Companion to Lavender Ice Cream...Chocolate Zucchini Cake??!!??

Well, I never finished last week's story about the Lavender Ice Cream. It was divine and one week later after spending significant time in the freezer, it is as creamy as it was the day that we made it. The lavender flavor is one of the most memorable that I can imagine...after eating it I simply cannot get the taste "off of my mind."

As I mentioned before, I had planned for the Lavender Ice Cream to be as unusual as its accompaniment...Chocolate Zucchini Cake. I had seen the recipe several years ago in one of my favorite cookbooks, Dori Sanders' Country Cooking. After making the cake and serving both the cake and ice cream to my friend, Melissa, she indicated that she had not only heard of Chocolate Zucchini Cake, but had made it herself! Despite the fact that its "uniqueness" was no longer so unique, it was delicious. As Dori Sanders mentions in her cookbook, it is very moist and "torte-like" in consistency. I'll make it again this week for the students in my class for them to try on our final day together! Here is the recipe....

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

INGREDIENTS
2 ½ cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
½ cup cocoa

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon fresh nutmeg

¾ cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 local eggs

2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

2 teaspoons grated orange or lemon peel

2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini

1/2 cup whole milk

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Glaze (directions follow) or 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

-Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

-Beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in orange/lemon peel, vanilla extract, and zucchini.

-Stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.

-Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.

-Drizzle glaze over cake or sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Glaze: Mix together 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat until smooth.

Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

-ADAPTED FROM DORI SANDERS’ COUNTRY COOKING, p. 141.