My weekly column and recipe for The Daily News Egypt. I'm quite surprised with the way this turned out. Zucchini has become a friend I'm beginning to trust a little more than I used to.
Chocolate & Zucchini CakeYou'll need:
½ cup of unsalted butter
½ cup of vegetable oil
1 of caster sugar
¾ cups of brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
2 large eggs
½ cup of yogurt
2 ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
¾ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of espresso powder
2 cups of shredded zucchini
½ cup of bittersweet chocolate chips
For the ganache:
1 cup of heavy cream
1 ½ cup of chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease your baking pan. Cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined. Stir in the yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into your prepared pan. Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden skewer or thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack. To prepare the ganache, heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate chips. Stir until completely combined and glossy. Allow the ganache to cool before pouring over cake.