Chocolate Zucchini Ribbon Cake

When there’s an excess of zucchini, put them in cake. This cake is a celebration of this classic combination.

This tender and moist chocolate cake folds a whole zucchini into its batter and is topped with a soft-serve-like chocolate frosting. The joyful and sculptural ribbon decoration evokes summer playfulness, like Deep n’ Delicious’ queer cousin at a picnic.

Beautiful Table Runner by Daytime People.

Yield: 1 9" cake

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Chocolate Zucchini Ribbon Cake

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt
• 2 cups lightly packed grated zucchini, from about 1 zucchini
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 c hot coffee (or 1/3 cup hot water + ½ tsp instant coffee powder)
• More zucchini for garnish

For the frosting

• 1 batch of Chocolate Soft Serve Frosting

Instructions

To make the cake

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Prepare a 9″ cake pan by lining it with parchment paper or coating with oil.
2. Remove excess moisture from the grated zucchini by taking handfuls and firmly squeezing out as much water as you can. Discard water.
3. To a large mixing bowl, add zucchini, sugar, cocoa, eggs, oil, sour cream/yogurt, baking soda and powder, salt and vanilla extract. Whisk together thoroughly.
4. Add flour and continue whisking until only some clumps of flour remain.
5. Pour in hot coffee and whisk quickly to fully combine. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the centre. Allow to completely cool before frosting.
7. If making in advance, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store at room temperature. This cake is even better on day 2 and 3.

To decorate the cake

1. To make the zucchini ribbons, use a vegetable peeler to shave long strips of zucchini. Stack two strips on top of each other to give them a bit more rigidity. Make as many as you’d like for the cake. Trim the ends with scissors. Set aside.
2. To prep the cake, use a serrated knife to carefully slice off the domed top so you’ve got a nice flat surface.
3. Spoon your frosting into a piping bag and snip the tip off at a slight angle, about 1.5 cm from the end.
4. For the squiggly pattern, hold the piping bag so the longer edge is facing down and the shorter edge is up. Start at the top of the cake and pipe a wavy line straight down, moving your hand slowly from left to right to make a 1-inch wide squiggle. Repeat until the whole cake is covered. Feel free to practice a few off to the side first. If you mess one up, just scrape it off and try again.
5. Take your zucchini strips and gently shape them into loose ribbons. Press them into the frosting randomly across the cake's surface.