The Cake Slice Bakers are excited to announce the new cake-centric cookbook they will bake through in 2024 - The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving by Rebecca Firth. You may know Rebecca from the Saveur-nominated blog, Displaced Housewife. The Cake Book is a delicious collection of mouthwatering recipes that will fulfill all of your cake needs for any occasion with breakfast cakes, petite cakes, Bundt cakes, snacking cakes and stunning layered cakes.
The Cake Slice Bakers are a group of dedicated bakers who all love cake. Each year we choose a new cake-centric cookbook and bake our way through it. Every month we are given 3 choices and on the 20th day of each month we reveal what we have chosen on our blogs. This month's choices were Delish Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake, Blackberry-Lime Breakfast Cake, and Fresh Raspberry Brownie Baked Alaska. Even though Hawaii is not the sort of place where you have excess zucchini and need to find recipes to use it all up, I cannot pass up a good loaf cake and the Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake certainly sounded delish, so I choose to bake this cake.
I loved everything about this cake - easy ingredients, so easy to put together, amazing flavor - what's not to love about that? I did make a couple of changes - because of course I did 🤣. I just seem to find it impossible to make the recipe exactly as it is written, my brain just goes off on a tangent and it can't be stopped. I went rogue and only lined the bottom of the pan with parchment as I just don't like the creases it makes in the corner of the cake. And yes, I know there are fancy ways for cutting the parchment to fit perfectly, but I just use my hands to assist the cake out the pan. It may be a little messy (hello, chocolate chips), but it is easy to just wash my hands and this method works for me. Also, I did not like the idea of water in my cake so I used milk, and I also thought about using sour cream instead to add moisture, but didn't have any. I also prefer to add dry ingredients starting and ending with flour (so flour, liquid, flour, liquid, flour) as I feel the end product is more cohesive and smooth, but feel free to do as written in the recipe if you prefer.
I would also suggest doubling the recipe and making two cakes - one to enjoy now, and one to freeze for later. There is also a recipe in the book (on page 66) for a cream cheese frosting if you do not want to add the chocolate chips to the top of the cake, which sounds like a delicious option too. I will definitely be making this one again soon. Another option with similar flavors but a little more chocolate-forward, and one my girls tell me is one of their favorite cakes ever, is this bundt cake.
Delish Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
- 240g (2 cups) zucchini, finely shredded (about 2-3 small zucchinis)
- 200g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 140g (10 tablespoons) butter
- 4g (2 teaspoons) cinnamon
- 2g (1 teaspoon) nutmeg
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 13ml (1 tablespoon) vanilla bean paste or real vanilla extract
- 315g (2 ⅓ cups) all-purpose flour
- 5g (1 teaspoon) baking powder
- 5g (1 teaspoon) baking soda
- 6g (1 teaspoon) sea salt (omit if using salted butter)
- 170ml (¾ cup) water, at room temperature
- 130g (¾ cup) mini chocolate chips
- 45g (¼ cup) mini chocolate chips, additional for garnish
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180℃ (350℉)
- Spray a 23 x 13 cm (9 x 5 inch) loaf pan with baking spray and line with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the sides of the pan.
- Place the finely grated zucchini on several layers of paper towels and press out any excess moisture: set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the sugar, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix on medium until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- With the machine on low, add the eggs, one at a time, making sure the first is incorporated before adding the second.
- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, add in the vanilla, and run the machine for 1 more minute to make sure everything is combined; take the bowl out of the mixer and set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the shredded zucchini and toss to coat.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in two batches, alternating with the water and mixing each addition until just combined.
- When the cake batter is barely mixed and you still see streaks of flour, add the 130g (¾ cup) chocolate chips and fold into the batter in as few strokes as possible, scraping the sides and bottom to make sure everything is combined.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, tapping the pan several times on the counter to release any trapped air bubbles.
- Evenly sprinkle the 45g (¼ cup) chocolate chips over the top of the cake.
- Place in the oven on the center rack and bake for 55-60 minutes or until the cake is puffed up and lightly bronzed and a cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean with some crumbs and chocolate, but no wet batter.
- Let cool in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then run a butter knife along the edge of the cake to release it from the pan, then use the parchment overhang to lift the cake out of the pan to finish cooling on the rack.
- This cake tastes delicious warm and even better at room temperature.
Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.
The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.
It is a new year and a new book - The Cake Book: Beautiful Sweet Treats for Every Craving - and our choices for August 2024 were ~
Delish Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake
Blackberry-Lime Breakfast Cake
Fresh Raspberry Brownie Bake Alaska
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