Years ago my mom gave me her cookbook of handwritten recipes. I love it and sometimes flip through just for the memories. There are blobs of oil, smears of chocolate and a thin dusting of flour on some pages. Plus my mom’s unique handwriting that I spent hours as a child and teen trying to imitate. Some recipes are so familiar I can almost taste them by looking at the pages, conjuring up images of me and my sister licking beaters of delicious, dripping batters.

There’s even a note in the back with my first joke…

How does a bush go? Bush, bush.

Hmmmmm… well at least I was cute.

This is one of my favourite recipes. I love the texture, smell and taste of this cake. It’s just a touch dense and super moist from the zucchini with a slight green taste that makes you feel like you are eating divine chocolate cake in the middle of the garden. I’m actually thinking I may need to get another piece right now.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Cream together

3/4 butter
2 cups white sugar

Sift

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Mix Together

3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp orange or lemon zest
2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup milk
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Mix the liquid and dry ingredients in a 2:3 ratio into the creamed mixture. Beat in the zucchini last. Pour the batter into a Bundt pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

This is a large recipe and I don’t recommend trying to fit it into any smaller of a pan.

My son and I made cupcakes instead of a cake and we were able to get about 22 cupcakes with this recipe. I baked them at 350 for 20 minutes. I also replaced 1 cup of white flour with whole wheat and it worked out perfect.

Hope your family loves this cake as much as we have and that your little ones (or big ones) happily lick batter, creating their own fabulous memories.