Chocolate, Almond & Zucchini Cake

This is a beautiful, moist, rich chocolate cake.  This version of gluten free and zucchini is perfect for the chocolate cake enthusiast and children will never detect the zucchini. Good quality Dutch cocoa is essential for the dark chocolate colour, however, regular cocoa will also work.

When baking for knitting group I use a deep slice tin or brownie tin. It is easier to cut up into smaller pieces and more suitable to pass around. There is always the option of seconds.


The mixture can also be made into cupcakes or baked in muffin tins and used as individual puddings

Gluten Free

Chocolate Almond & Zucchini Cake

2 zucchini or enough to make 2 cups grated  1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup dark brown sugar 1 cup almond meal 1 cup gluten free flour 4 x 50 g eggs or 3 large 1 tablespoon baking powder 3 tablespoons Dutch cocoa 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

To Decorate Sifted pure icing sugar Chocolate Frosting 100g butter 200g dark chocolate 2 teaspoons vanilla extract Chocolate Sauce ½ cup cream 200g dark chocolate 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

Grate zucchini and squeeze out to remove as much liquid as possible. Measure out 2 cups of zucchini.

Combine oil, eggs and sugar. Beat/whiz to combine.

Add baking powder, cocoa almond meal and gluten free flour Beat/pulse /mix until combined.

Stir in the grated zucchini

Pour the mixture into a greased and lined *20 cm springform cake tin.  Bake 160 deg C until just cooked and a skewer comes out clean, approximately 1 hour.

*Cake tin size will influence the cooking time. I frequently use a slice tin which cooks more quickly (40 mins approx) than a deeper and smaller round tin. Cool in tin for ten minutes and then on a cooling rack.

Decorate cake with chocolate frosting or if using for dessert dust cake with sifted pure icing and serve with warm chocolate sauce, cream/icec ream.

To Make Chocolate Frosting

Melt butter, chocolate and vanilla together on medium heat in microwave or on low heat in small saucepan. Mix well. Allow to cool until thick and spread over cake.

To Make Chocolate Sauce

Melt cream, chocolate and vanilla together on medium heat in microwave or on low heat in small saucepan. Mix well. Serve warm. Refrigerate unused sauce and reheat bin the microwave on medium.