When I spoke to my sis that Sunday morning and told her about this cake I was planning to bake, her first reaction was, “You’ve lost it. Who puts zucchini in cake!” Sure enough that’s how I looked at this veggie a few months ago. It was good for grilling, for baking and for Chinese and Thai foods, but in a dessert? No way. Then a very dear friend of ours Vera brought home a diabetic chocolate cake with a secret ingredient–zucchini. And then..as they say the rest is history. My love for this green healthy ingredients grew by leaps and bounds. It sure was versatile, what’s more it added this lovely moistness to the cake that all of us love.

I had to start using it often. Since then its seen the knife’s edge and graters blades more often than the people around the dining table would have liked. Till I finally cracked the recipe to this fudge-y cake. The proportions in this cake are really important so please follow the recipe the first time so you know how the ingredients work together, after that feel free to experiment and create your own tastes and textures.

Time taken: 1 hour  

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serves 8 

Skill level: Basic 

Equipment Needed: 8×6 inch cake tin, hand-held mixer, food processor and oven.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup walnuts, crushed coarsely
• 1/4 cup chocolate powder, (I’ve used cocoa powder because its sugar-free)
• 1/2 cup sugar-free chocolate base, powdered coarsely (we are not tempering the chocolate)
• 1 cup zucchini, grated
• 1/4 cup yoghurt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter (I’ve used olive oil)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup palm sugar (you can use any sugar of your choice. I use this since it is healthier)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 cup self rising flour

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 200 degree Centigrade. Line your baking tin with baking paper or coat it with oil and flour to ensure the cake does not stick to the pan.

2. Beat the egg and oil together till it is frothy. It takes some time but its worth the effort. Add the yoghurt and beat again. At times the mixture does seem like it has separated when you mix the yoghurt in, but that’s ok. It will come together when you add the flour.

3. Add the palm sugar and beat together. This will give you a brownish mix because of the colour of the palm sugar. Add the vanilla essence at this stage. Then add the grated zucchini.

4. Now sieve in the other dry components and give it a quick mix.

5. Your cake mixture will be thickish in consistency. Pour it into the ready cake tin. Cover the entire top with the crushed walnuts.

6. Bake it at 180 degree centigrade in a pre heated oven for about 45 minutes. Check the cake at 35 minutes and 40 minutes. Depending on your baking dish and oven, your cake may be ready before time. To check doneness insert a toothpick into the thickest part, you will not get a clean toothpick because of the chocolate base but you shouldn’t get wet flour on your toothpick.

7. When the cake is ready pull it out of the oven, cool it and de-mould it. Serve it as a dessert or tea cake.