Chocolate Zucchini Cake

If you are anything like my kids, you just read the title to this recipe and thought "Ewww, gross!" But the reality is that this cake is yummy good and you will never know that the zucchini is in there. It just makes the cake super moist, like with Banana Bread or Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies. Either way, it is a great way to use up some of that zucchini that I have coming out of my ears every August. Hope you enjoy!

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter- softened

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

4 Tbs. Cocoa powder

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugars. Add oil, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk and mix well. (Remember, if you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can just mix 1/2 tsp. lemon juice into 1/2 cup regular milk and let it sit for a few minutes before adding it to your recipe!) In another bowl, combine dry ingredients and then add slowly to your liquid mixture. Stir just until combined. Fold in your grated zucchini and then pour the batter into a greased 9x13 inch cake pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the batter. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

***Grating zucchini is pretty messy, so I like to wait until I have 3-4 big ones and grate them all at once. Then just scoop 2 cup- sized portions into little Ziplock freezer bags. Pop them in the freezer and you can have fresh zucchini for recipes all year! Think how good this cake would taste in December or how nice it would be to bake a loaf of hot Zucchini Bread in the winter. Yum!

***I was getting ready to post this, and I linked the recipe under desserts and vegetables. It made me smile :)