Sunday, August 26, 2007

No-hassle dessert: Chocolate zucchini cake

One of the best ways to get into the rhythm of relaxed home cooking is to keep the kitchen well-stocked. Always have eggs, butter, yeast, flour, cocoa, lots of fresh vegetables, cans of chicken broth, tomato sauce, and in the freezer, a variety of meats. Then you can be creative day to day about what to cook.

I don't bake a lot of sweets, but I do keep bags of walnuts and chocolate chips in my cupboard at all times, just in case I need them. Yesterday we were invited to dinner with friends, so I offered to take a dessert, though I didn't have anything specific in mind when I made the offer. I took stock of what I had on hand, and figured I'd make good use of a nice-sized zucchini that was taking up space on the kitchen counter.

I found a delectable chocolate zucchini cake recipe on epicurious.com. It was easy to make (I grated the zucchini effortlessly in my food processor) and didn't require a run to the store for anything. I used mini-chocolate chips, and I didn't have any buttermilk, so I used 2 percent, no problem. Dessert was beautiful and delicious.

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