Recipe: High Altitude Chocolate Zucchini Cake (13x9-inch)

HIGH ALTITUDE CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

"A wonderfully moist cake that is a perfect way to use up that extra zucchini. This cake is good on the first day, but the next day it's better!"

1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.

In a small bowl, combine buttermilk and baking soda; stir until baking soda has dissolved.

In a separate bowl, mix butter, salt, sugar, vanilla, oil and eggs. Add buttermilk mixture; mix well.

In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, zucchini and walnuts; add to the egg mixture and mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

If desired, at the end of the baking, sprinkle the cake with chocolate chips and continue baking until the chips are just melted to "frost" the cake.

*To make sour milk, mix 1/2 cup milk with 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar; let stand for 5 minutes.

Makes 1 (13x9-inch) cake
From: Dona Erickson, Front Range Organic Gardeners, Colorado Farmers' Market Cookbook by Melissa Craven, Janis Judd and Laura Korth
Source: High Altitude Baking 2nd Edition edited by Patricia Kendall