The secret garden

The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.
~ George Bernard Shaw

First egg

I'm so proud of the old mother hen that we bought about a month ago. She's not the sprightliest thing but yesterday she proved a real trooper by producing our first ever egg! It's shown in the photos above along with our onions, potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini.

The zucchinis up close...

Chocolate zucchini cake

This year's zucchini harvest is starting to come in. H has been picking the zukes young so that we can eat them while they're still deliciously greeny-tender instead of formidably monster-sized. But, as with last year, the produce is showing signs of running amuck. I spotted a monster one (defined in my books as over nine inches) yesterday and no doubt there will be more tomorrow.

When there's zucchini, there's cake (proper chocolate cakes, baked in a springform and as cupcakes to throw into a lunch bag). That's just a natural law in my household.

Chocolate zucchini cake

2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup yogurt or buttermilk
2 cups grated unpeeled zucchini (about 2 1/2 medium)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter and flour your pans. You could use a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. I used a 9" springform pan and a 12-cup muffin pan lined with paper liners.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl.

Beat sugar, butter and oil in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk in 3 additions each. Mix in grated zucchini and chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake cake until tester inserted into centre comes out clean, about 30 minutes. The muffins will be ready after 15 minutes. Cool cakes and cupcakes completely in pan.

You simply cannot taste the zukes in the final product. I don't know if that's good or bad.

Notes:

Do you know what makes a good chocolate cake better? A smear of good cream cheese on top. No added sugar, no nothing. The tangy-ness of the cream cheese complements the sweetness of the chocolate (cocoa+choco chips). Though I suppose some lemon zest in the cream cheese would just take this over the top.