It became abundantly clear on our recent vacation with my in-laws just how perilously close our children are to the teenage years. Even though our annual pilgrimage to the lake was full of the usual childish giddiness of vacation, each activity was punctuated by a solid dose of 9-year old sass. Our daughter ( now often heard referred to as “your daughter”) was the worst offender with an attitude befit a spoiled princess. Nothing was good enough, all life jackets were “itchy”, and any activity that wasn’t one that she had picked out was not worthy of her time.
The icing on the cake though was during our night out on vacation (There is an order to these things. There must be a boat day, there must be an arcade day, there must be a night out. These are the rules of the vacation). On this night out we eat at a restaurant and then go out to play putt-putt. My daughter announced to everyone as we were leaving the restaurant that she was still hungry and she wanted some chocolate cake. My husband mentioned that we had ice cream at the condo we could have when we were done with putt-putt. She demanded cake and proceeded to make the next hour and a half of putt-putt a living nightmare. Somewhere around the 10th hole, my husband gave in and ordered a piece of cake to be picked up on our way back, which instantly changed my daughter’s mood. After we trudged through the last 8 holes, my in-laws mentioned their plans to go to the ice cream parlor. Our sadistic 9-year old proclaimed that she no longer wanted cake, she was getting ice cream with Nana and Grandpa, at which point my husband and I seriously reconsidered the idea of having children.
By the time we returned home a few days later, the cake subject arose again and I decided that if the little diva wanted cake she was going to make it herself. Forcing her to put a vegetable in it was just my idea of revenge. Fortunately for everyone involved, chocolate and zucchini behave better than a 9 year old at a mini-golf course.
Ingredients
- 4 cups grated zucchini
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 ½ sticks butter melted
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee granules
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup store-bought chocolate icing
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9x5 loaf pans and set aside.
- Place your grated zucchini in a sieve over a bowl and let drain while you assemble the other ingredients.
- In a large bowl, thouroughly whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In another large bowl beat the sugar and eggs together until they turn pale in color (just a minute or two) and then beat in the butter, coffee granules, drained zucchini and vanilla. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in batches until the mixture is well incorporated. Divide the batter between the greased pans and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack and then top with chocolate icing.
[…] that my kids really love these things. It’s a great way for me to use up some of the prolific zucchini from our garden, too. And a little cheddar cheese never hurt anyone. These things are delicious and […]