It’s that time of year again where zucchinis are taking over (and carrots). But, that means it’s also time for some great baking delights.

Instead of the usual zucchini bread or the fabulous zucchini cupcakes, I decided to use my new bundt pan as the basis for a recipe challenge: Find a zucchini bundt cake recipe.

My searching finally found this great recipe – almost a decade old – from an old issue of “Cooking Light” magazine. It looked rich and decadent with its chocolate glaze. So, let’s take a look at another way to use all those bushels of zucchinis from your harvests…

Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake
(recipe originally from “Cooking Light,” June 2002 issue via MyRecipes.com)

Ingredients

As this recipe originally appeared in Cooking Light, it uses fat-free and light versions of some ingredients. If you don’t care about the fat intake or calories, feel free to go all-out with the regular versions. 🙂

For the cake

• Cooking spray
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 ounces fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus 1 tablespoon of flour for the cake pan)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup fat-free buttermilk
• 2 cups shredded zucchini (be sure to drain the zucchini to get some of the extra water out – otherwise, your cake will be really moist)
• 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 8 teaspoons fat-free milk
• 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules (I didn’t have this on hand but it didn’t seem to make a difference)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Putting it together…

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the cake pan, by coating a bundt pan (12-cup size) with some cooking spray and lightly dust with flour. You also could use something like “Pam Baking” spray instead.

First, mix the sugars, cream cheese and vegetable in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed for about five minutes, or until well blended. Then, add the eggs and egg whites, beating well after each addition. Then, add the vanilla extract.In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Next, add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the sugar mixture, alternating between the flour and milk. You want to begin and end with flour. Then, stir in the zucchini, about 2/3 of cup of chocolate chips and nuts (if using).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, the remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

To finish, you’ll need to prepare the glaze. In a medium bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, powdered sugar and whisk together. In another bowl, combine the milk, chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Microwave at 30 second intervals or until the chocolate melts. Stir after 15 second increments. Next, combine the powdered sugar mix and the chocolate mix with a whisk. Drizzle over the cooled cake and serve immediately. Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.