. The instructions were really easy to follow and the end result was nothing short of amazing. Everyone agreed that it was the best Italian Cream Cake they’d ever tasted – success! The only change I made was adding a little lemon juice to the cream cheese frosting to bring out the tangy-ness in the cream cheese; à la Ms. Dorie Greenspan. I think we’d all agree that the frosting, by far, was the best part.

Billie’s Italian Cream Cake
-found on The Pioneer Woman

For the Cake:
1 stick Butter, at room temperature
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Sugar
5 whole Eggs (separated)
3 teaspoons Vanilla
1 cup Sweetened Coconut
2 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 cup Buttermilk

For the Frosting:
2 packages (8 Oz) Cream Cheese, at room temperature
1 stick Butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 package 2 Lb Powdered Sugar
1 cup Chopped Walnuts (I used pecans)
1 cup Sweetened, Flaked Coconut
1 squeeze fresh lemon juice (optional, but highly recommended!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.

For the Cake:
In a large bowl, cream together butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks, vanilla, and coconut.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

Alternate adding buttermilk and dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix until just combined, then fold in egg whites.

Pour evenly into the three prepared pans, then sprinkle the top of each pan with 1 (at least) tablespoon sugar.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto cooling racks and allow to cool completely.

For the Frosting:
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Stir in chopped nuts and coconut. (Here is where you would add the lemon juice, if using). Spread between layers and serve.
Note: cream cheese frosting will soften at room temperature, so refrigerate if you won’t use it right away.

Sorry I don’t have any pictures of the inside of the cake – I took these before my parents came over; but trust me, it was beautiful! I would highly recommend this cake to anybody; even those who think they don’t like coconut or nuts….I am one of those people, yet I gobbled up every bit of my (giant) slice! Make this cake! Make it TODAY!! I guarantee it’ll be gone before the weekend’s over!

Oh and by the way, Izzy is just fine after eating all those cookies – she was a little hyper last night, but she’s feeling just fine today!

I hope everybody had a happy and safe New Year’s celebration – we certainly did! We aren’t exactly the kind of couple who like to go to the big, fancy New Year’s Eve parties (although, I’m sure they’re oh-so-fun!) – we’re the kind of couple who like to stay in, make dinner, watch the Twilight Zone marathon on the Sci-Fi channel (don’t make fun, it’s awesome and you know it! No one can resist watching William Shatner freak out about the scary-fuzzy-monster-monkey-man on the wing of the airplane!), pop open a bottle of champagne and bring the in new year with just the two of us. I can’t say in all honesty that I’m not completely relieved to have 2009 behind me, and hopefully (no, most definitely) 2010 will be much, much better; in fact, it’s already off to a great start. And I can’t think of a better way to bring my blog into 2010 than with this cake. Sure, from the picture above it may look like just an ordinary bundt cake…but trust me, it’s so much more. It’s called Yum-Yum Rum Cake, and it’s absolutely to die for. The recipe has been in our family for years – it came from a dear friend of my great grandmother’s and we all love it. It’s extremely simple – it uses a boxed cake mix and vanilla pudding, but it’s the topping that makes it special. It’s moist, slightly crunchy from the pecans on top and just dripping with  sugary rum syrup (my heavens I’m practically drooling now!).

Yum Yum Rum Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1 small package vanilla pudding mix
1/2 cup rum (not extract!)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease bundt pan and sprinkle with pecans; set aside. Mix all ingredients except the eggs in a large bowl on medium speed; then add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Pour batter into the bundt pan. Bake for one hour or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Yum Yum Sauce:
1/4 cup rum (again, NOT extract!)
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 cup water

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and sugar over medium heat; add the water and stir until you have a smooth liquid. Remove from heat and add the rum. Spoon over cake while still hot in the pan.
*I like to take a toothpick and poke holes all over the top of the cake, that way the glaze soaks in better.
Invert the cake onto a serving platter, cover with plastic wrap and store at least 4 hours or overnight before serving.

You’re absolutely going to love this cake. In fact, I’m sitting here craving a piece right now…I wonder if I could just have rum cake for dinner?…mmm…

I hope everyone had a wonderful, happy Christmas! We certainly did – we witnessed our very first White Christmas (in Texas!)!! It was totally wonderful (except the part where we had to drive home on frozen highways…not so much fun…). The weather lately has been totally unbelievable and completely wonderful – I’m sitting here typing this post watching the snow fall outside again! It’s SO cool! And this time I’m very thankful to be watching it snow from the comfort of my home, instead of driving in it.

Anyway, this post is all about a wonderful tradition. Coffee cake. The coffee cake my family has eaten for breakfast every Christmas morning since the 80’s (at least!).  It absolutely wouldn’t be Christmas without it. Yuuuuummmm.  And yes, I realize Christmas is over, but I wanted to share the recipe because really, there’s nothing “Christmasy” about this cake. It’s just a simple, normal coffee cake that can be enjoyed any day of the year – we just choose to eat it on Christmas. But that doesn’t mean you have to!

(If you’re wondering why only half of it has pecans, hubby hates nuts, so I made it half and half….silly boy!)

This couldn’t be easier to make – 5 ingredients total. Just assemble the night before, let it sit out overnight and bake it the next morning, and you’ve got delicious, gooey, coffee cake! Too easy! You’ve got to try this one!

Overnight Coffee Cake

1 package frozen white dinner rolls (I use Rhodes brand)
1 package butterscotch pudding (not instant!)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar

Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray and sprinkle chopped pecans over the bottom of the pan. Arrange the frozen rolls in the pan and sprinkle with the butterscotch pudding mix. Mix the melted butter and brown sugar together in a small bowl and pour over the frozen rolls. Grease a piece of foil and cover the pan; let sit out overnight (do not refrigerate).

The next morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the coffee cake for 30 minutes, covered loosely with foil. Let sit out for 10 minutes before inverting on to a platter and serving.

I really don’t recommend omitting the nuts – it just doesn’t turn out the same (as you can see on the left side of the cake…) – they’re really necessary, in my opinion. This is a wonderfully delicious breakfast treat – give it a try this weekend! It would make a great New Year’s Day breakfast!

This is such a great cake – there’s pumpkin, pecans, fresh cranberries, and lots of spice. SO full of yummy holiday flavors! Dorie’s All In One Holiday Bundt Cake was chosen by Britin of The Nitty Britty. I absolutely loved it – this reminds me a lot of the Cranberry Orange Bread I make every year at Thanksgiving…in fact, now that I think of it, this cake would be delicious with a bit of orange zest/juice! Next time, definitely!

The texture is nice and chunky, and the cranberries give so much extra flavor. I left out the apples because I just didn’t feel like apples in my cake that day. I will most definitely be making this cake again and again. It really is perfect for the holidays! Thanks, Britin, for a great pick! By the way, if you want the recipe, just head over to Britin’s blog and she’ll have it posted!

This time of year I find myself making nothing but “holiday-type” treats; which is by no means a bad thing, I just think it’s good to sort of mix things up a bit every now and then. There are a lot of “summery” flavors in this dessert, like coconut and pineapple. We were having some friends over last night for Mexican food and I thought this cake would be great for dessert. Not only is it super quick and easy (almost embarrassingly easy!), it’s always so delicious – you can’t possibly mess it up! Everybody really enjoyed it! I’ll most likely go back to my pumpkin-y, spice-y, holiday-type desserts now, but it was a nice change of pace to have a cool, tropical-tasting dessert for a night!

Pina Colada Cake

1 boxed yellow cake mix
1 can Coco Lopez Cream Coconut
1 regular sized tub Cool-Whip
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained (make sure to get out as much liquid as possible)

Make the cake as directed on the box, baking it in a 9×13 pan. While the cake is still warm, using the back of a spoon or wooden skewer, poke holes all over the top of the cake. Pour the Coco Lopez over the cake, spreading as you go along, so it will soak into the cake evenly. Let the cake cool completely. Meanwhile, stir the pineapple into the Cool-Whip. Spread over the cooled cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Well, today is the first day of November, and I’m super excited! November holds lots of happy, joyous occasions for me – I start listening to Christmas music about two weeks in, Thanksgiving, of course, the 5:00 AM Black Friday shopping, and the most joyous of all – our Christmas tree goes up! Wheeeeee!!! The day we put our tree up is by far, the happiest day of the year for me – I absolutely love it! But I need to brace myself…that’s not for another 26 days.

Since today is the first day of a very happy month, I thought I’d post a very yummy, Fall-y cake to start it off right. A delicious Pumpkin and Maple Gingerbread Bundt. I saw this on a blog called Tongue-n-Cheeky and couldn’t wait to try it! I think the flavors of pumpkin, gingerbread, cinnamon and maple go beautifully together; they certainly made a delicious cake. Very simple, not too sweet, and full of flavor – a perfect Fall cake!

I’m going to post the recipe exactly how she posts it on Tongue-n-Cheeky, since it’s a very simple layout and easy to follow.

Pumpkin and Maple Gingerbread Bundt
-Tongue-n-Cheeky

In One Bowl, Mix:___________________In Another Bowl, Mix:
3 eggs                                                     3 eggs
1 c. canned pumpkin                           1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar                                                1/4 c. molasses
1/2 c. oil                                                 1/2 c. oil
1 T. cinnamon                                       1 T. ginger
1/2 tsp. baking powder                       1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. milk                                              1/2 c. milk
2 c. flour                                                 1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt                                            1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla                                          1 tsp. maple extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat all ingredients together. Pour each batter in rotating layers into a well greased & floured bundt pan. Run a knife through the layers to marble the batters together. Bake bundt for 52-55 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched.

Happy November, everybody!

Yep, today is my Sweetie Pie’s birthday! I won’t mention exactly how old he is, but I will say he’s getting pretty close to 30! Birthdays aren’t really a huge deal for him – he doesn’t ever want anything fancy or extravagant – just simple and low-key. Usually we stay home and I make him a nice dinner, or we go out to his favorite restaurant….nothing big; just the two of us having a great evening together.  But no matter what he chooses to do, year after year, one thing always remains the same – a big ‘ol birthday cake! Two years ago, he had a chocolate cake covered with Hershey Kisses (his favorite candy), last year, a Chocolate Overdose cake filled with chocolate mousse and topped with chocolate ganache, and this year, since Oreos are pretty much his favorite food on the planet…a Chocolate Oreo Cake. Yum.

I got this recipe from Katie over at Good Things Catered; it looked so amazingly perfect, I knew I had to make this for hubby’s birthday. It uses Hershey’s Perfect Chocolate Cake recipe, which I have now decided is my favorite chocolate cake and frosting (seriously, this frosting is the BEST!), and it’s filled with a light cookies & cream filling, then topped with lots of Oreo cookies…see? Perfect for my husband, the Oreo addict.  Needless to say, he absolutely loved it (I presented it to him a couple of days early)! Of all the birthday cakes I’ve made for him, I’d have to say, this one is probably the one I’m the most proud of, considering cakes are definitely not one of my strong suits. So happy birthday, sweetie – and here’s to many more!!

Chocolate Oreo Cake
-Good Things Catered

For cake:
2 c. sugar
1-3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. Hershey’s Cocoa
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk (I used buttermilk)
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c. boiling water

10-15 oreos twisted to separate cookies and reveal cream center
More oreos for decorating

For icing:
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, melted
2/3 c. Hershey’s Cocoa
3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

For filling:
1/3 c. whipping cream
2 tsp powdered sugar
small dash vanilla extract
1/8 c. oreo cookie crumbs, made from reserved oreo sides

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 9-inch round baking pans, lining with parchment.
-On one layer of cake, place cookie halves that have been separated into the bottom of one pan, cream side up.
-Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
-Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
-Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
-Pour batter very carefully into prepared pans.
-Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
-Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans and place onto wire racks.
-Remove parchment and cool completely.
-Meanwhile, make frosting: stir melted butter into cocoa.
-Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
-Add small amount additional milk, if needed.
-Stir in vanilla.
(About 2 cups frosting.)
-Meanwhile, make filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff.
-Gently fold in the cookie crumbs.
-Scoop the mixture into a piping bag (or gallon sized ziploc bag).
-When cake is completely cooled, make icing dam around the top edge of the layer of cake that has oreos baked into it.
-Fill icing dam with a layer of cream filling.
-Place other cake layer on top, and frost with chocolate frosting.
-Place oreo halves around bottom edge and top of cake.
-Serve or store in refrigerator.

I’ve been taking the Wilton Cake Decorating classes over the past month (Course 1) with a good friend of mine; we really enjoyed it and learned a lot!  I didn’t know how to even do a simple flower, so this course was especially helpful to me.  In the first course we learned things like roses, sweet peas (my personal favorite!), hearts, clowns (eww), shell border, stars, dots and lots of other things! I managed to get some pretty good pictures of my last cake, but the clown cake didn’t get photographed, and my friend Andrea took a picture of the first cake with her little p&s camera – here are some of the pictures.

This was my first cake….not the greatest, I know. My writing skills are really lacking…(Sorry it’s blurry…I had to resize it and it sort of looks like crap. Plus, it was taken with a point and shoot…).

The last cake of the course.

Sweet peas….my favorite!

I’m planning on taking the other two courses, which include fondant, royal icing and a wedding-style cake!  Hopefully I’ll get pretty good..eventually!

Mmmm, look at this moist, chocolatey cake; so full of deep chocolate flavor, covered with sticky dark chocolate ganache….and filled with….zucchini…?!?! Yep, you read correctly – zucchini.  I know it sounds disgusting, but you’ve all had or heard of zucchini bread, right?  Well, there’s really not much of a difference – using it in a sweet, spiced quick  bread or baking it into a chocolate cake – it’s all the same!  And believe me when I tell you you can’t even tell the zucchini’s in there; no, seriously!  I first saw this on The Repressed Pastry Chef and it looked so good I had to get the recipe.  And then I saw it again…and again…food bloggers all over the place have been making this cake lately!  I figured I needed to make it ASAP and see what all the fuss was about.  I’m so glad I did, too! This was an amazing cake – the most moist (moistest??) chocolate cake I think I’ve ever had…and like I said before, there isn’t even the slightest hint of anything out of the ordinary.  I know what you’re thinking – if you can’t even tell it’s there, why put it in?? Am I right??   I wondered the same thing, but Em over at The Repressed Pastry Chef told me that it adds a ton of moisture – boy was she right! And the great thing is, you don’t use all that much butter – the zucchini makes it plenty moist.  You might still be thinking “eww..”, but you’re just going to have to trust me when I say that this cake is absolutely and completely delicious.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
-The Repressed Pastry Chef

For the Cake
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons espresso powder, optional but tasty
2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 10″ zucchini, about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

For the Icing
3/4 cup heavy cream
9 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly coat a 9″ x 13″ pan with baking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs.
Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack.
To prepare the frosting, heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Wait 3-5 minutes then stir to combine. It will thicken as it cools… when warm (but not hot) pour over cake and smooth with offset spatula. Allow frosting to set for about 30 minutes before serving… or not