Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Ganache

February 2022. Card forty-six: gingerbread. Not the cookies I have made before, a gingerbread cake, her mother version, with blackstrap molasses that is darker and more bitter than regular molasses, and fresh ginger that is grated rather than ground. The cake is deep brown and fragrant and not sweet in the expected way: it is complex, the bitterness of the molasses against the heat of the ginger against the sweetness of brown sugar. I made it and sat down with a slice and a cup of coffee and thought: I have never made this before but it tastes like something I have always known. That is what recipes from cards are. They make you taste something you have not tasted yet that you already know.

Dr. Ochoa read chapter four this week and said: this is dissertation-level work. I said: it is a dissertation. She said: I mean it meets the standard. I said: yes, I know. She said: you know because you have been to conferences and read the journals and you know what the standard is. I said: yes. She said: good. That is what training is for. I said: that is exactly what training is for. We are speaking the same language now, Dr. Ochoa and I. That took three years. It is worth what it took.

That gingerbread cake taught me something I keep returning to: the best recipes are the ones with layers you have to pay attention to, where the bitterness and the sweetness and the heat don’t cancel each other out but hold their ground together. This chocolate chip zucchini cake with chocolate ganache works the same way — the zucchini keeps it dark and dense and almost savory underneath the chocolate, and the ganache on top is not shy about being bittersweet. It is the kind of cake that rewards the same slow attention Dr. Ochoa was talking about. You have to have done the work to taste what’s actually there.

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 50 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes | Servings: 14

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups finely grated zucchini (about 2 medium), excess moisture squeezed out
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
For the Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and dust lightly with cocoa powder, tapping out any excess.
Whisk dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until evenly combined.
Mix wet ingredients. In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Whisk in the oil, vanilla, and sour cream until smooth.
Combine and fold. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined — do not overmix. Fold in the grated zucchini and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 45–50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before ganaching.
Make the ganache. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just begins to simmer. Remove from heat and pour over the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let sit undisturbed for 2 minutes, then add the butter and stir from the center outward until the ganache is glossy and smooth.
Finish the cake. Pour the ganache over the cooled cake and spread to the edges with an offset spatula. Allow the ganache to set at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Ganache — The Depth You Didn’t Know You Were Missing