As I spoke at her funeral last fall, I spotted my grandmother, her Mom, near the front of the chapel and I smiled at her while I recounted a vivid memory. I was probably 13 or so when my Grandma was in town for a visit. She had made her famous chocolate-chocolate-chocolate Bundt cake the night before (the inspiration for this holiday version) and when I came down to the kitchen the next morning I found my Mom in her pajamas, digging into a big slice of cake. Because if there’s one thing she taught me, it’s that chocolate cake makes the best breakfast. I followed right along and started serving myself a piece as she walked with her plate into the adjoining butlers pantry to do something. Right at that moment my grandma came down the stairs and in shock and horror, asked what on earth I was doing chowing down on cake at 9am. “If your Mother only knew what you were doing right now, eating cake for breakfast?!” Without saying a word I stealthily shifted my glance to the butlers pantry where my Mom was standing just out of sight from my grandma. I will never forget our eyes aligning as she stood frozen, like a toddler caught with her hand in the candy jar. She licked some stray frosting off her lips and with wide eyes and holding in laughter, shook her head in a desperate plea and slowly backed away as if I had never seen her. I took one for the team that morning and ate a bowl of oatmeal for Grandma. Later we told her what had happened and we laughed hysterically for years afterwards about it. I guess mothers are always mothers! My mom loved chocolate and any excuse to eat more of it. I’ve decided I’ll eat cake every August 3rd forever. And then for breakfast on August 4th. I was thinking about her when I made this cake because I know she would have loved this. It’s packed with a generous amount of zucchini, which keeps it incredibly moist, even for days after (again, breakfast!) Aside from having a rich cocoa flavor, it’s also studded with chunks of chocolate, and then drizzled with the perfect amount of this fabulous glaze. This is actually the same glaze that goes with the original chocolate-chocolate-chocolate bundt cake my grandma always made. This is one of my most favorite cakes. It’s great alone, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. And because it’s super rich, you can slice it thin and it feeds a lot of people! I hope you make it. I hope you love it. And I hope you save a piece for breakfast. Happy birthday, Mom.
Ingredients Needed
Cake All-purpose flour Cocoa powder Salt Baking soda Canola oil Granulated sugar Brown sugar Eggs Vanilla Sour cream Shredded zucchini Mini chocolate chips Glaze Water Coconut oil or butter Light corn syrup Powdered sugar Unsweetened cocoa powder
How to Make a Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake
