the most delicious form of zucchini

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

the dry ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup coco powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
a bit of salt if you so desire it

the wet ingredients:
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs worth of egg replacer

the mix ins:
2 cups zucchini (1 or 2 medium zucchinis) grated
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup frozen raspberries (optional but highly recommended, and make sure to add these last, if the raspberries get melty they lose their structural integrity)

The plan:
1. mix or sift(if you're feeling ambitious), all the dry ingredients in one bowl.

2. then combine all the the wet ones in another bowl.

3. and then add the mix ins to the dry ingredients--the dry ingredients will kind of coat the zucchini and raspberries nicely.

4. then add the wet to the dry or the dry to the wet (whichever bowl is larger) and mix it until it is "just mixed". basically don't over mix it because then it won't rise as much, but if you do that's ok too because it will still be delicious.
*special note about this cake...if you are used to making cakes, the batter of this one will seem very thick. I've played with this, adding more wet ingredients etc, the conclusion is that the zucchini makes this cake very moist...so the batter needs to be a bit thicker, just go with it*

5. then pour it into some greased and floured pans. you can use two 9" round pans to make two layers or I've done it many times in just one pan to make one thick layer and then if there is any extra I just throw it in some cupcake tins-yum!

350 degrees
and I just realized I've never timed the baking of this cake....it takes a while because it's so moist so I'll go with 45min-1hour or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Oh and frosting! I've used two different forms of frosting both with great success. When I had some left over vegan whipped creme that they gave out for free at the boston vegetarian food fest I just whipped some of that up with a little vanilla extract and topped it with fruit(pictured above)
I've also made a vegan version of the Joy of Gardening's rich creme cheese frosting.

(original idea from Garden way's Joy of Gardening Cookbook...recipes grouped by garden-fresh ingredient-perfect when you have a plethora of one thing and you don't know what to do with it...I've veganized and otherwise adapted it to make it my own) see also my cooking philosophy