Ever since I was a little girl I have loved chocolate cake. Maybe it stems from the fact that my mother made chocolate cake for my 1st birthday and by the time I was 2 I was hooked. I wanted chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Of course, by the time I was 4 I wanted Ariel from the little mermaid to make an appearance on my cake. Mom reasonably argued that vanilla icing was key to having Ariel represented on my cake...so the annual chocolate cake with vanilla icing birthday cake was born. My favorite were the years when I only had a small party (after I had outgrown the Disney character cakes) so Mom was able to make my cake for me herself...Devil's food with vanilla icing.
My dad's favorite though, is the opposite. He loves yellow cake with milk chocolate icing...milk chocolate is important...my mom's version with vanilla and dark chocolate icing mixed. I remember the year I was gone for my birthday. When I came back, Dad had made a cake all by himself (mom had gone to pick me up). He was so proud of that cake. It tasted pretty good too. Apparently lopsidedness doesn't effect flavor. But when he said "I made your favorite" I started laughing. Because he didn't make a chocolate cake with vanilla icing, he made yellow cake with milk chocolate icing...At least he tried.
Then there was the year that Price made my cake...this was back when we were still dating. (It was after this incident that I gave up on Price ever actually cooking for a special occasion...Valentine's Day hadn't been that great either). Again the cake tasted good...and it was the right flavor this time...but, of course there is always a but. He didn't have the right size cake pans. And so he patched together a layer cake with icing. It was a the ugliest cake I have ever seen...and I am not a huge fan of icing...Price looked pitiful and I ate the cake. It did taste good after all.
Mom brought my cake from a bakery last year...which leads me to this year. I wanted a real cake...an actual cake, with little to no icing. My favorite kind...chocolate. So I looked online and I found a recipe by Robin Miller on the Food Network...and I adapted it of course. So here is my chocolate cake...and Happy Birthday to Me! (please forgive the zucchini (again) but I have to do something with it!)
Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 c. boiling water
1 small zucchini, shredded (about 1 c.)-may use shredded apple, carrot, or spinach instead
1/2 c. chocolate chips
confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and slowly whisk in wet ingredients. Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips. Pour into greased 9 x 12 inch baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Enjoy!
