Monday, July 27, 2015

Let Them Eat Cake!




Oh hi guys!

It's been awhile...

I want to make it up to you.

So how about some cake?

This cake began with good intentions. There was a zucchini. There was a loaf pan. There were dreams of toasting slices and topping them with peanut butter for breakfast.

But those things didn't happen because I remembered that I had a bunch of tiny round baking pans for making multi-layer mini cakes, and those pans had been nesting together in their box in mint condition since I received them as a bridal shower gift from a lovely coworker about a year ago.

And also because chocolate.

So here you go, mon petit Spatulettes! I hope you have your cake and eat it too!

p.s. You can still eat this for breakfast. It is Breakfast Tested, Breakfast Approved. Nobody can tell you not to. Being a grownup is awesome.

Almost Healthy Chocolate Cake

Makes 7 generous slices of a mini 4 tier cake

Here's What You'll Need:

For the Cake:
1 medium zucchini (250 grams)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/3 cup oil (I used sunflower)
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup and 2 tbsp sugar (I used raw)
2 tbsp cocoa powder (I used raw cacao powder)
A whole bunch of chocolate chips (I just found the best dairy-free ones at Sprouts!)

For the Frosting:
1/2 cup tofutti cream cheese (thought I suppose regular would work)
1/3 cup stick margarine (I used Earth Balance)
3 cups and a bit more powdered sugar
A sprinkle of dried coconut

Here's What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 325.

Finely chop or make quick work of your zucchini by shredding it in a food processor. A cheese grater would work in a pinch.

Combine shredded zucchini, applesauce, oil, vinegar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mix it up and let it sit for a few minutes while assembling the dry ingredients.

Mix all your dry ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips.

Combine your wet and dry mixtures. I used my beloved yellow Kitchen Aid on low speed. Add in chocolate chips.

Grease your pan(s) and fill them with cake batter. You can use mini pans like mine  in which case you'll use 4 of them. Any pan will do though. This might change your baking time, so be careful.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove cakes from mini pans and cool on a wire rack for a few hours.

Once the cake has cooled and you're ready to frost, mix all the frosting ingredients together in a bowl (electric or hand mixing is fine).  The more powdered sugar you use, the thicker the frosting will be.

You can top your cake with coconut, or even more chocolate chips, or walnuts. Go wild!

My cake chilled in the fridge for a few hours before we dug in.  
It kept well in the fridge for the 3 days that it existed before we at it all. 

It was a mini cake  yet enjoyed by many; including my Aunt Kathleen who came all the way from the east coast and THEN braved California public transportation along with my Nana Jane to come check out our new house and have some cake.

'til next time! Keep on cooking, peeps! 

Nana Jane finally named my kitchen chicken! He's now Henry, if you please! Photo Credit: Aunt K.


Cake recipe adapted from amazing recipe blog here

Frosting recipe adapted from another amazing recipe blog here