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Hey Alicia here.
We originally posted this recipe last year in May, but I live in a different state and didn't get to try the cake the first time around. So, I made it recently with a giant zucchini my friend gave me from her garden and it was seriously THE BEST CAKE I'VE EVER HAD. It was fluffy, moist, soft, chocolatey, deliciousness. It was light and airy. I wanted to make this cake again before it was even all gone. I especially love that this cake doesn't need frosting. The brown sugar chocolate chip topping was PERFECT! I decided we need to share this recipe again because now Is the time of year when people start finding huge zucchini in their yards that are perfect for baking. Try this, you will NOT regret it. Seriously, I'm considering not eating zucchini any other way from now on. To really make your cake fluffy make sure you cream the butter and sugar really well, until they are light and fluffy and almost increase in volume. Doing this helps to trap air into the batter. Then I repeated this process when I added the egg in (beating it for a little longer to fluff up the wet ingredients). It made it amazing. Go and make this cake and be amazed at the results. You won't regret it! Original Post Below:
My DIL's mom, Anita gave me a giant zucchini. Yes, we know that the smaller ones are the ones you are supposed to pick to cook up for a delicious dinner veggie. But, if you have ever grown zucchini, they somehow have a way of hiding until finally one day there is a giant one laying there taunting you to do something with it. Anita found this particular one before it had a chance to become extraordinarily huge, but it was big enough for me to make 2 recipes out of it! Today I will share with you the first thing I made with it. It is The Best Chocolate Zucchini Cake Ever!
When Anita handed me the zucchini, she said, "Here! Make some zucchini bread!" I had every intention of doing that and taking her a loaf. But then one afternoon a couple of days later, I looked in the fridge and realized that I needed to use that zucchini and the idea of a chocolate zucchini cake came into my head. I had heard about them before but never made one. I as so glad that I did because this cake came out so moist and delicious, much better than any zucchini bread I had ever made! This particular recipe was adapted from an old church recipe compilation. It doesn't need frosting because it has a brown sugar, chocolate chip topping that is perfect!
Now, here is my secret "oops" moment that caused this cake to be so moist, I believe. I used my food processor to grate the zucchini. I accidentally left the chopping blade down in the bottom of the food processor! What I ended up with was coarsely chopped, slightly pureed zucchini. It was almost like a very thick applesauce, only zucchini. Well, I couldn't waste it, so I went ahead and made the cake anyway! It was an amazing success. I took it to our church choir practice to share it. It was a hit!
Even if you don't have a giant zucchini, you can use regular sized ones for this recipe. Later, I will give you the recipe for what I did with the rest of the zucchini!
Have you ever made a silly mistake that ended up making your recipe more delicious? Let me know in the comments!
If you don't have any zucchini at all for this recipe, here is one that Lindsey made for Memorial Day last year!
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If you don't know this by now, my mom (Helen, the boss of this blog) watches my daughter while I am at work during the week. When I picked her up on Thursday my mom told me they had had pudding that day. My daughter had never had pudding before and the experience clearly left an impression on her. At bedtime that night she told me she wanted pudding. When I told her no, she said she wanted Grandma. When I told her know, she told me she wanted Grandma and pudding.
Fast forward to this weekend and she has been sick. Although she's had a fever and a cough she's been pretty happy. It has however, been really hard to get her to eat or drink anything. So today, in a desperate attempt to get her to put SOME food into her little tummy I made her some pudding. She ate one bite and didn't want any more, but don't let that fool you about this homemade chocolate pudding. It is AMAZING! It is smooth and creamy and chocolate-y and happiness in a bowl. Also, it is EASY to make it vegan! Just swap out the butter for your favorite vegan variety and boom! Vegan chocolate pudding. Pudding really is a great treat that we do not indulge in very often around these parts. However, this homemade chocolate pudding was so easy to make and tasted so good that I'm pretty sure I'll never buy the box varieties again!
This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchased made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!
I have a fondness for fondue dinners. It all started back when my husband was stationed in Germany and we went to a church party at a Major's home, who was a member or our congregation. They had a really nice quarters, and they hosted this fondue party. It was so much fun. There were several kinds of fondue, a large assortment of things to dip, plus other appetizers. We all walked around the table multiple times just talking and eating as we stood for a while, and then filling our plates and talking and enjoying ourselves even more. That party was the perfect mix of food and people. I have tried to replicate it, but haven't really come close. But, my love of fondue, partly because of my memory of that party, has not waned.
Now that school is back in for many, a special fun dinner is just the ticket for a family to de-stress and just enjoy some time together. Maybe you can create a long lasting memory of your own. Fondue is fun with a lot of people enjoying it, and also just for 2 or 3! Maddy is vegan, so she won't be eating the cheese and chocolate fondues with my husband and I tonight, but she can join in with many of the dippers and use some vegan dressings as a dip. There are always options. For a family get together, a great idea is to have a larger variety of fondues and assign lots of things to dip. I like to give everyone a little cup to hold their fondue in on their plate, instead of them doing multiple dippings back into the pot. That protects everyone from double dippers! If you don't have enough fondue forks, you can use skewers or just regular forks.
I know that the word "fondue" might sound intimidating, but it means "melted" and virtually everything goes! You can use many different kinds of cheese, hot oil for cooking thin cuts of meat right in the pot, savory sauces, like a marinara. For dessert, chocolate is always a favorite, but you can do caramel or marshmallow and for dippers you are only limited by your imagination.
I am sharing 2 recipes with you today. One is a main course or even an appetizer. The other is a dessert.
First, a goat cheese fondue that you will love!
For dipping I simply used things I already had on hand, pan grilled chicken chunks, zucchini, carrots, french bread. You could also use crackers, peppers and any veggies you would like.
For dessert, Chocolate Fondue! This recipe whips up in no time.
If you don't already have a fondue pot, I am sharing some links to some here. Do you have any fondue memories? How about recipes or favorite things to dip? Share with us in the comments!
This post contains affiliate links. We will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are our own.
Today for Friday Faves, we are getting you ready for January 27, which is Chocolate Cake Day! Not that we need a day to decide to bake and eat chocolate cake, but here is a great excuse! We've shared a number of chocolate cakes here on the blog, but besides those, today I have gathered some favorites from some of our blogger friends to share with you as well! You can just click on the links to their blogs to find the recipes or to the posts that we have shared before. But, hurry, you only have 2 days to choose which cake (or 2) you will bake! (After all, it is a holiday!)
What is your favorite Chocolate Cake?
I had almost forgotten about this cake that I developed for Alicia and shared in this post about our favorite birthday cakes! I need to revisit it and make it again!
I love the beauty and the story behind this cake from Shelley Webb, internationalcaregiver.com
She made this cake herself for her wedding in 1983. Actually, she made 14 of them! I can hardly wait to make this recipe! Look at how rich it looks:
This Swiss Cake Roll originally posted for a Valentine's Day dessert. So, if you don't make it for Chocolate Cake Day, keep it in your back pocket for Valentine's Day. Actually, any of these cakes would be perfect for Valentine's Day!
I love a good Texas Sheet Cake and this one from Blogging Grandma Candy Cage at Candy's Farm House Pantry looks just like a Texas Sheet Cake should. It would be perfect for a large family gathering on Chocolate Cake Day.
Shared by Pam Marston at Natural Essentials at Yellow Banks shared this iconic recipe. The marshmallow cream makes this cake decadent.
Maddy was so happy when I shared this Vegan Chocolate Cake that is moist and decadent. The eggs and any other animal products are truly not missed!
The wonderful thing about baking with zucchini is the moisture it adds to the recipe, not to mention it makes you feel like your cake is really healthy so you can eat an extra piece! Thanks to Nancy on the Home Front for this great recipe!
Last but not least we couldn't share a list of great chocolate cakes without sharing this Perfect Chocolate Cake. It is so dense, moist and chocolaty! The perfect cake for Chocolate Cake Day!
Plus 1 update!!!
After going live with this post, Alicia reminded me that I had left out the Black Forest Cake! I couldn't do that! This decadent Chocolate-Cherry Cake is perfect for a chocolate cake celebration! It also reminds me of my days in Germany!
There you have it, 9 choices instead of 8!
Now, how do I choose which one to make? Which one do you think you would like the best? I'll let you know on Instagram and Facebook later. In the meantime, make your cake, and eat it too!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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