Who would have thought that you can add zucchinis to a cake recipe and no one can tell it’s there! I’ve heard of carrot cake which is yummy. Then there’s people putting pumpkin, another vegetable type into cakes too….but Zucchini? :blink:
I’ve been really into eating them lately, partly because they are easy to stir fry and offers a quick meal with my servings of vegetables. Since being on a time schedule these days, I have to get my meals in quicker than usual, there’s no spending half a way creating some spectacular dish and dessert.
So far, my fitness goals are on track and I’ve been working out regularly and getting my 6 meals in every 2-3 hours like clockwork….thanks to Daisy, my pda! :good:
For mother’s day, I decided to make my mom an angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries…I guess one could call that a strawberry shortcake but I think that maybe with a sponge cake but then, isn’t an angel food cake in that same family? Maybe not, I’m not sure.
Anyway, I decided to find another recipe than the one I had made before. I’ve never really liked angel food cakes just because it’s so……. dry and tasteless :yuck: I thought maybe I just did something wrong like baked it too long and it got dried out. So I searched for a new recipe and found one with high ratings. I made it and it looked good…but it still tasted dry, like air. Perhaps I’m missing the fine subtle notes of the cake, maybe the cake is suppose to be like eating air.
All I can say is that on its own, angel food cake is nothing to jump up and down about but when you top it with a concoction of cool whip mixed with some thick strawberry yogurt and then topped with diced strawberries and sprinkle some powder sugar on top of that, it’s a very delightful dessert. The only thing it was missing was some chocolate curls or shavings to complete the feast for the eyes and the palette. :luv:
So that basically got me started looking for lower fat cakes. I’m watching it all, calories, fat, and carbs but not really fanatic about it just yet. At sparkpeople I have my daily allowances and I usually meet it ok, no worries there. As I was browsing through recipes for cakes, I saw a few that intrigued me.
Let me first say that I really enjoy baking and I love making and eating cakes. Now I just want to figure out a way to be able to still incorporate cakes into my diet but in a healthier lower fat/calories/carbs way. When I saw Chocolate Zucchini Cake, I was instantly intrigued. Could it be true? Zucchinis in a chocolate cake recipe and the reviewers say it is not detectable at all? :eyebrow: And it makes it moist? 
People online were saying how it’s a good way to get their kids to eat more vegetables! I couldn’t help it, I was so curious that I set out earlier to get some ingredients! I already had most of the ingredients on hand and I was planning on substituting parts of the recipe from the tidbits people were saying in the reviews like halving the oil content and using apple sauce to make up the difference. Instead of using all regular flour, I used half whole wheat flour….actually I ended up using half of this organic white whole wheat flour and half cake flour. I already had many of the ingredients on hand that were organic so the healthier the better!
I got this really long and big zucchini at the store, it was so perfect looking, like it was just calling out to me to put it in my cake recipe so I bought it. Turns out that after shredding it in my Cuisinart Food Processor, it was exactly 3 cups worth which is what the recipe called for! :clapping: The exact recipe I made is located over at allrecipes.com for Chocolate Zucchini Cake III.
From the reviews, people were saying how it was really moist, some even said it was soggy. I suspected that it was a denser cake because of the veggies so I decided to make mine like I do with a chiffon cake where I would separate the egg yolk from the egg whites and whip the egg whites with some cream of tarter to stiff peaks, then later incorporate back into the cake by folding the whites in. I like chiffon style technique because it tends to make a lighter higher rising cake, less dense. It takes a bit more work but my Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer makes the job sooo much easier!
Having attempted this cake and having decent results, I’m a believer in the zucchini in cakes as a good secret ingredient! The cake came together pretty well and the batter looked like how my cakes normally looked. I used a little less cocoa powder because I was putting in mini dark chocolate chunks in place of the nuts. I also used less sugar but I think next time I’ll use the recommended amount because the cake to me was not sweet enough. It had a rich chocolaty taste that, to me, required some pairing with the old buttercream icing…mmm 
Since that was a no go on the buttercream, I opted on dusting the top with a little powdered sugar.
I really wasn’t sure how it would rise so I only filled my cupcake liners 3/4 full. I also baked some in a large muffin tin filled about 4/5 full (had to use up the batter). To my surprised, the cake still sunk a bit after it cooled and basically sunk to the size of the fill. It rose a bit but fell back down to the original fill mark….so the next time I make these and yes I will be making them again, I will fill it up closer to the top. The muffin tin ones were a nice size, the top was actually really nice and even once it cooled. I may buy more muffin tins, it’s just a nice size.
Cupcakes are tiny especially when you’re not using icing. The funny thing about the cupcake ones is that when you unwrap them from the liner, the cake itself is about maybe an inch tall. :laughing: When I plated one, it reminded me of that one credit card commercial where the couple was dining at some french place and the food that came out where tiny and the guy said “it looks like elf food” :lmao:
On it’s own, it really need something sweet paired with it. When I plated it, I put a dollop of cool whip and some diced strawberries with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. It was pretty and made it taste better, more complete. If I wasn’t watching my calories etc, I’d sooo make some home made buttercream icing to go on top.
The zucchini really was undetectable. I thought maybe I’d see a chunk of it here or there but none I could see or taste or feel in the texture. The cake is moist but not overly. Maybe because of the wheat flour or the cake flour I used or maybe it was whipping the egg whites ….or maybe it was using the food processor’s shredding disc that helped. I did try to shred the zucchini with a hand shredder and after a few swipes, I was just making a watery mess. The Food Processor cleanly shredded the zucchini without bruising the hell out of it which I think is the cause for excess water some people may have had.
It is a really puzzling phenomenon how the zucchini just seem to disappear. Where does it go? What has happened to it? Did it dissolve and melded with the cake? Did the 350 degrees oven performed some hocus pocus on physical structure of the zucchini? Was there some devilish chocolate vodo involved in the disappearance of the zucchini? So many unanswered questions, maybe I’ll google it and see if someone has the answers.
For me, the cake was a success! Some minor tweaking and it shall be a definite keeper! I wonder if I could substitute all the oil with apple sauce…..and if it’s possible to use all egg whites….would it work if I tried to put zucchini in an angel food cake? Would that make it moist somehow without deflating the cake it self too much because of the density? Oh how I wish I could test out these theories right now!
We are growing zucchinis in the garden this year too, I’ve read that they are very hardy all summer long so there will be plenty of testing and perfecting! Now all I need to do is figure out the nutritional values for the cake since I substituted some ingredients. I should take a picture of the cupcakes I made, maybe you’ll get a good laugh at them too because they are so tiny!
If you’ve never considered zucchini or even heard of such a thing, give it a try! I swear you can not tell it’s in there and it does add some moisture to your cake! I’m going to make a regular cake with it next, I’ve already shredded 3 more cups of zucchini since I had my food processor out….why dirty it twice when once is good!
Off to snap some pics……………
Recent Comments