Chocolate zucchini cake

We went to a Guy Fawkes party a few weekends ago hosted by a coworker, and enjoyed many wonderful dishes provided by his wife, Linda.  The best thing we tried was chocolate zucchini cake - sounds weird right?  Not to me.

You don't get this figure by being a picky eater, and I'll try most things you put in front of me.  Plus, I've experienced zucchini in a dessert once before, when we were in Alaska visiting Dave's Uncle Bob and Aunt Louise.  On our last night there, Bob said he was making dessert, but asked us to make ourselves scarce while he prepared it, and mumbled a reason that I didn't hear.  We went upstairs to start packing up our stuff and then were watching some TV when he called us to say dessert was ready.

When we sat down on the patio, there was a piece of pie in front of me, and when I sniffed it (curious because of his secrecy) it smelled like apple pie.  So I assumed that's what it was.  He didn't correct me until after we were finished and then asked me if I still thought it was apple pie.  Um, yeah, I think?  I was a little scared, but didn't want to be that person who changes their mind about how something tastes when they find out the ingredients.  I braced myself for what he was about to say - and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't that weird.  It was zucchini pie - all the same ingredients and steps, just replacing apples with zucchini.  Genius.

Good way to hide vegetables in something tasty, no?

Fast forward 3+ years and I'm served chocolate zucchini cake.  Score.

I asked for the recipe the next week at work, and today Walter brought in this cute little recipe card, courtesy of Linda.  I said "did she write this out on this cute little card just for me?"  Of course she did.

Isn't she nice?  Linda is that nurturing, Christmas-sweater-wearing, domesticated, welcoming stay at home mom that you would see on a 50's sitcom, with an obsessively clean and meticulously decorated home.  She's awesome - looking forward to having dinner with them after the holidays.

Anyways, back to the cake.  I feel a cold coming on.  My throat hurts, my chest hurts, and my eyes are watering, so I left work early to come home and take a nap and drown my sorrows in multiple bottles of water.   After a few hours of rest, I was feeling better, so I trudged up to the grocery store to pick up supplies for pumpkin turkey chili, apple pie filling canning and strawberry preserves session on Sunday with Bonnie, and Thanksgiving (non-perishable stuff).  I was hoping to beat the Thanksgiving week crowd, but I think everyone else had the same idea, so the store was annoyingly crowded.  I also picked up some zucchini and cocoa powder to make my zucchini cake.

Here's the recipe:

• Combine dry ingredients:
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• In a separate bowl, cream together:
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 3/4 cup white sugar
• Add to creamed mixture:
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and fold in 2 cups grated zucchini

Pour into greased 9x13 cake pan:

...and sprinkle 1 cup of mini chocolate morsels evenly on top.  Mine are not so even, and I used way more than a cup:

Bake at 350 for 40-45, or until a toothpick comes out clean:

Can't wait to dig in!